[K-MUSICAL] Musical ‘The Man Who Laughs’ Review - Park Hyo Shin of Elegant Sadness, Shin Young Sook of Mysteriousness

Park Hyo Shin, the poster for the musical "The Man Who Laughs"
(photo courtesy of EMK Musical Company)

It is said that a smile brings good luck.

There is also a saying by a famous Korean comedian.

Blessings do not make you laugh. Blessings come when you smile.

Here, there's a man.

He's always smiling. He's never stopped smiling.

He laughed when he was happy, of course sad, and even when he was sick, his intestines were pouring out.

So he is The Man Who Laughs.

But his life didn't smile like his face.

He laughed but was crying inside.

This story, the musical "The Man Who Laughs," asks the audience a heavy question like lead.

Why did God give this man a smiley face, but he didn't allow a smiley life?

Park Hyo-shin, a scene from the musical "The Man Who Laughs."
(Photo courtesy of EMK Musical Company)

●Park Hyo-shin is no longer an actor who only plays songs

Park Hyo-shin's "Gwinplen" is well-known. Park Hyo-shin, who played Gwinplen at the premiere of the musical "The Man Who Laughs" in 2018, drew a red line around his mouth again for the first time in four years.

Looking at Park Hyo-shin's Gwinplen, he now realizes that he is no longer an actor who only plays songs. Elegant movements, tones such as condensed fog, and transmission of text-unconscious lines.

Park Hyo-shin's "Sound" in a duet as well as a passionate solo plays a very dramatic sound.

The muscular confrontation created by the duet with Min Young-ki (played by Ursus) caused the listener's heart to sprint 100 meters.

Shin Young-sook, Duchess of Joshiana.
(Photo courtesy of EMK Musical Company)

●Shin Youngsook showed the perfect three faces of Joshiana

Shin Young-sook's "Joshiana" is mysterious.

Duchess Josiana is probably the most complicated character in the musical. According to the flow of the play, Josiana shows three different faces.

The first is Josiana from the appearance to the scene that seduces Gwynplen, the second is Josiana who turns cold after realizing Gwynplen's true identity, and finally, Josiana who discovers and "awakes" true courage and human charm from Gwynplen.

Playing Josiana won't be easy even for some veteran actors. This is because the balance can be broken as soon as any of these three appearances add a little more weight.

Furthermore, the simple representation of Josiana (for example, limited to Femme fatale) becomes a plain straight line, as it interprets Princess Amneris (musical Aida) as a change from snob to sage.

Shin Young-sook perfectly revealed a double character named Joshiana, who has ironic cuteness and brain-wasting charm as well as wisdom and reason to discover the true beauty of human beings.

Shin Young-sook's Joshiana finds a real smile hidden inside Gwenplen's smiling face.

The laughter is something that even Gwenplen himself has not found, along with the purity in the black filth that life has been painted over.

Park Hyo-shin's combination of Gwynplen and Shin Young-sook's Joshiana struggles to raise a question about "love." This love has two attributes, one knowing the object and the other unknown.

What makes love different from art is that the formula "you can see as much as you know" doesn't work. Rather, love burns as big as a fire because you don't know and know only a little. But the love burns quickly, and it enters the path of extinction.

Joshiana's love for Gwynplen was a 'little knowledgeable love' and quickly disappears.

What about Gwynplen's love?

The love of Gwynplen and the blind Dea is a love beyond the two attributes of love revealed earlier. It's love that 'knows too well' the object.

It is the most difficult to complete and the most perfect type of love that can be implemented.

Gwynplen is given a life in which this "near-perfect love" no longer exists. Love that can no longer be seen, heard, or touched. A darker and more disastrous tragedy was thrown before his life, which was full of tragedy.

Who dares to easily conclude the end of Gwynplen and Dea?

Park Hyo-shin's last song was a truly 'ironically beautiful' scream.