Monday, October 18, 2010

Junsu Mozart Concert

When Korean meets German...in a Musical

So, I was able to see one of my boys in a musical concert-- Kim Junsu. He was one of the four leading musical actors who portrayed Mozart in the Korean adaptation of Sylvester Levay's musical "Mozart" earlier this year. Levay, a Hungarian composer/songwriter/arranger, etc., composed the musicals Mozart and Elizabeth-- excerpts from both musicals were performed during the concert. Also, Uwe Kroger made a special appearance in these concerts. Uwe Kroger is an amazing German actor and singer and is so hot to trot right now in German-speaking countries. 

So, the concert was amazing-- live orchestra, wonderful vocals, great musical numbers... I was in heaven. The Mozart numbers were fantastic. Some of the Elizabeth ones were good, I absolutely loved one of them, but I think I'm spoiled by the Takarazaku version of Elizabeth, which I preferred to the Korean overall. Uwe Kroger was excellent. In my absolute favorite Elizabeth number, Kroger and a male Korean actor (Jeon Dongseok) sang a duet in German. It was amazing and powerful. LOVED~~ it. T_T So sad that I didn't get an audio clip of the song.

So, I was under the star-struck illusion that I was going to be able to film this entire concert with my camera. These were quickly dashed after I arrived. Half the security was to look out for cameras-- if you were caught, all your footage would be erased and you would be kicked out. It was so strict~! They had a security person on every section, looking down the rows, people on the floor, people up in the balconies... the security was crazy. So, I had to keep my camera in my lap and under my jacket. I had two good videos come out of it. Mostly, the only thing the camera was good for was audio, which I am happy with.

I had an amazing~~~ seat. I was right at the end of the middle section, so I had a straight view of the stage. There were some gates in front of me-- to keep all the sections separate, but it wasn't tall enough to disrupt my view. <3 Score~! Also, one of my friends told me that the night I went, they recorded it for the DVD. So, my cheers and screams will be forever immortalized (mixed with and drowned out by the hundreds of others, but that's not the point). Another weird highlight was that while everyone was being seated, they were playing Lady Gaga over the intercom-- multiple Lady Gaga songs. It was a little surreal, but hey, I can handle multi-culturalism.

So, first I had to go pick up my ticket at the venue (Olympic Park--Gymnastics Hall)

My ticket~!







These were taken after the musical was over. Even then, security was yelling at everyone to put their cameras away.

This was the view I had of the stage. AMAZING~!




Okay, here I am-- completely disheveled after the concert

Again, not the greatest pictures of me. I really should have took this pics before the concert... you know, when my hair was together and my make up hadn't been sweated off... yeah, before all that would have been great  ^^"




Teaser Commercial for the Concert



This song is my absolute favorite from the Mozart performances-- this song takes place after Mozart essentially makes himself persona non grata among the Salzburg nobles and he's begging his father to let him go to Vienna, Paris, or London--that he has to be free. And his father is basically saying, "I'm responsible for keeping this family together and I'm not going to let you break us apart. I can protect you better than you can." Then, in the end, his father casts him aside and Mozart realizes that all he is and all he has is music--so he has to go pursue it. 

Uwe Kroger featured. This is the song where Mozart has the fight with Count Arco (Kroger)-- one of the Salzburg nobles-- who is holding a party in the Prince's honor. Mozart shows up late and displays no respect for the nobility, so Arco tears up his composition and kicks him out-- stating... well, singing that he would never be welcomed into the court again.

This is an original composition that Sylvester Levay had written for Kim Junsu called The Day I Died. It's pretty~~

Most of the musical were highlights from the Mozart musical, but at the end they also added in some songs from another Sylvester Levay musical called, Elisabeth. 

ENG SUBTITLED Overview of the German version of Elisabeth-- in which Uwe Kroger plays Death. Awesome. I love this musical-- especially the 2002 Flower Troupe Takarazuka version with the great Haruno Sumire as Death. Ah... amazing.