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| The poster for the musical, "Moulin Rouge!" / Courtesy of CJ ENM |
By Dong Sun-hwa
The news that the jukebox musical, "Moulin Rouge!" will make its Asian premiere at the Blue Square Hall in central Seoul next month thrilled a myriad of fans here. But many of them were at a loss for words when they heard about the ticket price. The price for a VIP ticket was 180,000 won ($127.6), which is nearly 20 percent higher than that of most other musicals.
"I will not be able to watch a theatrical show in the future, if the ticket price continues to go up like this," a fan of musicals said. "It seems it will soon reach 200,000 won."
Another wrote, "Maybe other theatrical shows will follow suit. But I wonder if this is a smart tactic, given that people first cut their spending on cultural activities when they are hit by economic hardships."
CJ ENM, the production company behind "Moulin Rouge!" says the price hike was inevitable.
"Its Korean adaptation is a replica of the original Broadway production, so its quality should be on par with the original version," the company said. "It cost $28 million to bring 'Moulin Rouge!' to Broadway, so we also needed a tremendous amount of money to bring all set props from outside of Korea. We also had to pay royalties for some 70 pop songs featured in the show."
But CJ's explanation has not succeeded in assuaging angry musical fans, who have been looking forward to watching the 10-time Tony Award-winning musical. Based on the 2001 movie of the same name, the musical is set in Paris during the Belle Epoque (1871―1880) and revolves around a young composer named Christian, who falls in love with Satine, the star of the cabaret club, the Moulin Rouge.
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| The poster for the musical, "West Side Story" / Courtesy of SHOWNOTE |
"West Side Story" is a musical inspired by William Shakespeare (1564-1616)'s play, Romeo and Juliet. Set in the mid-1950s in the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, it portrays the rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks, street gangs of different ethnic backgrounds that fight for dominance of the area.
Before 2010, a VIP ticket for a musical was often sold for 120,000 won. But it rose to 150,000 in 2018, triggering an uptick in the ticket prices for other seats as well.
Industry insiders point out that the musicals industry should devise new marketing strategies and offer something more to theatergoers, who will otherwise give up watching musicals.
"We need to create an environment where production companies can make profits without (further) raising ticket prices," Won Jong-won, a musical theater critic and performing arts professor at Soonchunhyang University, was quoted as saying.
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