A day before the interview with him, I went to watch the musical ‘Elisabeth’. It is also the premiere stage of Kim Junsu who can be uniquely outstanding, be it as a member of JYJ or as a musical actor. For the role of such a mesmerizing character Death, he dyed his hair blonde and his appearance on stage swiftly took the audience’s breath away. Every of his appearance made others held on to his charismatic strong leadership, together with the deep voice that lingers. Every minute, every second, every single moment, Kim Junsu will be proving his own exploding ability. Today was different from that day, where I met the actual Kim Junsu, the freely yet passionate young adult. This is also his first solo magazine interview. From his straightfoward conversation, he has proven to us that he is a person naturally pulled along by his destiny and a man who is wiser and more intelligent than anyone else.
What is your feelings with regards to your premiere stage of ‘Elisabeth’ yesterday?
We are unfamiliar to European musicals, especially ‘Elisabeth’ where the lyrical element is stronger, thus experienced the slight burden. Though the storyline contains fantasy element and making people felt its extraordinariness, because of such, the anticipation for it has been gradually increasing and thus added on to the pressure. Right before the appearance on stage, I am basically filled up with anxiousness. However as compared to this, the ability to work together with the best actors made me more excited than ever.
So you must have felt the support from fans right? During the curtain call, the audience’s response was the best, as though it is a concert.
I somehow felt it during the curtain call moment but felt nothing at all during the performance. Seems that they have been cautious and during the applauding time, I seemingly saw their ‘Can I clap?’ looks. Actually they can just react naturally because watching a musical doesn’t necessarily have to be particular of any stringency rules.
This work is as such in its place of origin Europe too. Those who have watched this in its place of origin have been interested in the character Death as well.
In any voting in Austria for the most popular musical actor, the actor who acted as Death was known to be in the first place. Therefore every generation of Death will be the star of that country. Although I naturally felt that Mozart is the best character (as I had previously acted), to the point that I can’t understand why the most popular character in ‘Elisabeth’ is not the lead but Death, I knew about it later on that because he is not a human but a god. There are facets on him that cannot be found on human being. This in turn became his charm.
You must be very happy upon receiving the proposal for this character.
In fact, I was rather hesitated. Just the word ‘Death’ is enough to weigh one down. “Should it be a heavy feeling? Am I way too young to play such a character?” Putting aside the fact that this is the best musical and I do know that it is a good character but the first worry that came to me was the doubt if I am suitable for it. It is completely two different matters between ‘Wanting to do it’ and ‘Able to do it’. Then I had a sudden thought that “Actually everyone wasn’t clear about who has to portray such a character Death, ain’t it?” Death can be an old man, or may be a child. It can also be a sexy young man, or one with an outlook of an uncle. Aren’t all these possible? Ahh, if it is so, then I would like to show the presence of Death, depicted with ‘my own answer’. Thereafter I have a sudden rush to do it right away. I also felt that this is a good chance to further myself after ‘Mozart! and ‘Tears of Heaven’.
The character of Death can be so sexily portrayed. This is surprising.
Acting as the same character as (Ryu) Jung Han hyung and (Song) Chang Ui hyung, everyone has their own way of depicting the character. Due to such pressure and burden, I became more nervous due to the comparison with the hyungs. I worried about the way to counteract this pressure and thus I thought of showing the young yet sexy, with a tinge of evilness. It started with the god-like suaveness, then emitting the sexiness, just like the laziness of a cat. I hope to display all these details out for everyone to see.
The dance scene is very handsome, it’s just like a concert.
That kind of dance choreography is only exclusive to me and that scene was arranged right from the beginning and was originally a shorter version. But the director extended that scene for me.
The charm of Death lies in its multi-dimensional and the luring of Elisabeth towards the worst, luring and wavering her thoughts all out of love.
This is the factor where I faced problem yet find it interesting while portraying Death. The sexiness with that evilness yet a character that looks as though he’s emotionless. Why did I say so? Because Death is just like what can be depict as a word, it represents death. Everyone moves forwards death unknowingly, isn’t it.
Therefore the focus seems to be on the love portion right? What is exactly Death’s love for Elisabeth?
The thoughts of “Ah, this is really the one I loved,” surged when I held Elisabeth in my arms after she died. The director wants this emotion to be displayed with a drop of tear. The joy of finally having (her) but as she is already dead, it still remained as nought. (T/N: He still doesn’t have her in the end) That drop of tear is to reflect the reversal and absurd meaning. When killing others, his expression is indifferent and calm. But when Elisabeth is dead, there is only anxiousness as he received a rather huge hit.
Honestly speaking, as the stage is pretty far, thus I can’t see the tear but the kiss scene is indeed strong.
(Compared to Song Chang Ui and Ryu Jung Han) I seems to be the most intense, haha! Actually it was not my initial intention to have such an intense kiss scene. It was not like this during the rehearsal too but when the actual performance started, I completely immersed in the storyline. The endearing, the longing for such a woman, she is finally in my arms, thus I felt it should be done like this. At the after-party, Ock Joo Hyun noona told me that I did very well. As this musical is about the life of Elisabeth, thus there isn’t as much scenes between Death and Elisabeth as anticipated. Therefore at the last scene, I have to correctly put it straight, showing that Death has indeed loved Elisabeth.
There is almost no lines at all, and can only show the emotions through songs. I heard that this troubled you for a while before the performance. How do you feel about it after trying it?
‘Mozart’ was a start for me, thus I felt insufficiently prepared but as the performances increased, there will be parts that need to be attentive to. It’s about the same right now. Once I stood on the stage, there will be issues that naturally produced which needs to be focused on. As I have never rehearsed my acting skills in front of the audience before the actual performances, there would definitely be some small actions that I didn’t took notice of. Though they were negligible actions I felt that those can helped to complete the meticulous details of the whole musical. Anyway there are 30 performances, till the tenth, I’m sure I will be able to find those that’s need to be focused. Haha.
What is the difference between concert and musical in terms of the sensation that brought upon?
In a concert, I will applaud myself, seeing myself as Kim Junsu. But in a musical, I would not applaud myself who is in that character. I will feel happy for living as another person for that 2-3 hours. After the serious portrayal and to be able disseminate the feelings to everyone in the audience, the acknowledgement for this point during the stage itself, I would feel nervous and excited. Though it does not meant which is better, this two are completely different. To be able to enjoy both aspects, I think that I am lucky.
Park Yoochun came yesterday too. Did he say anything?
I had a shock. He suddenly appeared after the first act is over and said “I have watched the first scene~” As I had previously told him not to come, therefore he didn’t informed me beforehand and came. (He turned and looked at his manager) Did he say anything? (Manager: “This is the character only Junsu is able to portray, (I) really feel proud (of him).) However he told me, “Seems that most girls will love it?”
Musical is after all a part of acting genre as well. Wouldn’t you like to try acting in drama? Because Park Yoochun and Kim Jaejoong have already acted in drama.
If there is a good piece of work, I would like to try but I felt that I am not perfect yet. Probably because I started with musical and therefore I would want to challenge within musical genre even more.
Trans by: rachui@sharingyoochun
Shared by: Jasmi @ DongBang-Blaq
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