 Na, Silvia! that's easier. And then the sun comes out in the theater. See, I wouldn't know. I wouldn't know because I hadn't seen it. It was magical! I haven't experienced it. I'm sorry because, I mean- I didn't know it changed your life, like some life altering drugs. It made me into a theatrical person. Why is K-pop so popular? But then the K-pop musical shut down in two weeks. How come nobody liked it? We gotta talk about this is big news, because there was a groundbreaking K-pop musical that released on Broadway. Just after two weeks of opening it shut down because it couldn't sell tickets and honestly it wasn't making money In fact, it was losing money So we got to talk about it because kpop is this global phenomenon as a genre everybody loves it, right? However, it did horrible on Broadway. Yeah, I think there is a lot of micro takeaways a lot of macro takeaways That would be useful for anybody trying to transfer over an Asia product to the US market specifically a niche like Broadway But first off Andrew we got to run a clip of the show because Andrew a lot of New York Times La times they're all wondering why it shut down so quick, but we got a show a clip to even just get a sense of what it was All right, so I mean that was pretty much it David right off the bat the dance numbers look good I think the seniors good to have Luna who was a real kpop artist, you know, so the singing is legit So it's not like uh, like pre-recorded, right, right, right. This is pretty tight to me. I mean obviously it is in Korean I'm not a 45 year old white lady from Wisconsin making my you know by annual trip with my sisters to Broadway, but I mean immediately just watching the clip. I'm like, yeah, that's cool And you know, that's probably what they were thinking They probably were thinking that somebody like myself or somebody, you know Even in this range would like go and see their first Broadway show But that honestly from what I heard super did not happen. Yeah I mean, I think that there's so many reasons why it didn't work and It was like really a bad fit I think it was a bad fit not that it was a bad show because I didn't go watch the show and I heard some good things about it However, if you just think about the crossover of people who are into kpop or want to sit through a two-hour kpop Concert essentially and the people who go to Broadway shows the Venn diagram is very small The crossover is very small of that. Hold on. Are you saying that someone who loves the Lion King the book of Mormon? Whatever other Broadway shows there are would go to go to a list of Broadway shows because I can't because I can't name that many You know what probably would have been a better idea And I don't know if they could have had access to this IP is to make it a JYP or like BTS musical and then Broadly about kpop you're taking out all the stars the brand names. It's about like no names that are in the industry So anyways, there's a bunch of reasons but Yeah, it's people just were not interested by this story But there was a 2017 version of this that was off Broadway that would didn't make it to the big Broadway theater yet That got some good reviews. That was more immersive. Yeah I mean, I think that's the nature with a lot of things like some things They just work better as an underground thing than a overground like commercial radio hit It's almost like, you know, this is like an older reference, but like Talib Kweli He never worked as a radio artist, but he was huge as an underground rapper Yeah, and what are some of the other Broadway shows that they're even showing right now because honestly These are the other Broadway shows that they're like competing with because basically Okay, and Juliet Romeo and Juliet Moulin Rouge, okay That's from like France and that was written in like what 1680 the Phantom of the Opera and when was that written the 1700s the Lion King I Don't know when that story is from maybe 500 years. It's been in there for like years on Broadway Beetlejuice actually just got canceled. I believe K-pop is now Canceled Chicago, of course Aladdin MJ Michael Jackson King of pop Right, so I mean I would say most of these shows look white or based off something European or from Europe I mean, let's be real Broadway is pretty white theater is pretty white So I think that the creators were like, hey I grew up loving Broadway and I'm Korean and I can write about this K-pop show, you know And I want to share that love and I'm not saying that's wrong. That's not wrong However, I don't think everybody else shares that love like the average K-pop fan is 15 to 20 years old that they don't go to Broadway Well, they're not gonna make the trip to New York City to Manhattan expensive Uber ride. I mean where they even coming from I'm assuming new Parents don't even want them to go to New York City right now think about it Like we're of the demographic that theoretically should have gone to the show and I had heard about it I know a few people who went but ultimately yeah, and I heard there was a whole bunch of drama around it So I believe one of the creators of the show kind of blamed Asians for like not feeling comfortable in the theater Environment are not wanting to pay those prices And then they are also the cast accused the New York Times reviewer of being racist But because he gave him a negative review even though he did give the off-Broadway one a positive review So it's tough to say in my opinion that it's racist if he gave the Asian driven off-Broadway one a positive review And then this one a negative review. All right, David I think we talked a lot about it from a technical standpoint and we're again We're not experts on k-pop or Broadway. We don't know this show. We didn't see the show That's why I'm not talking about this. I can't break down the flow of the lion king though Andrew So technically Andrew you have a lot more experience in this world than me the lion king Dave there's a reason why it's running for like it's 25th year on Broadway or something like that, okay It is a great show. I just can't wait to be king I just I really like that monologue that opening song from rent that 265 to a