Idols in musicals: strong ticket sales, but lack skills

[rikayla.livejournal.com]

With so many idols in the market dominating the music scene, many idols have expanded their horizons and have taken places in the musical industry. Idols have typically shown great ticket sales power, and over 20 idols have gone into musicals. However, while idols may be able to produce great ticket sales when they star in the musical, not all idols have necessarily been praised for their work.

As they land major roles in musicals, idols undergo close scrutiny from musical critics. Many critics have not been wholly impressed and have not highly praised the idols who came to be musical actors. There has been debate over the idols getting large roles in musicals despite their lack of proven skill. In the last month till March 13th, Kukinews had 11 musical critics and producers assess "musical idols" on their skills in a survey. The grading criteria would be based upon four main categories: singing, acting, marketability, and growing potential. Within each category, two names would be chosen, and the one that came in first would be given three points, and the second two points.

The idols that were chosen to be in the skill category were Kim Junsu, J, Kyuhyun, Onew, and Taeyeon. The idols chosen were taken based upon ranks. However, some of the respondents turned in a blank paper and flatly claimed that, "None of them has the skill that is worth evaluation."

JYJ's Kim Junsu managed to receive particularly good scores in the marketability and singing ability sector. Professor Jin Jeonghoon of the Chung Kang Culture Industry University said that "Kim Junsu has proven himself through his roles in 'Mozart!' and 'Tears of Heaven' to be a musical star. But, his vocal range is so limited that classic, traditional works will be difficult for him to perform." Besides the critique on the range Kim Junsu has, the professor continued, "His vocalization is also very peculiar, and he lacks in the ability to express the lyrics."

Despite the criticism on vocal range and expression of song, the professor from Dankook University Jin Yunho commented that, "While there are still things lacking at some parts, overall, Kim Junsu's natural talent to rivet the audience's attention to the stage is quite amazing."

Kim Junsu received the vote of six of the people who were surveyed as the idol who has the potential to become the next musical idol star. Wang Yongbeom of the Seoul College of Arts remarked that Kim Junsu "seems to have the potential to be loved by the public in the future, considering how he sold out both the performances of 'Mozart!' and 'Tears of Heaven.' However, as he currently is engaged in other activities, it would be wise for him to choose to do another solid musical performance later on."

A producer who wished to remain anonymous commented that, "Potential growth is all about practice. Even though an idol is an idol singing star, if there is no practice in context of a musical, then that would equivocate to a murky performance by them later on. The main issue that idols have in their way to becoming great musical stars is that the idols are already very busy with their main occupation to focus all that much on practicing for the musical."

While their talents may be in question by the critics of the musical industry, idols that participate in musicals are undoubtedly benefiting the popularity of musicals. More and more foreign tourists from China, Japan and other countries have increased in attendance at musicals where idols perform in.

The fans of the idols that star in musicals are given credit to being the source of the idol's "ticket power." For example, SNSD's Jessica and Taeyeon sold their respective musicals "Legally Blonde" and "Song of The Sun" well enough to break even in ticket sales. While musical idols are still technically labeled as rookies in the musical industry, they receive at least 1.5 times higher a fee than most musical veterans.

Professor Yuri from the Chung Kang Culture Industry University said, "Sometimes idols are appointed roles in musical performances on the basis of trying to get a larger audience rather than in consideration of a good performance of a high caliber, so this could possibly lead to a drop in musical quality that will result, perhaps, in the decline of audience numbers in the future."

Do you think the criticisms of idols starring in musicals is fair? Are idols merely just for show in musicals, or have they in fact earned their roles through their talent?


Source: Koreaboo, SharingYoochun, Kukinews

Comments

[adishcka.livejournal.com]

sooo proudddd of my baby~

[db-sarang.livejournal.com]

forever stanning Junsu-Seonah..
Sorry GongJu and Hairi unnie ^^

[icedevil0289.livejournal.com]

he lacks in the ability to express the lyrics."

hmmm that's interesting. I've only seen some fancams of both mozart and tears of heaven, but I thought if it was thing junsu was good at it, it was singing with emotion.

[cellophaneroses.livejournal.com]

Same.

[unreal.livejournal.com]

Are idols merely just for show in musicals
They are. Having them star in a music means higher sales. And who wouldn't want high sales? This is not really a differnt then all those idols in drama's who can't act.

