Claim your backstage pass and dive inside the high-stakes world of K-pop with this exhilarating new Broadway-bound musical. As global superstars put everything on the line for a special one-night-only concert, one singer's inner struggle threatens to dismantle one of the hottest labels in K-pop. Pulsing with infectious beats, electrifying choreography, and breathtaking joy, KPOP, the Broadway Musical, is an all-consuming multimedia experience that explores the relentless discipline, raw talent, and commercial ambition behind the heart-thumping international phenomenon.
nifer Weber’s formula-based though clever pop-and-bop choreography―with a stylistic assist from assistant choreographer MJ Choi―is as fun and catchy as anything Britney Spears ever performed. Likewise, Helen Park’s and Max Vernon’s evocative score is full of bangers that also comment on the action―much like John Kander and Fred Ebb’s Cabaret. And Jiyoun Chang’s lighting, Mia M. and Neal’s hair and wigs, Joe Dulude II and Suki Tsujimoto, and Peter Fitzgerald and Andrew Keister’s make-up designs must be applauded for converting the show into an actual pop concert. But hats off to director Teddy Bergman for doing the impossible―modulating each show-stopping element so that Kim’s wonderful, multilingual book never loses focus. Though KPOP feels fresh, there is a precedent for what it has accomplished. Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II essentially laid out the blueprint when they revolutionized musical theatre in 1927 with Show Boat―another backstage drama and the first Broadway musical to seamlessly integrate dialogue, music, and dance in the service of plot. Almost one century later, it is a pleasure to see this glorious cast of Pan-Asian performers reclaim and elevate the form. If this is the future of Broadway, please consider me a rabid and reinvigorated stan.
There’s a lot in the musical KPOP that makes for a successful show, including a winning ensemble, melodies that sneak into your ears and stay there, and rhythm-perfect choreography. But it has a curious inertia. It lacks drama. Not in the sense of tension between its characters—there’s plenty of bickering to observe between the characters at the musical’s fictional K-pop label as they prepare for a big American showcase—but in the sense of a thrust, an arc, propulsion. It feels as if the show has rushed out into the open water of Broadway and then gotten stuck, like a ship unable to catch the wind.
| 2022 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
| Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Choreography | Jennifer Weber |
| 2023 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Costume Design of a Musical | Clint Ramos |
| 2023 | Tony Awards | Best Choreography | Jennifer Weber |
| 2023 | Tony Awards | Best Costume Design of a Musical | Clint Ramos |
| 2023 | Tony Awards | Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre | Helen Park |
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