Channel A ‘Musical Star’ kicks off

On Saturday afternoon, there was a shooting of “Musical Star,” an audition program on Channel A at the Dong-A Digital Media Center. During the shooting, 18 participants received mentoring from musical directors. Having been hosted by the Daegu International Musical Festival for eight years, the Musical Star is a project to find new musical talents, and Channel A has been producing it as a TV audition program since 2019. Marking the fourth season, the first episode of Musical Star will start being aired on Tuesday at 11:10 p.m.

The list of mentors includes Cho Gwang-hwa, the director of the musical Werther, Director Kim Tae-hyeong, and music directors Shin Eun-gyeong and Lee Gyeong-hwa. Mr. Cho gave advice to the young aspirants about their acting.

The 18 would-be musical stars are survivors of the two-month competitions with a total of 728 applicants from March. Most of them are in their early 20s or teenagers as participants must be younger than 24. “We are running a mentoring program separately because Musical Star is designed to help them improve their skills and performance instead of just producing the winners of an audition,” said Park Jeong-sook, the secretary-general at the Daegu International Musical Festival.

The dramatic personal stories of participants from all walks of life are another tidbit of the show. The audition features a repeater who tries their luck for the fourth time, an aspirant who is doing shifts at a factory and part-time jobs for their dream, a young man who never gave up on his dream despite his hearing disability, and an office worker who spends the day at work and trains to be an actor at night. “If you look at how the participants with such colorful backgrounds interpret the musical numbers their own way and the message behind it, it will amplify the fun of watching the show,” said producer Jeon.


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