Friday, September 2, 2011

Quick Hit Theater Review: Hero the Musical

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Hero: The Musical
Playing Off-Broadway through Saturday at the David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center

Summary:
Commissioned to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the death of patriotic leader An Chunggun, Hero: The Musical premiered in Seoul in 2009 and won all the major Korean musical awards including Best Musical, Best Actor, Best Director and Best Music. Performed in Korean. the $6 million-dollar production has super titles. Using a mix of fictional and historical figures, it tells the tale of Korea's struggle to become an independent nation around the turn of the 20th century.

Highlights:
  • The large, beautifully lighted sets (Yu Young Koo and Don Woo Park, design respectively) are a triumph and the full-sized train with its interior view of the compartments (enhanced by projections by Sock Yong Ryu, technical director and Chuck Giles, technical supervisor) rivals some of the best effects you'll see on Broadway.
  • The score (music by San Joon Oh, who co-orchestrates with Peter Casey; book and lyrics by A. Reum Han) is quite pleasing and reminds our ear of Broadway classics like Les Mis or something by Andrew Lloyd-Weber. Chung Sunghwa as hero An Chunggun leads a large, enthusiastic ensemble.
  • Ran Young Lee's precise and imaginative choreography is nicely executed.
  • A musical number that is a mix of "Be Our Guest" and "Master of the House" at the dumpling establishment of freedom-fighter supporter Wangwei (Jeong Euiuk) where the group equates their love of the dumplings to a mother's love for her child before chomping down on dumplings the size of softballs made me very, very happy in the same way I enjoy watching implausible, but highly entertaining Johnny Weismuller "Tarzan" movies.
Lowlights:
  • Without the subtitles, you might think you were watching a Korean translation of Les Miserables. The opening scene has freedom fighters marching while a flag sweeps behind them and there is a "Little Drop of Rain" number that seemed almost an exact replica.
  • A little on the long side at more than two hours and 40 minutes (34 musical numbers).
Other information: http://www.musical-hero.com/Hero/index.htm

Christians might like to know:
  • Language
  • Violence
  • Suicide

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My Bio

Lauren Yarger is Executive Director/Producer with Masterwork Productions, Inc. She has written, directed and produced numerous shows and special events for both secular and Christian audiences. She co-wrote a Christian musical version of “A Christmas Carol” which played to sold-out audiences of over 3,000 in Vermont and was awarded the 2000 Vermont Bessie (theater and film awards) for “People’s Choice for Theatre.” She also has written two other dinner theaters, sketches for church services and devotions for Christian artists.

Yarger trained for three years in the Broadway League’s Producer Development Program, completed the Commercial Theater Institute's Producing Three-Day Training and produced a one-woman musical about Mary Magdalene that toured nationally and closed with an off-Broadway run.

In 2008 she was a Fellow at the National Critics Institute at the O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT. She writes reviews of Broadway and off-Broadway theater with an added Christian perspective for Masterwork Productions at http://reflectionsinthelight.blogspot.com/. She is editor of The Connecticut Arts Connection (http://ctarts.blogspot.com), an award-winning website featuring theater and arts news for the state. She is a contributing editor for BroadwayWorld.com and previously served as Connecticut theater editor for CurtainUp and as Connecticut and New York reviewer for American Theater Web.

Yarger is a book reviewer for Publishers Weekly and freelances for other sites. She is a member of the National Book Critics Circle.

She is a freelance writer and playwright and member of The Drama Desk, The Outer Critics Circle, The American Theater Critics Association and The League of Professional Theatre Women. She is a judge for the SDX Awards presented by the Society of Professional Journalists. She also is a member of the CT Press Club, the Connecticut SPJ and the Connecticut Critics Circle.

A former newspaper editor and graduate of the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism, Yarger also worked in arts management for the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts and the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. She lives with her husband in West Granby, CT. They have two adult children.

Copyright

All material is copyright 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 by Lauren Yarger. Reviews and articles may not be reprinted without permission. Contact reflectionsinthelight@gmail.com

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Key to Content Notes:

God's name taken in vain -- means God or Jesus is used in dialogue without speaking directly to or about them.
Language -- means some curse words are used. "Minor" usually means the words are not too strong or that it only occurs once or twice throughout the show.
Strong Language -- means some of the more heavy duty curse words are used.
Nudity -- means a man or woman's backside, a man's lower front or a woman's front are revealed.
Scantily clad -- means actors' private areas are technically covered, but I can see a lot of them.
Sexual Language -- means the dialogue contains sexually explicit language but there's no action.
Sexual Activity -- means a man and woman are performing sexual acts.
Adultery -- Means a married man or woman is involved sexually with someone besides their spouse. If this is depicted with sexual acts on stage, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.
Sex Outside of Marriage -- means a man and woman are involved sexually without being married. If this is depicted sexually on stage, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.
Homosexuality -- means this is in the show, but not physically depicted.
Homosexual activity -- means two persons of the same sex are embracing/kissing. If they do more than that, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.
Cross Dresser -- Means someone is dressing as the opposite sex. If they do more than that on stage the listing would include the corresponding "sexual activity" and/or "homosexual activity" as well.
Cross Gender -- A man is playing a female part or a woman is playing a man's part.
Suggestive Dancing -- means dancing contains sexually suggestive moves.

Other content matters such as torture, suicide or rape will be noted, with details revealed only as necessary in the review itself.

The term "throughout" added to any of the above means it happens many times throughout the show.

Our Reviewing Policy

Our reviewer Lauren Yarger receives free tickets to Broadway and Off-Broadway shows made available to all voting members of the Outer Critics Circle and The Drama Desk, the two professional critics organizations with journalists covering NY theater. Journalistically, she provides an unbiased review and is under no obligation to make positive statements. Sometimes shows do not make tickets available to reviewers. If these are shows our readers want to know about (we review all Broadway shows and pertinent Off-Broadway shows), Masterworks purchases a ticket.

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