[REVIEW] 'Shestars!' musical celebrates pioneering K-pop girl groups

Music & Performance

Published: 15 Sep. 2023, 08:08 Updated: 15 Sep. 2023, 08:28

[REVIEW] 'Shestars!' musical celebrates pioneering K-pop girl groups

Actors playing the Kim Sisters recreate the 1960s girl group's performance of "When The Saints Go Marching In" in the musical "Shestars!" [SEENSEE]

The musical “Shestars!” is a tribute to K-pop acts that long predate Blackpink or BTS.

It depicts the career highlights of six historical Korean girl groups: the Jeogori Sisters of the 1930s, the first girl group in Korea’s modern history and the starting place of hit star Lee Nan-young; the Korean Kittens, active around the '60s, formed by singer Yoon Bok-hee; the Kim Sisters, which became an American hit in the '60s; the Lee Sisters, who produced dozens of local hits throughout the '60s like “Ulleungdo Twist” (1966); Trot duo Bunny Girls, comprised of two twins that debuted in 1971; and the '70s disco girls, Hee Sisters, also known as Hee Jamae, that produced R&B diva Insooni.

It’s a compact show, just 110 minutes without an intermission. Thankfully, it feels like it as well, although the audience will need to get past the tacky stage designs and the overload of background explanations.

Actors playing the Lee Sisters sing "Ulleungdo Twist" during a scene of the musical "Shestars!" [SEENSEE]

Director Kolleen Park and writer Jeon Su-yeon apparently spent a decade developing and researching for “Shestars!” and even met all the singers in person, except for Lee Nan-young who passed away in 1965.

Their effort certainly pays off in the costumes and hairstyles, which emulate the actual looks these ladies flaunted during performances. Some real events depicted in the show are indeed awing as well, like how the Kim Sisters had to literally crawl up the stairs of their apartment due to exhaustion after a show yet still practiced every night, how Yoon Bok-hee decided to become a singer when her uncle coaxed her into the music industry by saying that she wouldn’t have to starve anymore, or how Insooni, who dreamed of becoming a Catholic nun, decided to audition for a girl group to feed her family.

But the frequent verbal explanations muddle the production’s identity as a musical.

Bunny Girls in the musical "Shestars!" [SEENSEE]

Actor Hwang Seong-hyun, the only male actor in the cast, acts in multiple roles that all can be summed up as the narrator. During his lengthy lectures on these women’s feats and struggles, digital screens on the stage display graphs, numbers and even a YouTube clip: These additions all make the show feel more like the inside a classroom rather than a theater.

Park herself calls the show a “mockumentary” — which is a style of storytelling that presents a fictional story in the format of a documentary.

She defended her decisions against such criticism during the press conference for the musical on Wednesday at Hongik Art Center in Jongno District, central Seoul, saying that she saw the explanations as “necessary” because, “without the girl groups’ historical context, it just becomes a concert.”

Kim Sisters were versatile performers, skilled in over a dozen instruments. This is portrayed in the musical "Shestars!" [SEENSEE]

Be that though it may, there is undoubtedly an overly enthusiastic use of digital screens, especially during musical numbers when it displays almost confusing, screen-saver-like visuals.

The overall aesthetics of the stage is lacking, one example being the large, colorful circles on the outer border of the stage that are highly reminiscent of a Twister mat.

These can be quite the distraction as the audience tries to ease into the show, but the magical moment comes quickly enough — halfway through the first number, in fact.

The creatives put an interesting dramatic twist in the middle of the song, Jeogori Sisters’ “Maiden Chorus” (translated), by depicting the degrading treatment the group received offstage. When forced to change their performance set list for the "higher people from the Jongno police station" — essentially the Japanese — actor Yoo Yeon’s Lee Nan-young, in indignation and as a spur of the moment, incorporates the Korean folk song "Arirang" into her group’s performance.

Jeogori Sisters in "Shestars!" sing "Maiden Chorus" (translated) [SEENSEE]

The simple yet familiar melody of "Arirang" piercing through the cheery notes of “Maiden Chorus” instantly and effectively establishes a reason to keep watching the show.

It is this empowering narrative of all six groups that makes "Shestars!" no worse then a solid B. It would be difficult to make a bad story even with just the simple facts of the stories.

Regardless, Park is very good at translating the common inner strength of the ladies amid their difficult surroundings, both theatrically and musically, as can be seen in the first number and all others that follow.

This becomes the strongest suit of this musical as it summons incredible audience empathy for all six acts, despite the fact that the show doesn’t have a single true protagonist or antagonist.

A fervent applause breaks out at the end of each song, not for that last, impressive high note, but for the genuine respect and support that audiences come to show the characters.

Kolleen Park, director of "Shestars!" [SEENSEE]

Particularly noteworthy performances were by actor Lee Seo-young, in alternating the role of Korean Kittens’ Yoon Bok-hee whose performance in “What I'd Say" was wonderfully thrilling; and actors Kim Ryeo-won as Kim Sook-ja, Lee Ye-eun as Kim Ai-ja and Ha Yoo-jin as Kim Mi-ja of Kim Sisters who sang, danced and played instruments through the chopped up version of “When the Saints Go Marching In."

The musical uses a multi-casting system where all 10 of its female actors rotate at least two main roles and three sub-roles. Thus, the same actor stars as multiple characters during a single performance. Six actors appear in one show.

“I wanted to impress the audience by showing that our actors can do this,” said Park. “I wanted to show them how difficult live theater can be.”

The opening number of musical "Shestars!" [SEENSEE]

An interesting directorial call comes at the very end of the show when the actors take their final bow and then say their real names after their characters' names.

Similar to the 1994 American musical “Rent,” it suggests that the actors themselves are living lives similar to their characters — in this case, the musical legends.

“Shestar!” runs through Nov. 12 at the Hongik Art Center.

BY LEE JIAN [lee.jian@joongang.co.kr]