Hye Won Kim

“Performing Transnational Encounters: The Development of South Korean Musical Theater 1962-2024” (under contract with Oxford University Press) offers a global perspective on how South Korean and Western musical theater have intersected in the age of transnationalism, exploring how musical productions cross borders and cultural contact transpires at the confluence of the two worlds. By positioning South Korean musical theater as a vital hub of cultural production beyond the conventional centers of Broadway, off-Broadway, and the West End, and a discrete milieu that can offer critical insight into South Korea’s rapidly modernized society, this book examines the compressed growth of South Korean musical theater over the past 60 years; neoliberalism’s impact on the industry; and its counter-flow influence on American musical theater. The transnational circulation of musical theatre in and as performance opens up possibilities for interpretation, translation, and transgression that not only advance theater but also help society become more inclusive.