{"id":552397,"date":"2026-07-16T09:06:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T09:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/552397\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T09:06:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T09:06:14","slug":"musical-frozen-to-fuse-k-pop-vocals-multi-casting-and-disney-magic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/552397\/","title":{"rendered":"Musical ‘Frozen’ to fuse K-pop vocals, multi-casting and Disney magic"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/p>\n

The Korean cast of the musical \u201cFrozen,\u201d featuring Han Gyu-jung as Olaf, Shin Jae-beom as Kristoff and Park Jin-joo as Anna rehearse in Seoul, July 7. Courtesy of S&Co<\/p>\n

The musical \u201cFrozen\u201d will arrive in Korea next month as what its creative team called the most refined version of the Disney blockbuster yet, shaped by global experience and local talent. <\/p>\n

The international crew behind the Korean premiere said Seoul audiences can expect a production that both honors the beloved film and showcases the distinct vocal color and casting style of Korean musical actors.<\/p>\n

Associate director Adrian Sarple described the Seoul production as a culmination of nearly a decade of workshopping the show around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Korean production is the version that combines all the ideas and experiences we\u2019ve accumulated over the past eight years on stages worldwide,\u201d he said during a group interview with reporters Thursday.<\/p>\n

For music supervisor Sebastian de Domenico, the most striking difference in Seoul lies in the sound of the cast.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe vocal style that our Korean performers bring by nature seems to be influenced by K-pop,\u201d he said, explaining that the team specifically asked auditionees to sing both show material and a K-pop track of their choice.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir sound is very clean and straightforward, a very direct way of singing that\u2019s quite different from American and European pop music, and that\u2019s what makes this production very special and beautiful, especially when they sing together,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The Korean system of multi-casting main roles also reshaped the rehearsal room, the crew said. Unlike many countries that rely on a single principal per role, the Seoul production has three Elsas and three Annas sharing the stage over the run.<\/p>\n

\"Members<\/p>\n

Members of the musical’s production team for the Korean premiere pose at Charlotte Theater in Seoul, Wednesday. From left are associate music supervisor Sebastian de Domenico, associate choreographer Charlie Williams, associate physical movement coordinator Adam Jepson and associate director Adrian Sarple. Courtesy of S&Co<\/p>\n

\u201cKorea, as opposed to other territories we work in around the world, has multiple casts here,\u201d Sarple said. \u201cIt presents its own challenge, but it uniquely helps the other actors playing the part see sides to the characters they\u2019re playing in a very different way to a solo actor.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said watching fellow performers allowed the actors to discover \u201caspects of the characters they might never have considered,\u201d promising that repeat viewers will feel \u201ceach Elsa and each Anna is different in how they interpret the lyrics and express the music.\u201d<\/p>\n

Choreographer Charlie Williams said the movement in \u201cFrozen\u201d is built around the show\u2019s \u201ctwo worlds\u201d \u2014 royal Arendelle and the realm of magic \u2014 and tailored to each cast\u2019s strengths. \u201cIf you\u2019re really paying attention, I hope you\u2019ll be able to pick up the difference of the movement from our warm, thawed world to as the world freezes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Puppetry is another demanding pillar of the production, especially for Sven the reindeer, coordinated by Adam Jepson, who originated the role on Broadway.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always joke with people that doing Sven every day is sort of like doing a marathon,\u201d he said, citing specialized rehearsals that retrain performers to move on stilts, manage a head that extends well beyond their own and control a full-body puppet with limited vision. He highlighted the \u201cbeautiful moments of connection\u201d when fellow actors subtly assist the puppet\u2019s movement, such as Kristoff shaking Sven\u2019s neck so it appears the reindeer moves independently.<\/p>\n

While \u201cFrozen\u201d remains a touchstone for children, the creative team stressed the stage version deepens the themes that also resonate with adults. Sarple said the musical taps into feelings that parents may have felt but \u201cmight not want to admit\u201d while watching the original film.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we ended up with was a beautiful story, a very honest human story about our relationship with ourselves and with each other … and then a bunch of really good songs and really good dance numbers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Korean premiere of \u201cFrozen\u201d is set for Aug. 13 at Charlotte Theater in Seoul and run through March 1, 2027, before the show moves to Busan\u2019s Dream Theatre next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Korean cast of the musical \u201cFrozen,\u201d featuring Han Gyu-jung as Olaf, Shin Jae-beom as Kristoff and Park…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":552398,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[93,61,60,278],"class_list":["post-552397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=552397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/552398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=552397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=552397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=552397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}