Creative Musical 'Hope' Wins Up to 8 Awards Including Grand Prize
Park Kang-hyun and Lee Ye-eun Win Best Supporting Actor and Actress... Yang Hee-jun and Kim Su-ha Receive Rookie Awards
Kim Sun-young (left) and Jo Hyung-kyun, winners of the Best Actor and Actress awards at the 4th Korea Musical Awards. Photo by Yonhap News Agency
[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] Musical actors Kim Sun-young (46) and Jo Hyung-kyun (36) won the Best Actor and Actress awards at the 4th Korean Musical Awards held on the 20th at Blue Square Interpark Hall in Yongsan-gu, Seoul.
Kim Sun-young starred as the protagonist Eva Hoffe in the original musical Hope: The Unread Book and the Unread Life. Hope is an original musical inspired by the real lawsuit between the National Library of Israel and Israeli woman Eva Hoffe over the ownership of Franz Kafka's posthumous works. Kim Sun-young won the honor, surpassing Shin Young-sook (Excalibur), Ok Joo-hyun (Sweeney Todd), Yoon Gong-ju (Aida), Jung Sun-ah (Aida), and Cha Ji-yeon (Hope).
Jo Hyung-kyun appeared as the poet-swordsman Cyrano in the musical Cyrano. Cyrano is a work set in 17th-century Paris, France, depicting the love story of three men and women: Cyrano, Roxanne, and Christian. Jo Hyung-kyun outshone Oh Jong-hyuk (Those Days), Lee Hwi-jong (Swag Age: Shout Joseon!), Cho Seung-woo, Hong Kwang-ho (both Sweeney Todd), and Kai (Excalibur).
Currently, Kim Sun-young is performing in the musical Bodyguard, and Jo Hyung-kyun is appearing in The Man Who Sold Shadows and Vincent Van Gogh.
Hope received the most nominations at this awards ceremony with 13 categories and won 8 awards, the highest number. The grand prize, the highest honor, was also awarded to Hope, surpassing Excalibur, Swag Age: Shout Joseon, and The Eyes of Dawn.
Hope also swept major staff awards including ▲Producer: Oh Hoon-sik ▲Director: Oh Lupina ▲Script: Kang Nam ▲Music Award (Composition): Kim Hyo-eun ▲Music Award (Arrangement/Music Director): Shin Eun-kyung.
The Best Musical awards went to Sweeney Todd (for theaters with 400 seats or more) and Arangga (for theaters with fewer than 400 seats). The Best Supporting Actor award went to Park Kang-hyun of Excalibur, and the Best Supporting Actress award went to Lee Ye-eun of Hope. The Best New Actor and Actress awards were given to Yang Hee-jun and Kim Soo-ha from Swag Age: Shout Joseon!.
Other awards included Best Choreography to Moon Sung-woo for Ben-Hur, Best Stage Art to Park Joon (video) for City of Angels and Jung Seung-ho (stage) for Excalibur. The Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Song Seung-hwan, Artistic Director of PMC Production, and the Ensemble Award went to the Aida ensemble team. The newly established Kakao Best Character Award was awarded to 'Morgana' from Excalibur.
The Korean Musical Awards are hosted by the Korea Arts & Culture Education Service, organized by the Korean Musical Association, and sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Interpark Theater.
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