Big licensed plays and musicals—trusted by audiences—dominate this Lunar New Year season in Korea. Steady sellers include Kinky Boots (runs through March 29 at Charlotte Theater), a vibrant pop-filled story about Charlie and drag queen Lola fighting prejudice; Death Note (through May 10 at D-Cube Link Art Center), a tense, LED-driven musical adaptation of the manga about a genius boy who finds a deadly notebook; and Beetlejuice (through March 22 at LG Arts Center Seoul), which captures Tim Burton’s quirky afterlife fantasy with wild performances. The play Life of Pi (through March 2 at GS Art Center) uses intricate puppetry to depict a boy stranded at sea with a tiger. Family-friendly Korean original musicals also feature: GinGinNight (긴긴밤) adapts a best-selling children’s book about loss and solidarity, and Mally (말리) follows an 18-year-old’s journey back in time toward self-discovery. (drag queen), (puppet) are noted for cultural context.
