“I’m from the government and I’m here to help,” Ronald Reagan famously quipped, “are the nine most terrifying words in the English language.” That joke falls flat in Korean, especially for stakeholders in Hyundai, Posco and Samsung; and more recently BTS, “Squid Game” and “Parasite.” All would likely credit government planning for at least a little of their success.

With market dominance in chips and ships, Oscars and Grammys already secured, the Korean government seems set on a new mission: secure a Tony or Olivier for a K-musical. Broadway and West End producers can laugh all they want … until a Korean production wins.

From June 21-23, the Korean Arts Management Service, the agency assigned this mission, hosted K-Musical Market 2022. Three of its nine international presenters – Producer Michael McFadden, Vice President of TRW Production (New York); Director Darren Bell, DLAP Group (London); and the founder of U.K.-based Emma Martin Arts Marketing – attended a roundtable the last day. Professor Annette Eunkyung Kang, a KAMS board member, led the discussion. The following is a summary.

All throughout, the like-minded foreign guests chimed in with “Correct,” “Right” or “Exactly” whenever another was speaking and Kang pressed ever more for insight into improving market prowess. The friendly tone set by McFadden lasted even as the constructive criticism became rather candid. He noted tremendous improvements over the past 25 years: “It’s come quite the distance” since the time Korea started casting big Broadway and West End hits like “Phantom of the Opera” locally. The performers from the Market’s showcases received frequent praise during the two-hour discussion, particularly those in “You and It” and “Green Coat,” with the female leads of the latter called “future stars.” Of that show, Martin said, “You could really buy into it” – see it being performed abroad since it had an “enjoyable lyrical score that you could understand the drive behind.”

The K-Musical Market seemed to have proven that Korea has the talent to put on world-class productions … with one big caveat. In McFadden’s words, "sometimes it feels there are handcuffs on them [performers and writers].” In addition, “the sweeping, romantic British-novel-on-stage kind of approach” gave these American and British experts pause.

As if slipping pre-audition advice to a favored performer, McFadden let Kang know that the musicals were “ too safe. … We don’t like safe.” Bell felt that the U.K. had similar productions back in the 90s.
KAMS reps apologized, but Martin assured them that seeing what worked locally was greatly appreciated. She confessed envy for Korea’s “really sharp market” of women in their 20s and 30s who often saw their favorite musicals two or three times a season. “They even buy the scripts,” Kang gushed. In London, lamented Martin, a “loyal” fan attends one or two shows a year.

Regardless of the great local fans, KAMS understands K-musicals must be recalibrated for foreign audiences: “What do U.K. and U.S. audiences want?” Kang asked.

“Who cares?” replied McFadden. “You have to believe in what you have, and they will come.”

“What do we know?” added Bell, “Five years ago, I didn’t think ‘Six’ would run more than two weeks.” They were seeking a Korean story told passionately by Koreans in a way that transcends cultures. “That’s what we all can relate to,” McFadden explained, “why ‘Parasite’ was an incredible movie and story.” He suggested Koreans tell what it is like to grow up with parents and grandparents, “20 people in a small room.” Evidently, he had missed the story of Korea’s per capita income climbing up to that of Spain, Italy and Israel.

Bell chastised K-musical writers for giving “no good answers” each time he asked why they told European stories. “They think no one wants to listen to Korean stories. Well, I want to.” Given the success of “Squid Game,” BTS and Black Pink, he was sure that “the world is ready for a K-pop musical.”

In addition to K-pop, all three suggested more comedies. “Especially after the pandemic,” Bell explained, “we want to escape … not experience someone else’s dark times.”

Apart from the passionate delivery from the writer of “Mowgli,” the pitches were widely panned. The Westerners had been surprised to hear creative talent discuss financing and potential investors ask about casting before anything else. A creative and a writer “have one job: to write a great show. Let us make it work,” McFadden stated. “Artists plant the seed, and we try to help them grow it.”

Martin recalled a Korean producer saying that K-musicals required far less marketing than the U.K. variety because of the draw of a big-name star. “Brilliant,” she thought – for the short term, “but if the point is to take it abroad, the thinking has to go beyond casting.”

Kang provided back story, “Musical audiences in Korea don’t want to see drama. They want to see stars. … So that’s why our producers are very cautious.” That prompted Bell to suggest ending that “self-perpetuating” formula by shaking things up, maybe not casting stars. “Make new stars,” Martin added: “We are in a world now where you can make a star,” citing the understudies in London who were generating as much social media buzz as their shows’ big-name leads. Producers and investors have to “trust the audience and watch what’s going on.” She pointed to the popularity of strong-woman-led hits like “Six” and “Heathers” in London and the Korean women cheering on “Green Coat.” “You’ve got a beautiful audience wanting to see characters like that. There’s a real opportunity … grab that … your audience will go with you.”

Audiences are tired of stories that revolve around White, straight men, McFadden believes. Because of COVID, Me-Too, Black Lives Matter, attacks on New York’s Asian community, he said, “Producers don’t want to be called out.” His proof: this year’s Tony for Best Musical, “A Strange Loop,’ a show about the personal journey of a large, gay Black man. “No producer would’ve touched that five years ago,” he said.

Martin kept it up, saying that even if a big name drew women to a show, “they had an experience and are returning.” Since they have warmed to K-musicals, she advised targeting them with different types of shows through surveys and data. “The talent and creativity is there in bucket loads. The problem is the restrictions … having to cast in a certain way,” she concluded. “Audiences are very sophisticated,” said McFadden. “You’ve got to trust them.” If KAMS gets writers to develop their own stories, “we’ll find the universal themes in those.”

