JAPAN: Popular South Korean actor Cho Seung Woo promotes upcoming Korean musical based on "Jekyll and Hyde"

Record ID: 462231

  • Title: JAPAN: Popular South Korean actor Cho Seung Woo promotes upcoming Korean musical based on "Jekyll and Hyde"
  • Date: 8th December 2005
  • Summary: SCREEN INTRODUCING THE MUSICAL IN JAPANESE
  • Embargoed: 23rd December 2005 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA9XG4KWZQXWM98XAU1ONZF9AZI
  • Story Text: With South Korean movies, pop songs and soap operas already popular in Japan, South Korean entertainers are now hoping their theatre will make a mark.
    Popular South Korean actor Cho Seung Woo was in Tokyo on Thursday (December 8) promoting a Korean musical based on "Jekyll and Hyde.".
    The musical, which played to packed theatres throughout South Korea in the last two years, will debut in Japan in March next year.
    Cho and his fellow actors will start off with a total 17 performances of "Jekyll and Hyde" in Tokyo and Osaka.
    "In Korea, a lot of Japanese have come see our musical and I appreciate them coming all the way from Japan," Cho said. "I'm honoured to be able to see them again - this time in Japan."
    Cho played the main character, an autistic young man, in the recent internationally acclaimed Korean movie "Marathon". He has played a wide variety for characters including a gay transvestite in the Korean version of "Hedwig and the Angry Inch". He says he treated his latest attempt at the classic tale of a schizophrenic scientist with much depth as possible.
    "Jekyll is not a 100 percent good guy, while Hyde is not an absolute evil, either. This is what I think and I'd like to convey this to the audience through my acting. Hyde is created by Jekyll's weaknesses and negative feelings, which I hope I can express subtly in the musical," said the Korean actor who won South Korea's best musical actor award in 2004.
    "I hope to provide an opportunity for the audience to not only relate to these characters but to think back what they have done and rethink how they live their own lives," Cho said.
    Cho is also confident he will not miss his home cooking when he comes over to Japan for a month next year.
    "In Japan, food is very tasty so I'm going to eat a lot here," Cho said.
    "This musical consumes a lot of energy. By the time our show is over, I'm too tired to even walk home. A good thing about this musical, though, is that although we get really tired physically, it really makes us want to keep going and perform again. I'll be okay. I'll do my best in Japan," Cho said before some 100 reporters and media crew.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: Audio restrictions: This clip's Audio includes copyrighted material. User is responsible for obtaining additional clearances before publishing the audio contained in this clip.
Register