NOVEL WEB Episode 96 - Musical 「Dejandor」 (1)
“We’ve arrived.”
“Thank you for your hard work. Everything’s been arranged, right?”
“Of course. I’ve informed the operations team. Jin Yu-han doesn’t know.”
With Min-soo’s reply, I got out of the car.
“Yeon-woo!”
“Joo-hyung, you made it.”
– Clunk. –
Just then, Min-soo opened the trunk from the driver’s seat, revealing many lunch boxes divided into several bags.
Soon after, Min-soo got out of the car and walked towards the trunk, and Yeon-woo introduced Kim Joo-hyung to him.
“Min-soo hyung, this is my college friend, Kim Joo-hyung.”
“Ah, hello. We spoke on the phone at the beginning of the semester.”
“Yes, manager-nim. Hello!”
Yeon-woo took the bags out of the trunk and distributed them.
“Let’s work hard today, Joo-hyung. It would have been tough for just the two of us, but with the three of us, it should be enough.”
“Ah, it’s nothing.”
The three of them carried several bags each and headed for the elevator.
“What floor was it again?”
“The 5th floor.”
“Wow, so they practice in a place like this.”
Kim Joo-hyung, who had tilted his head in curiosity at the ordinary-looking building from the outside, had vaguely thought that musical rehearsals were held in theaters.
“Yeah, it’s my first time seeing a theater troupe’s practice too.”
While chatting about this and that, the elevator doors opened, and an employee from the theater troupe’s operations team was there to greet us.
“Hello. Thank you so much for coming to such a humble place.”
“Don’t mention it.”
“Come this way, please. Everyone probably thinks the food they ordered is being delivered.”
Following the operations team employee down the corridor, we came upon a rehearsal hall with a fairly high ceiling.
The employee opened the door, and I led the way in.
“Food delivery!”
As Yeon-woo entered with a smile, holding the bags, the troupe members, who had gotten up thinking it was really a food delivery, were taken aback.
“Huh? What’s going on?”
“Isn’t that Ryu Yeon-woo?”
“What’s this? Is it a hidden camera prank?”
The troupe members were buzzing with surprise at the unexpected situation. In the midst of the commotion, Jin Yu-han, who had been wiping sweat from his face with a towel, heard Yeon-woo’s name and quickly turned his head towards the entrance.
“Huh? Yeon-woo?”
Jin Yu-han was taken aback to see Ryu Yeon-woo actually walking in and hurriedly got up to approach him.
“Really, it’s Yeon-woo! What brings you here?”
“I came to support the musical. Hello, I’m Ryu Yeon-woo, Yu-han’s friend.”
Wow!
Awesome!
As Yeon-woo greeted the astonished musical actors, cheers erupted.
“Yu-han, your arm’s going to fall off.”
Yeon-woo playfully handed over the bags to Jin Yu-han, who was still in shock, and he hurriedly accepted them.
“Here’s lunch for today.”
“Why did you bring so much? I feel bad.”
As Jin Yu-han took the lunch boxes, Kim Joo-hyung, who had been standing behind Manager Min-soo, peeked out.
“Yu-han, I’m here too.”
“Huh? Joo-hyung!”
Jin Yu-han, who had recently traveled with Kim Joo-hyung and fought alongside him as friends(?), greeted him with a bright smile.
“Everyone, please come and eat. We’ve brought some simple lunch boxes.”
“Wow, thank you.”
“You’re so handsome!”
As the troupe members gathered around applauding while we set down the lunch boxes, Yeon-woo spoke.
“Wow, amazing. There’s beef sushi.”
“The team leader said he was going out for black bean noodles, but to come back with Ryu Yeon-woo and sushi…”
The troupe members thanked Yeon-woo and dispersed to sit comfortably and eat their sushi.
Our group also sat down cross-legged on the stage with Jin Yu-han and opened our lunch boxes.
“Yeon-woo, I feel pressured when you take care of me so well. What am I supposed to do for you later?”
“Well, maybe prepare some lobster?”
“Lobster, okay.”
“Yu-han, I’m just kidding.”
Yeon-woo had to quickly reassure Jin Yu-han, who took his teasing seriously and began to murmur and nod quietly.
