I’ve always loved musicals. When I was in junior school, I used to run across the playing field, pretending to be Maria von Trapp (Julie Andrews) singing ‘The Sound of Music’. I knew all the words to ‘The Sound of Music’, ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’, ‘Doctor Doolittle’, and ‘Mary Poppins’.

During my 20 years in Korea, I mistakenly thought that Korean musicals wouldn’t be of a good quality so I never went to see them. It wasn’t until I returned to England that I discovered how wrong I had been. I bought a copy of the DVD of Miss Saigon in London 2014/15. I was stunned by the emotion in the scene where Thuy tries to kill Tam. I’d never seen anything like it in a musical before. So, I looked up the actor playing Thuy and discovered it was Kwang-ho Hong (홍광호). I soon discovered he has the best singing voice I’ve ever heard. I also discovered that, these days, Korea produces musicals of the highest quality.

If I were still in Korea now, I would be trying to get a ticket for Jekyll and Hyde, which starts next week at the Blue Square Theatre. My preference would be to see Kwang-ho Hong (홍광호) as Jekyll/Hyde and Gong-ju Yoon (윤공주) as Lucy.

The Great Gatsby, a Korean-produced musical is scheduled to open in London next year, and I plan to see it. Can’t wait!