Uijeongbu IMTF adds celebrity power

This year’s Uijeongbu International Music Theater Festival will feature world-renowned soprano Jo Sumi and K-pop couple Tiger JK and Yoon Mi-rae as PR ambassadors and participating artists.

The annual festival held in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province, on Thursday named soprano Jo as honorary chairwoman and hip-hop musicians Tiger JK and Yoon as PR ambassadors.

The artists will also hold concerts in conjunction with the festival. Jo will perform at Uijeongbu Arts Center on May 15, while the hip-hop duo plans to perform at the festival’s finale at the UAC’s outdoor theater on May 20. The concert by Tiger JK and Yoon, who live in the city, is free to the public.

The festival showcases a broad spectrum of musical theater, bringing a variety of performances to this northeastern satellite town of Seoul, better known for its U.S. military presence than the arts.

The festival, now in its 11th year, runs May 5-20, with four homegrown and seven foreign productions participating.

The festival aims to draw participation from the locals by staging both domestic and foreign productions in their area, Hong Seung-chan, artistic director of the festival told reporters at a press conference held in Seoul on Thursday.

The festival opens with non-verbal theater production “PLECS” by a Spanish theater group Enfila’t at UAC on May 5. The experimental theater work is a combination of music, acrobatics, circus and dance that features tumbling machinery and everyday props such as scissors, keys, paper and pipes. There will be surprises for the audience, the festival’s organizing committee said.

The festival ends with another Spanish production titled “Sing Sing Sing” by theater company Divinas. Featuring three talented female singers, the musical production invites the audience back to the 1950s in the West when female trios were popular. From swing, Latin and rock to ballads, performers sing songs from various genres and explain the stories of the bands of that era.

Other foreign productions include “Loop the Loop” a mix of music and comedy by Australian theater company Onyx Production, and “Nuova Baberia Carloni” performed by Theatro Necessario from Italy.

Renowned ballet choreographer Seo Mi-sook will introduce her own ballet production titled “Hymne a l’Amour” about French singer and cultural icon Edith Piaf on May 10-12 at UAC. Uijeongbu citizens will also take part in a choir musical titled “Uijeongbu Sarangga” or “Uijeongbu Love Songs,” to be staged on May 13.

For more information call (031) 828-5892 or visit www.umtf.or.kr

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)