[wintersol.livejournal.com]

However, some of the respondents turned in a blank paper and flatly claimed that, "None of them has the skill that is worth evaluation."

this just seems rude to me. like they couldn't event take the time to try and evaluate them.

[shadow-kitty47.livejournal.com]

mte. I seems to me like these ppl just don't like idols period, regardless of if they can actually sing or not.

[dellusions.livejournal.com]

Junsu has a limited range and can't express emotions through music??!!

Can't say anything about others since I haven't seen any fancams or anything

[icedevil0289.livejournal.com]

I know I was a little puzzled by that, especially the part about not being able to express emotions through music.

[apricotvodka.livejournal.com]

I hope that those who go because their idols are in it become fans of musicals as well.

[fseventh.livejournal.com]

This. I actually think it might be one of benefits of having idols in the musicals. So people who had no interest in musical before take some interests on it.

[xshinebrighterx.livejournal.com]

I've seen some idols in musicals and in most cases I found them lacking, even in the singing category, because kpop music is really different from musical music.
I saw Yunho in "Goong" and even though he sold out every date, I felt like the other actors were far superior in terms of singing and acting.

I also saw Junsu on Mozart and I think he was very good, and I do think he has lots of potential. I would have like to see him in tears of heaven but I'm too broke for that.

I also saw Boram and Sungje in "I really really like you". Saw it once with Sungje/musical actress and once with Sungje/Boram, even though I ship Sungje/Boram and I spazzed like cray cray every time they were together in scene, I know that for anyone who isn't a fan she was lacking a lot (especially in the singing department). Sungje was decent, especially because his songs weren't too demanding and his role wasn't too challenging either.

Sungmo in Coronation Ball was painful to watch when he was in scene and boring when he wasn't. The songs were too operaish for his kpop voice and the acting was kinda awkward. He looked hot though.

Yoonhak in Finding Mr. Destiny is perfect. It's a light hearted musical and the songs aren't very demanding vocalwise, so while I don't see him being a musical star, he is very very good in this one and he's gotten very good reviews from the general audience (not that I stalk the musical's message board or anything lol)

[icedevil0289.livejournal.com]

lucky you for seeing yunho in goong and junsu in mozart. so since you saw them, do you agree that he was unable to sing with emotion, because that's what one of the professors said in the article and I just find that questionable because junsu is known to be very emotional while singing.

[tothechangmin.livejournal.com]

lmao all from sme

[subarashii-garu.livejournal.com]

I can see Bing Bang's Daesung Name there, bb~ ^^
At the 2nd category~

[subarashii-garu.livejournal.com]

In my opinion, some have talent, skill, and possibility to improve in the future.. Some are not for musical.. Those respondents are quite understand musical world more that me, so I must agree with them.. As a Junsu's fan myself, I also agree that he still have many thing to improve in musical skill.. But I'm so proud that he top all categories~ Great job, baby~ \(^o^)/

[hopeandmemory.livejournal.com]

this is what i was going to say. i did theatre in high school and i was good at that style of singing (and choral singing for that matter) but i can't do pop-style singing very well. they're two very different skill sets, unless by chance you're in a musical that has a very pop/rock style (like spring awakening, for example).

[jaded-skys.livejournal.com]

Eh, saw Legally Blonde with Luna, and while she over-acted, her singing was great and she really did do a good job for her first musical.

[mad-nux.livejournal.com]

"None of them has the skill that is worth evaluation."
wow srsly, who are they? william hung?
if you're a critic do your freakin job. :|

vocally i think they're fine but their vocals could be stronger. they definitely need more acting skills

[captainmarvel.livejournal.com]

In my opinion Junsu is probably best at portraying emotions through his singing.

I'm proud of him.

[starlit-skys.livejournal.com]

A+.

[lovekorea.livejournal.com]

What about Yesung??

[moronicus-kyla.livejournal.com]

I've always wondered how actual musical theater critics thought of him. I think he sings flawlessly and has shown a bit of range (from a villain in Namhansansung to a hero in Hong Gil Dong to a comedic knight in Spamalot) but I can't really judge because I haven't seen him live and I'm theater no professional XD

[tiffa666.livejournal.com]

Agree w/ Junsu having a limited range,his singing skills overall isn't for musical but he's making a good use of it thru his song interpretation w/c means I don't agree w/ 'can't express emotionms thru music'XD~

[ghost-whisper.livejournal.com]

some of the respondents turned in a blank paper and flatly claimed that, "None of them has the skill that is worth evaluation."

