Creative Family Musical Based on Baseball in Busan
'Winning Baseball' vs 'Enjoying Baseball' Dilemma Explored
Performances at Busan Citizens Hall Until the 16th
"Run (RUN) run (RUN) run (RUN), run and run again
Run (RUN) run (RUN) run (RUN), hit a home run"
This is the song that marks the beginning and end of the musical Baseball King, Marins! The performance starts with a powerful beat that resonates with the heart and continues with the actors on stage sprinting. The goal is victory, or even further, growth.
Baseball King, Marins! is an original musical themed around baseball. It was co-planned over two years by Busan Cultural Center and the content production company ‘Live’. Baseball was chosen as the theme to emphasize Busan’s identity as a ‘baseball city,’ and talented child actors were cast to portray the growth process of a youth baseball team. Kim Joo-an, who has appeared in musicals such as Beethoven and Phantom, Yoo Joo-heon, who played young Lula in Kinky Boots, Jung Hye-ram, Jin Yeon-woo, and others portray the growth of the fictional youth baseball team ‘Marins Little Baseball Team.’
To aid intuitive understanding, plot twists were excluded from the story. The touching narrative tells of a weakest baseball team with no presence for a year after its founding, which gains a new coach who struggles between ‘winning baseball’ and ‘enjoying baseball,’ but ultimately finds a balance and achieves both.
Since it was necessary to create a dynamic baseball stadium atmosphere, special attention was paid to stage direction. At the press conference held on the 7th at Busan Citizens Hall, producer Kang Byung-won said, “It wasn’t easy to translate sports into a musical, but to convey dynamism, the entire stage was implemented with LED.” He added, “It would have been better to have a sloped stage or tiered seating for a better view of the baseball field, but that is a bit regrettable. If you want to see a three-dimensional view apart from the dynamic scenes, I also recommend watching from the second floor.”
The role of coach Go Woo-cheol, a former professional baseball player in the play, is played by actor Kim Ki-moo, who actually played for the Hanwha Eagles. He took charge of coaching the child actors in baseball and said, “There is a line in the play, ‘Have you ever played baseball?’ and ‘Have you ever been to a baseball stadium?’ which are questions I actually asked the kids. Since the child actors were not close friends with baseball, it was a challenge to make them resemble real baseball players.” He continued, “At first, we practiced with rubber balls, but later I saw their enthusiasm as they switched to real baseballs on their own, and I thought it would work. Their current attitude and skills toward baseball are good enough to actually play little league baseball. I want to give them 100 points.”
The family musical Baseball King, Marins! evokes a prism of emotions in various colors. The ‘good’ aspect of ‘little baseball,’ which pursues equality in growth regardless of gender, elicits enthusiastic responses from child audiences. In fact, during the performances continuing since the 5th, the passionate cheers and responses of young viewers filled the seats. Director Lee Dae-woong explained, “The dichotomous perspective of winning baseball and enjoying baseball may be an adult viewpoint. The essence of the story is that the growth prism reflected in children transfers to adults.” The video of the late ‘Iron Arm’ Choi Dong-won, a Busan native, offers nostalgic emotion to adult audiences.
The passion of the child actors is also an emotional element. In line with the musical’s theme of ‘growth,’ their enthusiastic traits of genuinely enjoying and continuously growing stand out. At the press conference stage on the 7th, the child actors showed playful gestures and did not hide their joy even without being prompted. Lee Chung-hyun, who plays Lee Nam-ho, a character who discovers hidden baseball talent, said, “Personally, the scene where Nam-ho, who had never watched baseball before, falls in love with baseball is the most touching. Actually, I started musical theater because my mom made me, but once I tried it, it was so enjoyable and fun that I am meeting the audience with an excited heart.”
"Run (RUN) run (RUN) run (RUN), run and run again
Run (RUN) run (RUN) run (RUN), hit a home run"
The run of Baseball King, Marins! continues at the Busan Citizens Hall Grand Theater until the 16th.
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