[K-MUSICAL] How journalists Get Musical Tickets

The main characters of the musical Jekyll and Hyde.
Park Eun-tae, Kai, and Jeon Dong-seok.
(OD Musical Company)

 

Should journalists in charge of musicals buy tickets?
That's what a lot of people are curious about.
Musical fans are especially curious.
Musical tickets are quite expensive in Korea, too.

Maybe other countries are no different.
In Korea, musical tickets for small theaters are priced at 30,000 won ($24)It's about 50,000 won ($40).
The Grand Theater is much more expensive.
It ranges from 70,000 won ($56) to 150,000 won ($120).
It's not easy to pay $120 for three hours of fun a night.

In Korea, there are many enthusiasts who watch a piece several times.
These people are called 'revolving door audiences'.
For these audiences, the cost of purchasing tickets to watch the performance is a big burden.
So what about reporters?

Journalists in charge of musicals will watch musicals one to seven times a week.
No matter how lazy a journalist is, he should watch one a week.
This is because they can write articles only if they watch one a week.
Then should journalists buy tickets every time?
Not really.

The reporter in charge of baseball does not enter the baseball stadium by purchasing tickets.
The reporter in charge of the movie also doesn't buy tickets.
The same goes for the journalist in charge of the musical.
Performance producers and public relations companies prepare press tickets for reporters.
Providing a ticket to a reporter is a kind of promotion and marketing.

Of course, reporters don't just write sweet articles after watching musicals.
Nevertheless, the media is a good way to promote performances to the public.
In the case of Korea, two tickets were offered to reporters a few years ago.
In fact, not many people go to see musicals alone.
This is because the law of Korea has changed recently.
The law was originally intended to limit senior civil servants.
But the same applies to journalists.
This gives reporters only one ticket.
This is quite a pity.

This is because after watching the musical, it is no longer fun to talk about the musical while drinking beer with my companion.
Now, when the company's work is over, I have to rush to the concert hall and come back home again after the performance.
I wonder how reporters in other countries are watching musicals.
For now, media companies do not pay reporters to purchase tickets.

But these days, all companies offer only one ticket to reporters.
For Korean reporters, watching a performance is quite lonely.