No patience for elitists like this. Idols may not be trained for the musical stage, but they still can sing (well, those listed anyways). "not worth evaluation" only applies to someone who's completely tone deaf imo - otherwise, there's always room to grow/improve, and always positive points, thus *worthy of evaluation*

I'm not sure what they mean about Junsu's range being limited...unless they refer to the fact that male singing parts more frequently call for range that stretches lower, rather than higher... (don't agree with the emoting part at all though...)

I kind of understand the 'peculiar vocalization part' - Junsu definitely has a unique timbre, but that's part of what makes his voice so unique and great. Rather than making it sound like it's detrimental, I'd rather say that sometimes the more 'traditional' stage arts need people who *aren't* classically/traditionally trained to bring a fresh vibe to the stage. Lots of 'geniuses' or memorable artists were those who didn't practice standard training, whether you talk about singing, dancing, acting, painting, or otherwise.

[22by7.livejournal.com]

i really really REALLY agree with your last paragraph especially - and so with you about junsu's timbre. but maybe the fact that his voice comes with so much character is a problem in terms of musical? as in, there's too much personality for him to 'disappear' into a character... great now i'm not sure what i'm talking about :(

but anyway we all know junsu legit trained his voice too. he's gonna go far.

[erbalurbal.livejournal.com]

I agree with them about junsu's range but I don't think that means he can't convey emotions. I honestly don't like his voice but I enjoyed the clips I saw on youtube. I would pay to see it tbh. I am glad to see taeyeon there and I hope she gives it another shot. The musical she was in got bad reviews but she got a lot of praise.

[tippani.livejournal.com]

was it because the story was bad or...? because i heard the songs and they were pretty good.

[the-erotomanic.livejournal.com]

the theater is a business whether they like it or not. and they need to make money in order to make more musicals. maybe these idols don't really need to be the main actors, but their participation in musicals shouldn't be seen as something negative.

[hybridchickens.livejournal.com]

exactly, just exactly what you said alskdjk

[fay-of-sunshine.livejournal.com]

Idgi, I haven't seen Onew's but his voice seems adaptable to most type of music
...now the acting side, well that's kind of understandable.

"None of them has the skill that is worth evaluation."

this is so rude, i just had to lol.

[epinette.livejournal.com]

MTE.

As compared to the other members in Shinee, I really like the fact that Onew's voice is very versatile.

[inudela.livejournal.com]

smh at some of the elitism going on there. I do agree with them to a certain extent, but writing them off as talentless based on the fact that they're idols is stretching it. If they're not even going to bother giving proper criticism, then they can hardly expect significant improvement - not that they're even accepting this as a possibility. ngl though, judging from what i've heard, none of the idols can compare to standards of a good musical, so I guess that's a valid concern. the critics' attitude towards still makes me :/ though

[kms012.livejournal.com]

So we don't get to know how they rated the other idols besides Junsu?

[death-folder.livejournal.com]

well, junsu got the most votes in all categories...

[morgenderper.livejournal.com]

Someone tell me when musical critics are NOT elitist ?

/shrugs

[pandapples33.livejournal.com]

lol never

[junsoul.livejournal.com]

THIRD MUSICAL PLEASE BE A STORY THAT CAN OVERTAKE MOZART AND TOH. KK

[dbsked.livejournal.com]

really? in my country rare pop singer would go for musicals, because musical actors earn much lesser than pop singers I guess, but if the musical is a big hit, some musical actors become pop stars.. lol

[untrueo.livejournal.com]

Junsu has stated in past interviews for "Tears of Heaven" that he wants to do one musical a year, so Wang Yongbeom of the Seoul College of Arts is channeling the right idea.

To be an idol in the entertainment industry is great but I wish a idol would be humble and take a lesser starring role. Like a part of the supporting cast, later taking a lead role. It would show the critics and fans of musicals that this idol is serious. Which could lead to a better diverse career in the future in musicals.

Glad that people are keeping it real and not catering to the entertainment industry. Someone needs to protect that arts. Plus the criticism makes them stronger.

[hopeandmemory.livejournal.com]

that's a good idea, give them a smaller part to work their way up, and if they're lucky they might end up the sort of ensemble darkhorse that everyone loves. i think it's that the idols are being pushed into everyone's face and some people's reaction is to reject them without listening. we don't like being told what we should like or listen to, you know?