 'The Phantom of the Opera' is proving to be a domestic hit, with the revival production in Seoul attracting record-breaking audiences, the highest in Korea's musical performance history. Staged at the LG Arts Center, Yeoksam-dong, 21 performances over the last three weeks have been sold out, and some 23,000 have been enchanted by the powerful music of composer Andrew Lloyd Webber. January performances are over 70% reserved, and Zemiro, the production company of the revival, said that some 65,000 tickets have been sold as of Wednesday, grossing some W5.7 billion.
The success of the Phantom is unprecedented in Korea, as the musical 'Cats,' a visiting production by a tour company in February 1994, which made some W2.3 billion profit, had been considered the most successful so far. Seol Do-hyun, co-president of Zemiro, said that the power of 'The Phantom of the Opera' was again proven in Korea, as it is a well-known fact that productions of the Broadway musical have always attracted large crowds worldwide, filling over 90% of seats on average.
(Kim Myeong-hwan, mhkim@chosun.com )
|
