Review Over The Excellent (?) Musical "The Last Empress"

Musical "The Last Empress"

The review and evaluation below were produced strictly based on my subjective standards.


Reputation ★★★★★

A masterpiece of an everlasting merit. Performed at Broadway and lauded by the Broadway critics. The pride of Korean musicals. These were the appreciations I had heard of the musical “The Last Empress”. So therefore, these were the similar assessments I was hoping to make myself about the musical when I had visited the Choong-Moo Art Hall with my two friends on the 12th of November, the precious golden peak of my weekend. Unfortunately, the only impression I had received from the 150 minutes of the lengthy performance was how distant the quality of Korean musicals were from reaching the levels of that of globally renowned musicals.

Expectations ★★★★★

At first, everything seemed to go pretty well: after we (me and my friends) had eaten pasta at a nearby famous restaurant which we had “googled” on the internet beforehand, we arrived just in time when the theatre was about to lock its doors. We sat down at the third row from the front, which had cost us fairly a large amount (85,000 won), with our hearts filled with grand expectations and nervous excitements. We were all hoping to see an outstanding show, perhaps not like the historically epoch-making Phantom of the Opera, but at least possessing the grandeur and scale that it ought to have considering its superb price of fame. And until the curtain was finally lifted and several musical performers appeared on stage wearing awkward Japanese samurai costumes, our sense of excitement remained.

Language Transformation ★★

However, when the show had begun, I noticed that something was…… unnatural. Surprisingly, it wasn’t just me who’d felt that way; all three of us simultaneously stirred at the “uncomfortable”-yes, that would be the correct modifier-song the samurais sang. A few seconds later, I finally understood the cause for my uneasiness; the words in Korean were being squashed into the musical rhymes, and it was hard to distinguish whether the performers were singing a song or engaging in a dialogue. It was rather odd; something wasn’t really right, when Korean was being transferred into musical lyrics, the connection wasn’t as smooth when English had. Our stereotypes that musicals should be performed in English might have played a role in generating the uneasy sentiment, but the lack of professional skills make the transition natural was also a definite factor. Somehow, the actors skillfully managed to continue, but even they couldn’t assist us in eliminating the awkward sentiment we felt due to the “forced translation” between two different languages. Such impressions made us feel……exhausted: we felt as if the singers were laboriously reciting their sentences, with great effort and ardor but without confidence.

However, despite our discomfort towards the awkward transformation, the performance continued. Thankfully, after awhile, we managed to withstand the choppy dialogues (or songs) as we eventually got used to them. So then, we quietly watched the show, waiting for the performers to impress us-to sway our emotions dexterously, manipulating us to be surprised, be enraged, be sympathetic, be nostalgic, and be sorrowful so that we had to cry out loud. Our anticipations were still very high; we were so sure that we would soon witness the source of this musical’s popularity.

The first half of the performance had ended.
We still weren’t sure why so many people had exalted this piece.

Content ★★★
Performance ★★★
Impact ★★
Presentation of Scenario ★★
Settings ★★★

The overall quality of the work was reasonable. The scenario was based on a historical event, thus the story pretty much stuck with the facts. The characters, similarly, resembled the actual figures. The singing and dancing were well practiced by the performers-by 대원군, 홍계훈, 미우라, 고종, and 명성황후, we could notice-and was put on stage without critical mistakes. Conclusively, the general content of the show had well reflected the historical incident to some degree, and the “artistic elements” of the show (singing and dancing) delivered the scenario reasonably. However, as you might have noticed from the tone of my demonstration, everything was reasonable; there wasn’t a single part in the piece where it was strikingly impressive or a single song which was euphonious and beautiful for us to remember forever. Nothing was resonating in our mind when the first half had ended.

Emotional Absorption ★


So, we expected for all the surprises and sensations in the next half. We at least had hoped to hear the historically famous quote “I am the mother of this nation” at the climax, when the empress was murdered.

Disappointingly, our poor empress encountered her tragic fate abruptly, and passed away without much drama.
The latter part had finished.

And we were just all so confused! We were thinking, “Did we miss something?” “Why is it already over?” “THAT’S IT?”We were mad, we were disappointed, and again, we were confused over what was supposed to be so impressive about what we'd just watched. The first thought that came into my mind as I was walking out of the theater: “That show is so mediocre!” The show wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t good either! And, of course, it wasn’t impressively fantastic, at least not enough for it to be named the “A masterpiece of an everlasting merit” or “The pride of Korean musicals.” Where did these evaluations even come from? Where were all the lauded drama and the excessive flow of emotions-the fury, the sorrow, the empathy-that the critics of Broadway had experienced?

As we were exiting through the door, we heard someone say, “I enjoyed the show, but I couldn’t find a reason to revere it. I mean, I couldn’t find something specifically to criticize, but I couldn’t find something to craze about either.”

Mediocrity ★★★★★
Disappointment ★★★★

And that’s exactly my point.

Cost-Benefit Analysis ★★★

Did I tell you that this show cost me 85$? Well, luckily, I don’t regret spending the money. Although I did waste a crucial part of my weekend along with my month’s allowance, I could say that I paid off the performers who must have practiced really hard for this show, and who exactly aren't responsible for the banality and idleness of the show. And it didn’t suck, either, so, I’ll consider it to be the one and only annual investment I’ll make for my cultural life. Besides, I also learned two important lessons from this experience. Number one: don’t blindly trust the reputation, even if authorities with expertise had given them so; sometimes, you just can’t understand their standards. And number two: Korean musicals still have a long way to go in their path.

And my advice for you: don’t go watch “The Last Empress.”

Satisfaction ★★
My Recommendation ★







Part of the Musical that are interesting to watch:
http://www.pandora.tv/category.ptv/video/category/c1/01/c2/0097/ch_userid/barrim/prgid/34270579 "수태굿"

Music Video from Another Movie:
http://blog.naver.com/axisinc?Redirect=Log&logNo=30113366398&jumpingVid=F81A318F57E386813FB85508428F425CE66C