This weekend is the premiere of new Sat-Sun drama Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born taking over for Love Next Door. It’s adapted from a critically acclaimed webtoon of the same name about a country girl with natural performance talent aspiring to join the all-female traditional theater known as Yeoseong Gukgeuk developed after WWII to for traditional gisaengs to earn a living. Seeing the characters in costume especially Jung Eun Chae leaning so into the male actor performance it reminds me so much of a top otokoyaku actress in Japan’s equivalent style of performance the reknowned Takarazuka revue. Female lead Kim Tae Ri is also embodying the country bumpkin that has the performance blood in her role perfectly in her stills. It’s a very strong all female lead cast with the addition of Shin Ye Eun, Ra Mi Ran, and Kim Yoon Hye as the only one of the four younger female leads playing the female performer role as a princess similar to the musumeyaku. The drama is likely to garner strong reviews and should be a contender for awards come early next year.

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