Lunatic is a representative original musical of Korea. It had its first performance at a small theater of Daehangno in 2004. Later, with the success at popular cultural complexes like the Sejong Center, the musical gained national fame. In April, 2016, Lunatic resumed at Daehangno after a suspension of several years. Among the actors who participated in the Dahehangno performance, there was an actor named Lee Min-Sung. Surprisingly, this rising musical actor is currently a sophomore at SKKU. The Sungkyun Times (SKT) will introduce his debut musical Lunatic and provide an exclusive interview with our special Kingo.
What is Lunatic?
The background of the musical is set in a mental hospital. Interestingly, instead of prescribing drugs, the doctor induces the patients to perform role plays. Each patient takes a role for him or herself and performs the painful memories that eventually caused them to be admitted to the hospital. Through the role plays, the patients experience mental healing.
Meeting Lee Min-Sung
Lee Min-Sung, a Kingo majoring in Political Science and Diplomacy, is a musical actor. He debuted as an actor with the musical Lunatic and has also performed in other musicals or plays.
1. How did you become a musical actor?
When I was in high school, I watched the musical film Les Misérables by chance. Since then, I became interested in musicals and began to look for video clips. After I saw actual performances on stage, I felt confident that a musical stage is where I needed to be. By searching the internet, I found a teacher whom I wanted to learn musical acting from and began to practice with him. Finally in December, 2015, when I got accepted to SKKU, I also became a member of the Lunatic performance team. Meanwhile, some ask me why I am not majoring in Acting for Theatre, Film, and TV. Frankly, my parents disapproved of me studying musicals as a major and students of overseas residents like me have fewer chances of getting accepted to the major.
2. What is it like to live the life of a student and musical actor at the same time?
Although I believe that my primary job is a musical actor, I am also an ordinary student. Being a musical actor and a student at the same time is really difficult because there are more time limits for me than others. It is difficult to get good grades at school since I have less time to study.
3. Do you have any memorable incidents while performing Lunatic?
After a year of performance, I decided to take a rest for several months because of my poor neck condition. Then one day, another actor who played the same role as me became very ill and I had to substitute for him. Unfortunately, because there were many changes in the lines, I forgot an entire part in the middle of the performance. An actor near me silently instructed the line to me, but it was found out later that it was wrong as he also mistook the lines. This was an absurd experience.
4. What does your debut musical Lunatic mean to you?
Lunatic is like my hometown and I learned that being a musical actor is harder than I expected. I kept encountering my shortcomings, as the desire for a better performance arose. I started to practice singing, acting, and dancing diligently ever since then. Moreover, through the musical, I began to understand the charm of acting. The characters of Lunatic and their circumstances were all attractive to me.
Lee Min-Sung is a Kingo living a very special life, and his love and energy towards musicals is growing every day. The SKT recommends other Kingos to watch his performances that are full of his passion and dreams.