Licensed Musical “Legendary Little Basketball” Rejoices Great Success in Japan

A licensed performance of “Legendary Little Basketball,” an original musical created by the K-Arts students of the Musical Theatre Writing Program, showcases at the Sogetsu Hall (Tokyo) and the Matsushita IMP Hall (Osaka). After its premiere on the K-Arts campus in 2016, the work was further developed at a local arts and culture center. For the first time in Korea, its performing rights were sold abroad afterward, for which it was highly appraised for rewriting the history of Korea’s performing arts. The ticket for the premiere of the licensed version in Japan was quickly sold out. Ever since the performance continued to attract the audience, selling over 90 percent of the entire seats.

Written by Park Haerim and composed by Hwang Yeseul, “Legendary Little Basketball” delivers the story of Soohyun, an outcast bullied at school, who happens to join the local district basketball team due to ghosts. Tetsuharu directed and choreographed the Japanese version, and actors Shohei Hashimoto, Mizuki Umezu, and 4 others played on stage.

The original work was first performed during the class by the K-Arts students in 2016. At the end of the same year, the piece was officially put on stage at the Ansan Culture and Arts Center. The following year, it was invited to perform at the BeSeTo Festival in China. The musical was on a successful streak till 2018 when it entered the theaters at Daehak-ro. In the meantime, the performance continued to improve quality as it lent its stage performance right to a private production company and earned royalties. Now a repertoire for regional performance tours in Korea was prepared at the same time as the licensed version in Japan came out successful.