“Wow, I’ve never seen a musical practice before. It’s fascinating to see it done in a place like this.”
While picking up sushi, Kim Joo-hyung looked around curiously. Jin Yu-han, seeing Joo-hyung’s interest, smiled and spoke up.
“If you have time after eating, do you want to stay and watch us practice? Having an audience usually gives us more energy.”
“Really? I’m totally fine with that…”
Kim Joo-hyung nodded enthusiastically and looked at me.
“Yeah, I’m good too. I don’t have any shooting today. It’s my day off.”
“Yes!”
Kim Joo-hyung, delighted like a child, made me chuckle too.
At that moment, the musical’s promotion team leader approached Jin Yu-han and whispered something in his ear, causing Jin Yu-han to look troubled.
“Um, Yeon-woo, would you like to join in the practice for a bit? It might be fun, but it could be too much, right?”
It was clear that the operations team employee wanted to capture Ryu Yeon-woo and Jin Yu-han together in a making-of film for some viral marketing on YouTube.
However, Jin Yu-han, wanting to share even a brief moment on stage with a friend, couldn’t refuse and relayed the promotion team leader’s words to him. Some musical actors sitting nearby, eating sushi, perked up their ears and chimed in.
“Wow, I’d love to see Mr. Ryu Yeon-woo act!”
“Wow, so we’re actually going to see Jin Yu-han and Ryu Yeon-woo in the ‘The Star Beyond the River’ combination?”
Sweat trickled down as Yeon-woo felt the mounting expectations around him.
yeon-woo really wanted to participate since it’s his favorite musical, but…
“It’s a musical, and I really want to be on stage, but I can’t sing at all…”
“Hmm, right, you did say that.”
Jin Yu-han stroked his chin in thought, then another actor sitting behind suggested to Jin Yu-han.
“How about scene 16?”
At his colleague’s suggestion, Jin Yu-han clapped his hands.
“Scene 16 is where ‘Ezel’ appears, and it’s a scene without any singing. You memorize scripts in no time anyway. The senior actor who plays Ezel couldn’t make it today due to personal reasons.”
Hearing Jin Yu-han’s words, yeon-woo stroked his chin.
If there’s no singing, He could probably get the script down in about 30 minutes.
‘Dejandor’ was his favorite musical, and he knew the lines in several languages, Yeon-woo just needed to familiarize himself with the Korean adaptation.
‘If it’s Ezel’s entrance scene, it’s probably about the confrontation between the factory people and the Detroit gang.’
After a moment of consideration, Yeon-woo nodded.
“Alright, let’s do it. I’ve always wanted to try this piece on stage.
Yeon-woo’s response brought a smile to Jin Yu-han’s face, and the nearby actors erupted in cheers. The promotion team leader, who had been filming for YouTube, quickly aimed the camcorder at Yeon-woo.
‘Wow! This will secure millions of views for sure.’
At that moment, another actor who had been eating a lunch box looked at Jin Yu-han and the promotion team leader with a dumbfounded expression.
“Hey, no matter what, does it make sense to just look at the script for a moment and then go on stage? This isn’t child’s play.”
The promotion team leader quickly approached the actor and whispered something, probably suggesting that even if Yeon-woo couldn’t perform well on the practice stage, they could still edit it cleverly for effective noise marketing.
“Oh, come on. In my time, rookies wouldn’t even dream of stepping onto the practice stage, and now Jin Yu-han suddenly pops up, snags the lead role, and even brings a friend on stage. Do as you please.”
The actor seemed to have spoken quietly, not intending for Ryu Yeon-woo or Jin Yu-han to hear, but Yeon-woo, who had been watching the conversation intently, heard every word.
Yeon-woo had heard that in the musical and theater circles, there was some resistance and disdain when actors from TV or film crossed over into musicals or plays.
It seemed not all the troupe members viewed Jin Yu-han favorably.
However, despite some actors’ less-than-warm gazes, the operations team employee was over the moon. Both Ryu Yeon-woo and Jin Yu-han were celebrities with immense buzz.
With every project and move Yeon-woo made becoming a hot topic, the idea of him spontaneously acting alongside his equally popular friend Jin Yu-han in the rehearsal room was a marketing goldmine for the operations team.
“I’ve had a good meal.”
