This week, we Bow Down to KPOP. While it was far from Perfect, it’s definitely not a Waste of Time, so join us as we discuss which parts make it a Super Star in our eyes! (And our apologies to all Korean speakers out there for our failure to pronounce the Korean titles.)
We recorded this episode pre-Tony nominations, so a huge congratulations to everyone involved for their 3 nominations in Score, Choreography, and Costumes!
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Listen to the original version of Blast Off, interspersed with news reports about the North Korean rockets.
For a detailed account of the original off-Broadway version, check out the review from Lighting & Sound America.
On Broadway, KPOP had a notoriously short run, which prompted this postmortem from the LA Times, discussing what the reason could've been. Or for another article charting the lifespan of the show, check out this one from American Theatre.
The last Broadway show to contain a significant amount of non-English text was probably the 2009 revival of West Side Story, where some of the songs were translated into Spanish.
And take a look at Helen Park's SoundCloud for demos, earlier versions (with the off-Broadway cast), and cut songs!
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Music featured in this episode:
From the Original Broadway Cast of KPOP
Apple Music / Spotify / Amazon Music
As of time of posting, only 5 songs from the Broadway production have officially been released on streaming (This is My Korea, Bow Down, Perfect, Amerika, and Super Star). The other music clips in this episode are linked below:
- Gin and Tonic (OBC)
- Han Guk Nom (Korean Man) [OBC]
- Still I Love You (Helen Park)
- Wind Up Doll (Ashley Park)
- Bung Uh Ree Sae (Mute Bird) [Helen Park]
- Kpopsicle (Max Vernon)
- Blast Off (OBC)
- Phoenix (OBC)
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