Kang prompted a debate over the biggest and best government incentives. Bell and Martin praised U.K. pols for increasing production-cost tax write offs from 20 percent to 45, as well as support for nonprofits and agencies like Stage One. Kang wondered who sat on the committee that dispensed the tax break.

“There is no committee; every show with a script receives it,” Bell boasted. Kang countered with the Korean government granting all new productions tax-free status in the first year. Good, Bell admitted, but allowing every production to write off nearly half of production costs was a tremendous help. McFadden brought up New York and one other state that give tax breaks to opening shows but couldn’t think of a nation-wide government effort.

Despite New York state’s favorable tax laws, the American tried to diminish Kang’s obvious desire to delve into the theater industry secrets behind Broadway: “Off Broadway right now doesn’t really exist ... It got really expensive." He again steered her toward regional theaters that partner with producers. Bell gave a similar assessment to the West End and even its Off Off pub-based stages. Finally, McFadden relented a bit: “The model was a place, so is it possible to create something like that here? A smaller budget, a smaller venue, more freedom, more time.” Bell even divulged a number: 60 seats or so.

Satisfied, Kang pressed for more insight into the advantages of market segmentation. Martin explained that even though the West End and Off Off West End vary hugely, there’s a lot of crossover – and with fewer tickets to sell, less risk. The smaller venues have the most benefits in her mind as they give a better feel for what and who the show is about, more opportunities to engage the audience and, hopefully, less worries and more time for improving the show.

Kang then wondered if the theater district in Gangbuk, Seoul’s style opposite of K-pop’s upmarket Gangnam, had what it takes to be “an Off Broadway.” She described Daehangno, where KAMS is located, as having 170 roughly 75-seat theaters within a few blocks, running shows daily, one a year. One of KAMS’s showcased K-musicals, “The Laundry,” had been playing there for many years, she noted. Bell liked the seat capacity, but the long runs were a surprise. Off Off West End, he said, churned out shows that ran just months or even weeks. However, he thought any place where artists could “focus more on the creative and less on the money” was worth developing.

Kang doubted her government’s willingness to play the long game, given that Seoul-based CJ Entertainment was already diving into big productions like “Kinky Boots” and “Beetlejuice.” The government’s ultimate goal, she revealed, was a K-musical on Broadway. This and news that KAMS would be sending entries to NAMT’s Festival of New Musicals in October, prompted yet more urging to forget Broadway and its ticket buyers’ perceived tastes.

“If you start by thinking you are writing something for Broadway, then you’ll get distracted from what you’re wanting to create and who the audience actually is,” said Martin. “Create the work you want to see, and if it is a story that resonates with producers like these guys, then we can take it forward. Koreans don’t need to create for Broadway, she contended. Quite the opposite: “We want … authentic, interesting stories by your producers, your artists and your creators.”

McFadden recapped that universities and community theaters were a much better place to start. Broadway, he said, accounted for only about 1% of the market and most of those shows started in far-away places. “Broadway is for tourists. It’s a theme park,” he informed. Going back to the evolution of theater – “Theatre of Cruelty, Theatre of the Absurd, Brechtian” – small, lesser-known venues were always the crucible, he insisted. “Development is not something you can force.”

“Koreans are very competitive,” Kang understated politely to try and explain the fixation on budgets, casting and quickly securing a Broadway hit.

McFadden could see the need for an end game – “the branding.” However, he stressed that “Strange Loop” took 10 years to get to Broadway and that had never been the writer’s aim. He had initially sought a regional production. “You want a Korean brand. Honestly, you can’t brand anything yet because it doesn’t exist. … What you have right now is not the brand you want, I think.”

Kang then solicited practical advice for organizing the next event. Again, clear consensus: 1) more talking – opportunities to experience and understand the artists “so we have something to take away and figure out how to work with,” daily roundtables on reducing risks for producers and writers – and 2) fewer showcases and especially fewer “prescriptive men” (i.e., the all-male panels that told creatives what their musicals really needed).“You’ve got to not listen to them,” pleaded McFadden, telling KAMS to put down that panel’s narrow lens and look through the much wider one being prescribed by all three of them.

They also expressed envy for KAMS nascent journey of discovery and its mission, serving as a liaison between artists, the government and the private sector to advance K-musicals. “Our government would never listen to us. It’s very refreshing that you’re willing to listen and create and mold your relatively new industry,” said Bell. “It’s very exciting,” Martin added. “Can you imagine?”

After the event, McFadden was asked if KAMS could re-engineer past Korean successes by focusing capital and talent on a single goal, à la the funneling of reparations from Japan into Posco Steel and the resources of CJ Entertainment into “Parasite.” “I guess,” he said, pondering such a plan: “Take $1 million and give $250,000 to four promising musicals. Let them go off and develop, and then focus everything on the one with the best show.”

Martin gave KAMS the most promising words: “You’ve got this amazing thing here … this ball of talent that is about to explode.”

*rerated Post: Webzine Art Management, ‘Believe what Korean musicals have!’

David Kendall is an editor and consultant for the Korean Culture and Information Service, under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. He has an M.A. in East Asian Studies from Indiana University and has been writing and editing Korea-related mariterial for over 20 years.