“Thank you, Actor Ryu Yeon-woo.”
“No, I should be the one thanking you for allowing me to visit today.”
After finishing the meal and exchanging greetings with the musical actors, Jin Yu-han approached Yeon-woo and handed him the script.
“Yeon-woo, this is where we start. We have about an hour before we practice the previous scenes, so do you think you can manage?”
“Yeah, I know the musical, so I think I can do it.”
“Just have fun with it, no pressure. But it really is going to be exciting.”
Jin Yu-han was thrilled at the thought of matching his performance with Yeon-woo’s, not on screen or television, but on stage.
“Who else but the acting genius, right?”
On the other hand, the equally excited Kim Joo-hyung couldn’t hide his enthusiasm.
“Wow, this is going to be epic.”
This was beyond a premium A-grade seat, it was like having an SS-grade seat.
Kim Joo-hyung was brimming with excitement at the thought of watching the performance up close, as if he had rented out the entire venue for himself.
Yeon-woo quickly scanned the script while also focusing on the stage.
With a natural talent for memorization and having seen the original multiple times, it wasn’t difficult for him to pick up the lines, even though it was his first time seeing this script.
More than memorizing, Yeon-woo concentrated on observing the actors’ chemistry, how much they exaggerated their expressions compared to serious drama acting, and the pacing between their vocalization and lines.
Soon, the performance began. It was the first time the musical team was showing their work to someone outside the troupe, so there was a hint of nervousness in the air.
Jin Yu-han, playing the role of ‘Shane Dillinger,’ the boss of the Detroit gang, walked out in time with the sound of footsteps coming through the speakers.
“Let there be light!”
With his command, a single spotlight dropped sharply.
“Jane. Do you know why light exists?”
As if in response to Jin Yu-han’s question, another actor walked out from behind.
“The sun rises, so there’s light. You always say the strangest things, brother.”
“No, Jane. Light is necessary so that gold and diamonds can shine beautifully.”
Jin Yu-han then took two more steps forward, a cynical smile on his face as he scanned the audience with an icy gaze.
“In this land of Detroit, there are greedy pigs swarming everywhere. But their greed is very important. Without greed, there’s no hatred, and without hatred, our Detroit mafia’s business wouldn’t run. Isn’t it ironic? We need hatred for us to be happy.”
His acting method, with a distinct vocal style that emphasized key words, was starkly different from serious drama acting. With just a few lines, the character of Shane Dillinger was vividly imprinted in the mind.
He lifted his arms, adorned with gold bracelets studded with jewels, and let out a chilling laugh.
“Look at this. Happiness is shining brightly under the light.”
The spotlight then shifted to the actress playing his sister, ‘Jane Dillinger,’ who was standing behind him.
“You always seem like someone who’s being chased, brother.”
“Me? There’s no one on this land who can chase me. I’m the wolf of this jungle.”
“But you always look anxious.”
Following that, the famous solo song of Shane Dillinger and the first song of the musical, ‘The Wolf of Detroit’, began to play.
With a clean voice and solid vocalization, it was a voice that matched Jin Yu-han’s usual acting style and appearance well.
As Yeon-woo quickly memorized the script, he meticulously analyzed the actors’ performances.
‘So the face is angled diagonally because the light is coming from that side.’
‘The stronger enunciation compared to typical musical vocalization is probably to draw more attention due to the large number of characters.’
Of course, Yeon-woo learned all about acting on stage when he was taught by Jung Cheol-min, even though it was a small theater, the academy operated its own troupe.
However, there’s a difference between what’s learned and what’s actually performed, and it’s necessary to make fine adjustments according to the content, the setting, and the interaction with the other actors.
“I can’t just stand by and watch any longer. Darkness, you see, is only tolerated in such dark places. It’s when those rat-like creatures start crawling out into the sunlight and begin making things that kill people that society starts to have problems.”
Having always watched my favorite musical ‘Dejandor’ in foreign languages abroad, it was a new feeling to experience it right before my eyes, especially hearing it in a friend’s voice.
‘I’ve always wanted to try it someday, although I thought it would never happen since I can’t sing…’
Having watched it so many times and analyzed it thoroughly, Yeon-woo was confident he could take on any role as long as he familiarized himself with the Korean-translated dialogue.