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Leading members of KPOP‘s creative team are addressing the news of the history-making Broadway musical’s closing, which producers announced Tuesday.
In an interview with The Los Angeles Times, book writer Jason Kim, composer Helen Park, and producers Tim Forbes and Joey Parnes shared their reactions to the closing and what they felt may have fueled the show’s struggle to lift off after 44 previews and 17 regular performances.
“I don’t feel defeated, I feel angry. I feel like we never got a fair chance,” Park said about her reaction to KPOP’s closing. “I am pushing really hard for it to be archived this week [through the New York Public Library]. It’s an important mark in Broadway history, even though it’s short-lived.”
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After sharing that sadness was his primary emotion, Kim explained: “There are many examples of long-running Broadway shows that took a little bit of time to find their footing, and I always knew we were going to be one of those shows.”
As for why that audience may not have been reached sooner, the creative team pointed to challenges around marketing — an issue that fellow Broadway talents like Jeremy O. Harris and Lynn Nottage both acknowledged in a social media discussion around the show’s closing and, more significantly, Broadway marketing approaches.
“Our ad agency is a Broadway-focused company, so I think it was targeted toward a traditional Broadway audience, but then we were trying to make the language and the design of our advertising true to the K-pop genre,” she said. “But I don’t think it got through to K-pop fans as effectively as it should have.”
Parnes also pointed to the impacts of the pandemic on Broadway audiences who might be hesitant about coming back.
“Business in this post-pandemic environment is not behaving remotely like it did before the pandemic. I think some people have decided they’re not going to go to the theater anymore, or as often as they used to, and they’re choosing things they’re certain of, not that they’re going to take a chance on,” he said, adding, “I think we’re too close to it to be able to analyze what really happened, but none of the typical things that you would do to promote and advertise a Broadway show seemed to be having the effect it would normally have.”
Forbes shared that the production “did pivot the marketing twice, as we began to learn more about who was coming and as we began getting new creative elements that strongly communicated the story elements and the energy and excitement of the show on social media,” but Kim added that while there “are a million different ways to market a show,” KPOP was in a position of having to market for a community historically excluded from Broadway’s stages.
“In order for a show like this to be economically viable — and in order for the future of Broadway to succeed — we need to invite people into a space where traditionally they were not welcome,” he explained. “I was never ‘welcome’ to theater as a young Asian person, and I only went anyway because I was inherently interested. I wish we had more time to figure out how to do that. It’s really hard to change the art without changing the system, and we couldn’t change it alone.”
The show’s creative team also dismissed the idea that The New York Times’ decision to stand by a review of the musical, which Forbes and Parnes publicly criticized for coming “across as casual racism,” played a role in its closing.
“There was a time when a rave review from the New York Times would be the only thing you needed to keep a show open,” Parnes said. “But it doesn’t have that same effect anymore, and there are shows that have gotten rave reviews that are not doing business.”
For some, KPOP’s closing is just a numbers game but Park notes that it may have a profound impact on those wanting to produce stories with Asian representation on some of New York City’s biggest stages.
“The thing that is bothering me is the possibility that, because we’re closing, fellow Asian creatives will think that the only way to survive on Broadway is to compromise authenticity, to cherry-pick what a white audience wants or what the Broadway gatekeepers and critics like,” she told the L.A. Times. “That would make me so sad. Even though this was a short-lived show on Broadway, I hope this is instead the beginning of more bold, honest storytelling by more diverse voices.”
Forbes ultimately said the team was “hopeful that it’s not the end of KPOP,” pointing to a potential life in Las Vegas while Parnes suggested a national tour, though he acknowledged “we’d have to rethink a lot of it.”
On Instagram, KPOP’s associate director Seonjae Kim shared her fellow team members’ sentiments for wanting to keep the show going in some form. After thanking those who have donated tickets to the show this week, she went on to suggest an “angel investor” who could support the show continuing on in its current Broadway iteration.
“If you need proof that our show can be a commercial success look at screaming crying dancing fans who come back for their second, third and fourteenth show,” she wrote. “There is a history-making, earth-shaking gem of a show on 50th Street. Buy us time for word of mouth to spread and build marketing that targets the right people and we will be here to stay.”
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