Daehangno's Korean Musicale HWARANG 뮤지컬 화랑

At the 2013 Korea In Motion (KOINMO) opening ceremonies at the Cheonggyecheon, the actors of this musicale (and the rain) stole the show. They easily won the audience full of locals and foreigners while performing some songs from their musicale.

                                           (Hwarang's Super Team)

                                (Hwarang's Star Team)

I'm talking about the Korean musicale, HWARANG, 뮤지컬 화랑 whose story is set during the Shilla Dynasty, but is set to a K-pop style with some catchy melodies and dancing. I discovered this musicale last year when it was showcased at the 2012 Korean In Motion opening ceremonies. I was very impressed with the singing voices of the actors that night, and they were definitely better than most of the manufactured K-pop bands you see on TV. Since then, I have encouraged friends and colleagues to watch it, and they totally enjoyed it.

The 2013 season's run of HWARANG presents a new cast of actors, which still includes some faces and voices I recognize from last season, namely, Kim Su-Min, Kim Tae-Min and Lee Yeong-Wook. (These three veterans have really good voices.) 

And with the free tickets from KOINMO, I was able to visit their new theater venue in Daehang-no, although finding the new venue was a bit tricky, actually. So, I took photos of the route (from Exit 2 of Hyewha Station) for those who are going to watch this musicale.

During the show, it was easy to tell why most audience members were female, and why most of them were very giggly during the show. So, I deliberately took a seat at the back to observe the whole audience,and even noticed one girl dabbing her eyes during a sad moment of the almost two-hour performance.Taking photographs or videos is prohibited during the show, but during the curtain call, this was allowed.  

And here's a video I took during Super Team's curtain call. Notice the very excited female audience member sitting before me. Her jumping up and down her seat says it all! >>CLICK THIS. 

With this follow-the-photos route from the Exit 2 of Hyewha Station (Line 4) to Ye-Sool Ma-dang building, finding it would be easy:

• Just walk for about a hundred meters from Exit 2, 
• turn right after the school, and 
• follow the winding road until you see the building with huge tarpaulins of the show. 
• A lazy walk from Exit 2 would take about five minutes. 

                                            (Hyewha Station's Exit 2)

                                (Turn left here and follow the road)

                                                              (The building)

                                 (Ticket counters inside)

The ticket counters are on the ground floor and there's a coffee shop opposite it. The musicale is staged on the 3rd floor theater.

                                                       (Third floor lobby)

                     (You can take the stairs or the elevator going up)

Here are the links to their Facebook page: HWARANG FB

And here's their Korean website: MUSICALE HWARANG
Their Korean website contains information on the ticket prices and schedule. As of this writing, their schedule is:

Tuesdays - Fridays:  8PM
Saturdays: 3PM and 7PM
Sundays: 3PM 
Mondays: No performance

You can also call this number for inquiries: (02)4686-443

Enjoy the show!