Musical Korean Wave Expected This Year

id the rapid growth of the domestic musical market, more Korean productions are heading overseas. This year is even expected to see the export of creative musicals with royalty payments.

Japan to set to buy the copyrights of PMC Production's creative musical "Dalgona" for local staging.

The company says it will sign the contract in late April for a trial performance in Tokyo in October. The show will open in full swing next year. The musical's Korean cast also plans a performance tour in Japan next fall.

Dalgona is a musical of oldie pop songs, but Japanese songs will replace the Korean music and the show's contents will be adapted for the Japanese tour.

PMC's flagship hit "Nanta" will also continue showing around the world this year.

It will be staged in ten Chinese cities, South Africa, Russia and Hungary in the year's first half and the Dominican Republic, Australia and Germany in the second half.

Performances at the Universal Studio in Osaka, Japan and the Branson Theater in the U.S. state of Missouri are also in the pipeline.

Another nonverbal hit musical, "Jump", will also further advance abroad this year.

Its schedule includes the London Peacock Theatre from February to April, followed by the Wales Millennium Centre and Manchester in the U.K. Then it will go to Tokyo (May~June) and Singapore (June). In July, Jump will participate in the Chekhov Fesitval in Moscow.

Production agency Yegam says they are targeting off-Broadway New York in the latter half and exporting copyrights to China by 2008.

The B-boy show "Picnic", created by the producers of Jump, will hold its premiere in the London Peacock Theatre in late July before opening at home.

The musical "Maria Maria", which went to New York last year, signed a memorandum of understanding with Art in London for entry into Britain, and opened a theater in London. It will also launch a joint firm with a Filipino agency to enter the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries.

Seensee Musical Company's creative piece "Dancing Shadow" premiering next year is scheduled to show in Japan late this year or next along with plans for China.

There are also cases of foreign licensed musicals produced at home being reexported overseas.

The musical "Hedwig" is to be staged in Japan in September.

OD Musical Company, which performed "Jekyll and Hyde" in Japan last year, is seeking to stage Jekyll and the Broadway musical "Man of La Mancha" in Japan and Shanghai, China this year.

The dramatic version of the hit drama series "Winter Sonata" will be restaged in Japan late this year or early next year, and there are plans to show it in Hawaii and Los Angeles.