The Development Process and Characteristics of the South Korean Musical Market

Abstract

Abstract This chapter provides an overview of the Korean musical market at large, examining its major characteristics, limitations, and prospects in three parts. The first section delineates the history of Korean musicals, identifying its unique characteristics. The second section examines the current status of the Korean musical industry by assessing various recent statistics to determine which phenomena need close attention in 2020. The last section focuses on Korean musicals’ relationship to K-pop—by far the most ‘Korean’ aspect of the market—highlighting phenomena derived from this relationship. The rapid growth of the musicals industry since 2000 has led to the active involvement of large corporations, which invested mainly in tested, licensed musicals starring high-profile celebrities. This strategy restricted investment in original musicals and resulted in various problems related to celebrity casting, such as a rise in ticket prices and multiple casting. It also limited the popularisation of musicals and the acquisition of new audience pools, thus weakening the overall structure of the industry. The chapter concludes that in order for the industry to grow and for its internal stability to be strengthened, new works and audience bases need to be developed.