Reviews: What Are Critics Saying About Broadway's Multimedia-Infused KPOP? | Playbill

The Verdict Reviews: What Are Critics Saying About Broadway's Multimedia-Infused KPOP?

The musical follows a fictional K-pop music label and its stars making their American debuts—but will personal struggles and professional pressures get in the way?

The company of KPOP Matthew Murphy

As Broadway's latest musical opens at Circle in the Square Theatre, reviews for KPOP are coming in. The show moved its original opening date November 20 to November 27, having began its run October 13, though the red carpet was rolled out for the show last Sunday. Check out the celebration here.

Touching on culture clashes and exploring K-pop music, the Broadway musical KPOP portrays the American debut of fictional K-pop music label RBY. To capture the label's superstars—solo artist MwE, girl group RTMIS, and boy band F8, label executive Ruby hires a documentary filmmaker to tape the performances and curated public images of the artists. But as it becomes noticeable that MwE faces personal struggles and members of RTMIS and F8 are dealing with their own challenges, the filmmaker decides to dig deeper. Will they pull off their American debut?

Read the reviews here.

Broadway News (Brittani Samuel)

Chicago Tribune (Chris Jones)*

Citi Tour (Brian Scott Lipton)

The Daily Beast (Tim Teeman)*

Did They Like It? (Juan Michael Porter II)

Exeunt NYC (Loren Noveck)

New York Stage Review (Frank Scheck)

New York Sun (Elysa Gardner)*

New York Theater (Jonathan Mandell)

New York Theatre Guide (Joe Dziemianowicz)

New York Times (Jesse Green)*

New Yorker (Helen Shaw)

Talkin' Broadway (James Wilson)

Theater Pizzazz (Samuel L. Leiter)

Theatermania (Zachary Stewart)

Theatrely (Amanda Marie Miller)

Time Out (Adam Feldman)

Variety (A.D. Amorosi)

Vulture (Jackson McHenry)*

The Wrap (Thom Geier)

*This review requires creating a free account or a paid subscription.

Playbill will continue to update this list as reviews come in.

Arriving in the show with personal experience as K-pop artists, Luna takes on the role of MwE, while BoHyung and Min star as members of RTMIS. Also, Kevin Woo, who recently took over Playbill's Instagram, plays a member of F8. Completing the girl group are Julia AbuevaAmy Keum, and Kate Mina Lin. Woo is joined by John Yi, Hamilton's Eddy Lee, Joshua Lee, Abraham Lim, James Kho, Jiho Kang, and Dear Evan Hansen star Zachary Noah PiserLina Rose Lee, Major Curda, Jinwoo JungJully Lee, Timothy H. LeeAubie Merrylees, Patrick Park, and Marina Kondo round out the cast.

The company of KPOP Matthew Murphy

Director Teddy Bergman helms the production, which features choreography by Jennifer Weber, music direction by Sujin Kim-Ramsey, scenic design by Gabriel Hainer Evansohn, costume design by Clint Ramos and Sophia Choi, lighting designer Jiyoun Chang, sound designers Peter Fitzgerald and Andrew Keister, projection design by Peter Nigrini, hair and wig design by Mia M. Neal, and makeup designer Suki Tsujimoto. Cherie B. Tay serves as production stage manager, and casting is by Tara Rubin Casting.

WATCH: Get a 1st Look at Broadway's KPOP

Conceived by Jason Kim and the Woodshed Collective, KPOP featuring a book by Kim with music, lyrics, as well as music, lyrics, music production and arrangements by Helen Park, and music and lyrics by Max Vernon. It first opened Off-Broadway for its 2017 world premiere at Ars Nova. Ma-Yi Theater and the Woodshed Collective also contributed to bringing KPOP to the stage, and the musical ultimately took home three Lucille Lortel Awards including Outstanding Musical, the 2018 Richard Rodgers Award, and an Off Broadway Alliance Award for Best Unique Theatrical Experience.

For tickets and more information, visit KPOPBroadway.com.

Photos: See Inside the Opening Celebration of KPOP

 
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