The Snowman Flies To Korea
The hugely popular Birmingham Repertory Theatre production of THE SNOWMAN is set to fly to Korea.
Having toured the show to Edinburgh and Salford in recent years, The REP’s visit to the Seoul Opera House from March 28 – April 12 will be the international debut for this remarkably successful show.
THE SNOWMAN has been staged every Christmas at the Peacock Theatre in the West End for the last eleven years, having started life at Birmingham Repertory Theatre in 1993. Howard Blake, who wrote the music for show including the famous ‘Walking In The Air’, says:
“After eleven consecutive Christmas seasons at London's Peacock Theatre, the stage show of THE SNOWMAN has become a much-loved institution, but up to now has never travelled very far from home. This opportunity to take the entire cast and crew out to the Seoul Opera House is a fabulous invitation. If the Korean people were to take the show to their hearts in the way audiences in the UK have done it would really be most exciting.”
The tour to Korea will be the largest undertaking of The REP’s touring programme in recent years and it will showcase the work of the theatre to an audience of over 30,000 in one of the largest and most prestigious venues in Asia. It is hoped that the Korean performances will form the beginning of the company’s international touring plans for THE SNOWMAN.
Stuart Rogers, Executive Director at The REP says: “This is a fantastic opportunity to profile both Birmingham Repertory Theatre and THE SNOWMAN at an international level. Having secured the world exclusive rights to the stage show and proved that it can tour successfully in the UK, we are now looking to expand into the many other areas of the world where both the story of THE SNOWMAN and Howard’s brilliant song “Walking In The Air” are known and loved.”
THE SNOWMAN is not the only artistic relationship with Korea that The REP will be celebrating this spring. The theatre’s two-year long collaboration with Korea’s Joyful Theatre, Japan’s Kijimuna Fest and local Birmingham company Hanyong Theatre comes to fruition with a new play for children and families, LOOKING FOR YOGHURT. Rehearsals for this show, involving writers and artists from the UK, Japan and Korea, will begin in Seoul the day that THE SNOWMAN finishes its run at the Opera House. They then transfer to Birmingham before the show has its world premiere in The Door in May 2009. Following performances in Birmingham and at Leicester’s SPARK Children’s Festival, LOOKING FOR YOGHURT will return to Asia for runs in Seoul and in Okinawa.
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