Seoul Yonhap News reporter Song Gwang-ho reports that musical groups are successively jumping into paid performances while musical works are being performed on a limited basis in the aftermath of the novel coronavirus infection, COVID-19.
It is a strategy to improve profitability through non-face-to-face paid performances in a situation where sales decrease, while seeking a path to the future.
Starting from September 2, EMK Company announced that it will start selling products that combine VOD tickets and MD products of 'Mozart 10th Anniversary Performance' via Naver live video streaming service. Products that sell only VOD tickets, not combined products, will be on sale from the 4th. If you purchase a ticket, you can watch 'Mozart' through Naver V LIVE on October 3 and 4 during the Chuseok holiday.
Musical compositor Park Kang-hyun plays the role of Mozart on September 3 and actor Kim Junsu replaces Park Kang-hyun on the 4th. The musical performance depicts the human anguish and conflict of genius musician Mozart.
EMK Company filmed at the Sejong Center for the 4th and 5th of last month. It is informaed that the production cost was about 100 million won per episode.
The price of the ticket is set at 33,000 won, and the combined product including the ticket, photo set, and photo book ranged from 39,000 won to 47,000 won.
Kim Ji-won, vice president of EMK, said, "It is more important to look at the possibility of a new market rather than profit through imaginary ideas right now."
The Seoul Arts Institution will also show a video of the creative musical 'Lost Face 1895' through a live channel sponsored by Naver TV on the 28th and 29th of this month. It is a paid online streaming performance with an admission fee of 20,000 won.
In July, the Seoul Arts Institution filmed 'Lost Face 1895' in two versions with 4K cameras. The production cost is said to be about 40 million won per piece. 'The Lost Face 1895' is a work depicting the conflict between characters and political powers in the background of the case of Empress Myeongseong. Chae-yeon takes on the role of Empress Myeongseong, while Kim Yong-han plays Gojong, and Choi Jeong-soo plays Min Young-ik.
The Seoul Arts Institution is also planning to screen the musical "The Underworld with God" produced in 2018 on October 8-9. The ticket price is set at 15,000 won. The Seoul Arts Institution intends to sequentially to offer 4 other representative repertoires for a fee.
An official of the Seoul Performing Arts said, "Amid the corona crisis, non-face-to-face paid performances are one of the challenges facing the performance industry," and said, "We plan to shoot high-quality video such as 4K for paid screenings in the future performances."
On the other hand, after the government shifted social distancing to the second stage, sales of musicals have decreased significantly.
According to the Computing Network for Performing Arts, the sales of musicals from August 16 to September 1, when social distancing was strengthened, amounted to 3.4 billion won. This is a 63.7% decrease compared to the previous month's sales worth of 9.3 billion won.