thousand Worse dude, I'll tell you this in the in the Lion King man. That's just stuff will make you cry man when she starts out No Yeah, and then the Sun comes out in the theater see I wouldn't know I wouldn't know because I had to have an experience I'm sorry because I didn't know it changed your life like some life altering drugs. It made me into a theatrical person But David what what are like the things people can take away because because I think this is a a good lesson in Fit because k-pop Everybody loved k-pop when you go to a k-pop concert in LA does everybody love I'll say this No, no, no, not everybody not of all ages. Sorry, but what all there's fans of all types of people when you go to a k-pop concert There's like a lot of Latino black white and Asian right right, but I wouldn't necessarily say they're like the mainstream either It's not the same crowd that loves NBA young boy BTS really broke through but anyways David. Well, what can people take away from it? I think number one These are the macro takeaways that anybody who's trying to move a like foreign cultural product into the u.s Can take away number one Andrew I think that Asian American audiences are still struggling with the in-person performance in terms of something modern like Broadway stand-up comedy mute Andrew. You've been doing a lot more stand-up around New York Yeah, a lot of non Asians will randomly pop into a show They don't even know it's Asian night and they're slated to see like 20 Asian comics in a row But they just do it because them and their friends love seeing stand-up just on a random Asians watch stand-up in particular the white people do Asians do that No Asians do not watch stand-up comedy that much the only time I see a lot of Asians are out when we go to the Ronnie Chang show or the Ali Wong show these big names that are The Russell Peter exactly but that's when you see the Asians come out before the regular show of just like amateur Comedians they not coming out. Anyways, what's the next reason and I think that that's what the creator of K-pop The musical was kind of blaming it on saying that like I know Asians are scared of the theater I know they don't feel welcome. They don't feel like it's their space like the narrative supports them But they needed to come out. I was like, what do you mean? We needed to come out, dude I don't think that it's very difficult to alter their behavior like Asians will go out to see a real K-pop show They do not want to see necessarily a Broadway show about the K-pop industry. Yeah, I mean You know, I I'll just say this like I I don't know about Asians being scared of the theater But the theater and the whole theater culture and Broadway in general is very very white. It's it is it is not in a bad way Even Hamilton, which is like a super hip-hop show Relatively to the hip-hop show and everybody there's a lot of people rapping and a lot of the cast is black and brown Even though the rap's like it They're flowing though, but yeah, even then a lot of the audience is probably going to be More Caucasian um you need things in English I think that anybody who is coming to the US as a foreign cultural product needs to speak Anywhere from 80 to 90 percent English It doesn't mean that large Functional portions of the storyline are not in another language words phrases. You know what I mean names but you can't just be like speaking in another language because Andrew people in America don't even support British comedians that with strong accents You better sound like Ricky Gervais at the most because Ricky Gervais actually I'd say his British accent is very understandable to Americans But literally if you come from like Liverpool you come from a Scotland Birmingham Scotland American audiences that are white might even have the ancestors from Scotland. They'll not gonna like it. That was a terrible But yeah, you know what I mean because America is just a country where it's like it's just English centric Yeah, moving on Andrew. You cannot have a product on display that is so close to the original Product so it can't be like a k-pop concert for k-pop fans when they could just pay that equal amount of money And maybe see an actual k-pop concert Yeah, that's true because you because now you're competing and now to be honest the k-pop performers in this musical are Not a tier k-pop artists because they're not k-pop artists They are actors and singers who are talented, but they're not the k-pop artists Well, it's probably to be honest Maybe a lot of people who had k-pop dreams, but they didn't want to move to Korea Maybe they went through the farming system and they got weeded out correction Luna Who is a k-pop artist is in the show, but she's like the main one You can't have a product that's so close to the original and I would compare it to the Korean corn dogs Those are like very Magnificently different from an American David Is that like opening up a Korean fried chicken spot in between a KFC and a Popeyes? You'd think in the south you'd say an opening up in national and you think that'd be a good idea because you're like Oh, everybody loves fried chicken in this plaza. That's great. But now it's like it's too close to the thing You want to put it somewhere else. I wouldn't serve expensive Korean corn dogs at the state fair That's like was established in like 1862 everybody's like man I'm waiting for them. Wait, so you're saying American corn dogs like oh, what's this thing with the fries on it David You're saying that the Korean corn dogs aren't really gonna make a an appearance at the Coney Island Hot dog eating festival next year I think location matters a lot because America is so hyper diverse and for example Andrew Mr. Pizza is a Korean pizza chain that does super wacky pizzas. They're very expensive They got like sweet potato crust with the hot dog. They are good. They're good They're delicious. They're expensive pizzas by the way, but they're weird. It's like $65 for a pizza They shut down Almost like 90% of their locations in LA in New York. Yeah, and I think they only exist in like Korean Yeah, first of all, we ate at the Mr. Pizza in Little Tokyo when it opened