Jun Su (Xia)'s ticket power, the highest VIP seats are very popular... even a new nickname

The musical ‘Aladdin’, which was listed as one of the ‘most anticipated’ productions for the second half of the year, suffered a string of bad news ahead of its official opening. This is because of the personal problems of Kim Jun-soo, who is a ‘superstar’ in both name and reality in the performing world, followed by the injury of actor Seo Kyung-soo, who was cast together with Kim Jun-soo, and the delay in his arrival at the theatre. Despite this, ‘Aladdin’ is already one of the ‘best hits’ of the year, unaffected by any of the above.

　Aladdin’ is a super-content that is popular all over the world, both in name and reality. The musical, which has been performed on four continents and by 11 production companies, has attracted 20 million viewers and is now being adapted for the South Korean stage on the 10th anniversary of its Broadway premiere.

　With high expectations, ‘Aladdin’ had been waiting for the opening of the show, but was faced with unexpected events ahead of the main performance.

　First, Seo Kyung-soo, who was cast as Aladdin, suffered a serious ankle fracture during rehearsals and had to undergo surgery. He had already dropped out of Kinky Boots, which was being performed earlier, and in Aladdin, Seo Kyung-soo's performance was replaced by Kim Jun-soo and Park Kang-hyun.

　Even before the musical opened, it was a hot topic of conversation due to its spectacular casting. Junsu, who has strong ticket power as a top star in the industry, Park Kang-hyun, an actor who continues to grow in the musical world, and Seo Kyung-soo were cast as Aladdin, while actress Lee Sung-kyung will take on her first musical role through this production. Her acting is basic and even her singing skills are outstanding, and the fact that this is her debut production will go beyond the core audience and attract new musical fans.

　The ‘image damage’ caused by the private problems of the lead actor, Junsu, was another obstacle that ‘Aladdin’ had to face. Recently, it was confirmed that Junsu was the victim of a very long, five-year extortion racket of 840 million won from Africa TV's female BJ (Broadcasting Jockey), A. The extortion racket was carried out by the female BJ, A.

　The Northern Gyeonggi Police Agency applied for an arrest warrant for Mr A on suspicion of extortion under the Act on Aggravated Punishment of Specified Economic Crimes. According to the police agency, Mr A is suspected of threatening Junsu from September 2020 until last month and robbing him of the equivalent of 840 million won on 101 occasions. In the process, noise was bred against the ‘audio recording recordings’ threat card to Junsu.

　Despite the sudden private controversy, Junsu successfully finished the preview performance of ‘Aladdin’ on the 17th. The fandom was solid: the performance, which reached the VIP seat standard of 190,000 won ($21,000), sold out all the seats for Junsu's performance a little early. Since the controversy, the show has maintained strong ticket power without any cancellations. Even the largest pre-sale website in Korea has developed a reputation and a new alias ‘Sharadin is Expected’, continuing its hit march unshaken by any of its problems.