My favourite cast combination for OnAir
At the beginning of the year, my friends and I discovered that one of the singers in my favourite band (U-Kiss) would be in a musical. Like the faithful fans that we are, we managed to get really good tickets (second row) and went to see the show, anticipating to see it no more than once.
I ended up seeing it four times.
This alone should tell you what I might have to say about this show, but I’ll keep writing the review anyways. I really enjoyed this show. Despite not having the language skills, the story was easy enough to understand through their choice in music and the actions. Plus, they did a fantastic job of keeping the audience involved through the entire show.
The play starts out at a radio station. It’s not the most interesting radio station in the world, their DJ a bit older and loud and a bit rude. Right from the get go, the audience is involved. The Dj calls on people from the audience and speaks to them as if they’re callers to his show. After his show is over the cast talk about how they’ve got a new DJ coming in, Shihyeun, and he once was an idol. However, he was in a scandal and lost his whole career.
Later, the employees of the radio station are all working late, singing about how they’re bored and restless and all that jazz, and Shihyeun comes in. He’s a bit cocky and arrogant, and doesn’t listen to the other employees. He won’t read off the script, and just does his own thing. As rude as it is though, it’s the spark the station needs to bring it out of its funk. He brings good music and charm to the station. He also does his own call in show, which is very popular. This is the second time that they speak to the audience, and it was, hands down, my favourite part of the show.
Kevin was fantastic at finding my camera. Often. 
Why? Because Kevin /Shiheyun pulled my card and we spoke in English for a solid 5 minutes. Considering Kevin is perhaps my #1 favourite idol in Korea…. Yeah. It was awesome. 
Anyways, so after the call in show, the staff of the radio station all head to karaoke for some fun and drinking. The cast hand out beers and soju to the audience (I got a beer the first show I went to! It’s sitting on my bookshelf, along with the ddeok cake box I got from Kevin from the call in show segment) and sing some really old songs. This is where we can see that there is some chemistry between Shihyeun and the radio station manager, much to the dismay of the adorable writer. Before the staff can have more fun though, there’s a call from one of the bosses: the station has been getting calls from anti-fans, causing trouble and what have you. The staff all run from the karaoke place to deal with the issue, leaving Shihyeun to reflect on what has happened.
As he’s walking home, he flashes back to the night where everything changed. He was walking his girlfriend home (idols are almost never allowed to date, so this alone was risky for him) and they stumble upon a drunk man who starts to harass them. When the drunk man gets a little too grabby with the girl, Shihyeun reacts, getting between the two of them. He startles the drunk guy, but doesn’t hit him. However, the drunk man begins yelling and making up stories about how Shihyeun beat him up. Shihyeun is in the news, and all the exposure makes his girlfriend leave. him. Sob.
These two did an amazing job of playing about a million different roles
So, back to the current show, Shihyeun finally shows up at work the next day, with everyone worrying about how he was. He appologizes to people before starting his show (in English! Loved that) and he follows the script as he’s meant to. It seems that Shihyeun has begun to accept that it’s not going to be an easy ride back to the top, and is willing to work for it now. He wants some help with one of his segments, so he manages to get the radio director girl, who he is starting to like, to help him out. Now, me and my friends decided that the series of scripts they read were over a span of time, and not all in one go, because they all change too much through the different ones. She becomes much more comfortable with the microphone, and he becomes much more fond of her, much to the dismay of the writer for the show.
We then get a hilarious break from the plot when the older guy comes out, dressed as a crazy old Korean grandmother. She’s suppose to do the set change, but has thrown her back and needs help from someone in the audience. My friend went up once, which was really funny. A really tall Korean guy who was very handsome for an old guy went up there… There was a girl with an outfit I wanted… and some other one. It was a hilarious scene because the grandmother would always instruct people wrong, and then yell at them. By the time the scene is changed, we’re now at a bar, and Shihyeun comes in, looking exhausted. He orders a drink, and gets poked at by the grandmother. Then the radio director comes in (I forget her name, I’m so sorry!!) and the grandmother starts teasing and saying how it’s a date and all that other good stuff. So the two of them begin talking, when suddenly, it’s the return of the ex. The girl who left him over the scandal, and her manager (who may actually be the drunk guy, I never figured that one out) come into the bar, and pretty much make Shihyeun feel like shit. They leave, and it starts raining. Neither of them have an umbrella, so the old woman lends them hers, and the two of them walk home, singing a very cute song about the rain. They talk and listen to Shihyeun’s iPod (Michael Jackson song, “Have You Seen My Childhood”) and get adorable and close. By the end of the conversation, the girl has been thoroughly charmed by Shihyeun (while the rest of the audience wonders why it took her so long) and then sings a song where she is adorable and finally dresses nicely, as opposed to being a boring employee.
I really like this photo because of all the different expressions in it
The next day, the two of them are in work, and it’s painfully obvious they like each other by this point. So much so, that the writer who is crushing on Shihyeun begins singing “I Will Survive” and daydreams about beating both of them up. It was amazing. Things seem to be going well for everyone, but then after an amazing performance from two of the callers they get, singing trot songs that will forever be stuck in my head and plague me from every cab and bus I ever go in again in Korea, annoyance strikes. Another anti-fan calls in, upsetting Shihyun and making him storm out of the building. He then sings about how he wishes that people would let him get past his past, since he already has. Naturally, this is when his nasty piece of work of an ex-girlfriend shows up, trying to get back with Shihyeun and get under his skin because she can see he like the radio girl. Thankfully, it doesn’t work, but the radio director sees anyways.
The next day, the bitch ex-girlfriend is at the station to perform her new single (yeah, apparently she became famous. Damn her.) She’s really only there to see Shihyun though, and when she finds out he didn’t come to see her, she gets angry and marches off. Shihyeun then covers, singing a song while he walks through the audience and shakes hands and waves with the audience members *melts*. Then he confesses to the radio manager that he’s falling in love with her and gives her a rose and they kiss and all is well in the world. Then the whole cast sings some Big Bang and I’m pretty much happy forever because we were allowed to take pictures and video. Which I obviously did.
Kevin loves his fans. We love him. It's symbiotic
Obviously, I really enjoyed this show. I liked finding out it was a jukebox musical, because it opened me up to a lot more music I hadn’t heard before. Plus, there was some old school Big Bang at the end, which I loved, because Big Bang closed their own concert with the same song, “Sunset Glow”. Kevin really surprised me in a good way. His personality on stage (and the little bit we saw of it off stage) was really different to the one he shows on Pops In Seoul. And to be honest, I liked that even more. The other actors were amazing as well. The girl who played the writer / evil ex was amazing and every time she came on stage, for every show I saw, I thought “I want to be just like the writer character” because I liked the way she spoke.
I wish I could say people should go see this show, but the run finished on Valentines Day. If you do get the opportunity to see any of these actors perform though, I highly recommend it, because they were all excellent.