it in LA We went there for sure. I also want to say as far as the musical goes I feel like the musical Maybe might do better on the West Coast like in LA when we're more of California is familiar with Korean culture and K-pop in general, but then why wouldn't they just go watch the copious amounts of actual K-pop concerts that are there I'm not I'm just saying I think it would do better, but I'm not saying it would still stick around for years Yeah, I mean I saw this reddit comment They just went on a huge rant about like the East Coast in New York City not supporting like AZN like things directly from Asia. I do think they require more tweaking for the East Coast I do think the East Coast, you know, New York is the capital of America They always say LA is the entertainment capital of the world, but New York is the entertainment capital of America more like, you know Anglo-New World. Yeah, I mean theater is such a different art form. It's a very like I don't know. I mean, I think a lot of Young millennials to be honest I mean, I know people who go to Broadway shows I'm the Book of Mormon and you know the big shows I've been to a couple but like it's not the main thing that we go to get like you have Tiktok now you have YouTube you have Netflix you have You have EDM concerts you have K-pop Asians are giving all their money to Zed every time he comes and you have Brooklyn Mirage. You got the thing But last but not least Andrew my final takeaway and this is for anybody who's doing it and this is where I gotta give huge kudos To Helen Park the other people who threw this concert I don't want anybody to think that that you know We were like dissing this thing because obviously I didn't even see it But I think it was great because at the end of the day people still need to take the gamble and Potentially even lose a bunch of money because this is what progress takes Literally, yeah, if people never fail. It's a good. How can you fail forward? It's a good point because I think like we are in this video. We're literally talking about what we can learn from this Again, we didn't watch the show. I'm sure it's great Maybe it's not amazing But and it's not to say that they can't bring this show maybe to another platform off Broadway again They can start traveling with it, you know move this bus move this move that move they can still you know Do good with it, but it's like just because this experiment is over and it kind of like blew up or whatever It doesn't mean that they are not gonna be instrumental Even in maybe if they're part of the second project that does break through. Yeah, I'm sure maybe there's like an Asian play right now I don't know if it's Miss Saigon that I don't know if that really counts as Asian But anyways, there's like Asian characterized plays. I'm sure right now that are looking at this and being like, okay Well, well, what are we gonna do differently? Can we learn anything from this? What do you think about the argument that this was such a monumental play because it didn't have to do with a white savior Miss Saigon Butterfly. I think the king and I you could argue. I mean The Thai king, you know what I mean, so I think again Again like like, you know how Korean material does amazing on Netflix Netflix is a global platform. That's affordable for everybody, right? But it doesn't do k-pop apparently does not do well on Broadway, which has high barriers to entry You have to be in New York. You have to pay what 50 60 70 dollars for a ticket You have to be in there for two and a half. I mean, by the way hip-hop in general doesn't really perform on Broadway either until Hamilton Yeah, that's why Hamilton was considered groundbreaking because it's a mixture. They had brought like yeah But it again is not just like a full-on hip-hop show. No, it's not I got a rap cypher Yeah, I mean maybe Wu Tang the musical but actually even then I think the crossover is actually getting smaller and smaller So anyways, but we flew here from Wisconsin and me and my sister said we were watching the first thing We could get tickets to and it's the real RCA Gza So my point was that on Netflix it does really well because I think Netflix is not super white centric Like the content like you go to Netflix. Oh, that's not white Yeah, that's literally why you go to Netflix because it has all this other content That is also cool that has different languages the heist. It's all in Spanish and then there's this squid Narko's Narko's was in Spain. I like there's I watch all these shows in different languages French comedians all this everything so I'm saying That's why it's thriving on Netflix But but for those for the same reason it's not thriving on Broadway because Broadway is just like the demographic of people Who walk through those doors are who they are you can't change it? It's very hard to change Yeah, I mean it'd be tough to open up like a Korean street food Place serving like kimchi fried rice and like hotteok in like Connecticut like red and witch Connecticut I mean listen, we're Asian. We want to support Asian things, but even me I could not break my regular frame to go to that show Maybe if someone had brought me and like paid for my ticket I would definitely go but it's just not something that I'm like even pushing myself to do so I have to admit that right? Yeah, but anyway, like we said man kudos I do think there's a lot of implications for a lot of things, but yeah, obviously I hope that you know We can break through but Progress is not like a linear or exponential thing There's obviously a lot of plateaus and false starts and you need to try twice to break through So let us know what you guys think in the comment section below Why did the k-pop Broadway musical fail but k-pop as a format itself as strong as it's ever been and what can we learn? You know about other art forms that require in-person, you know attendance such as Asian stand-up comedy Yeah, please watch more Asian stand-up comedy It has been doing more stand-up watching stuff. Please watch please go to the Asian Amateur shows. Ah, alright everybody Thank you so much for watching. We are the hot-pot boys until next time we out peace