Korea Musical Awards (2017)

Not to be confused with Korea Musical Awards.

The Korea Musical Awards (Korean: 대한민국뮤지컬페스티벌 한국뮤지컬어워즈) is a representative awards ceremony held in January every year to revitalize the musical market and to encourage and congratulate the musicians who are working hard in the art scene. It is organized by Korea Musical Theater Association and supported by Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Arts Council Korea, and LG Arts Center, Seoul. First awards ceremony was held in 2017.^[2]

Korea Musical Awards
Current: 7th Korea Musical Awards
Awarded for	Excellence in musical theatre
Date	January 16, 2017 (2017-01-16)[1]
Location	Seoul
Country	South Korea
Presented by	Korea Musical Theater Association
First award	2017
Final award	2023
Most nominations	7 - Red Book
Website	Korea Music Award Official Website
Television/radio coverage
Network	Naver TV
← 6th · Korea Musical Awards · 8th →

There were other musical awards with similar name in Korea from 1995 to 2013, hosted by the newspaper Sports Chosun, however it's already discontinued.

Categories

Art

• Grandprize
• Best Musical
• Best Musical Small Theater

Individual

• Best Actress
• Best Actor
• Best Supporting Actress
• Best Supporting Actor
• Best New Actress
• Best New Actor
• Best Ensemble Award

Creation

• Best Script
• Best Composer
• Best Music Director
• Best Choreography
• Best Director
• Best Staging Techniques
• Best Producer

Artwork

Best Musical Grand Prize

No.	Year	Winner	Note
1st	2017	Sweeney Todd	[3]
2nd	2018	Benhur
3rd	2019	The Man Who Laughs	[4]
4th	2020	Hope: Unread Books and Lost Life?	[5]
5th	2021	Marie Curie	[6][7]
6th	2022	Hadestown	[8]
7th	2023	Showman - A Dictator's Fourth Body Double	[9]

Best Musical (over 400 seats)

No.	Year	Winner	Note
1st	2017	Natasha, the White Donkey, and Me	[3]
2nd	2018	Seopyeonje
3rd	2019	Red Book
4th	2020	Sweeney Todd (musical)
5th	2021	Swag Age: Shout Out, Joseon!
6th	2022	Red Book
7th	2023	Death Note	[10]

Best Musical Award Small Theater

No.	Year	Winner	Note
1st	2017	—
2nd	2018	Maybe Happy Ending
3rd	2019	Bernarda Alba
4th	2020	Aranga
5th	2021	Lizzie
6th	2022	Who Lives in Kuroi's Mansion?
7th	2023	Let Me Fly	[9]

Individual Division

Best Actress

No.	Year	Winner	Note
1st	2017	Jeon Mi-do — Sweeney Todd (스위니토드)	[3]
2nd	2018	Jeon Mi-do — Maybe Happy Ending	[11]
3rd	2019	Jung Young-joo — Bernarda Alba	[12]
4th	2020	Kim Seon-young — Hope: Unread Books and Lost Life?	[5]
5th	2021	Kim Soo-ha — Rent	[13]
6th	2022	Cha Ji-yeon — Red Book	[14]
7th	2023	Lee Ja-ram — Sepyeonje	[15]
8th	2024	Jeong Sun-ah — If/Then

Best Actor

No.	Year	Winner	Note
1st	2017	Jeong Seong-hwa — Kinky Boots	[16]
2nd	2018	Hong Kwang-ho — Cyrano	[17]
3rd	2019	Park Hyo-shin — The Man Who Laughs Choi Jae-rim — Matilda
4th	2020	Cho Hyung-kyun — Cyrano
5th	2021	Kang Pil-seok — Something Rotten!
6th	2022	Kang-hyun Park — Hadestown
7th	2023	Yoon Na-moo — Showman - A Dictator's Fourth Body Double	[9]
8th	2024	Cho Seung-woo — The Phantom of the Opera	[18]

Best Supporting Actress

No.	Year	Winner	Note
1st	2017	Shin Youngsook — Rebecca
2nd	2018	Shin Youngsook — Phantom
3rd	2019	Kim Kook-hee — Red book
4th	2020	Lee Yee-un — Hope: Unread Books and Lost Life?	[5]
5th	2021	Lee Bom-sori — The chami
6th	2022	Kim Sun-young — Hadestown
7th	2023	Choi Jeong-won — Matilda	[19]

Best Supporting Actor

No.	Year	Winner	Note
1st	2017	Park Eun-tae — Dorian Gray
2nd	2018	Lee Jung-yeol — Seopyeonje
3rd	2019	Han Ji-sang — A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
4th	2020	Park Kang-hyun — Xcalibur
5th	2021	Seo Kyung-soo — Something Rotten!
6th	2022	Choi Jae-rim — Chicago
7th	2023	Kang Hong-seok — Death Note

Best New Actress

No.	Year	Winner	Note
1st	2017	Lee Ye-eun — The Wicked
2nd	2018	Yi So-yeon — Seopyeonje
3rd	2019	Kim Hwan-hee — Bernarda Alba
4th	2020	Kim Soo-ha — Swag Age: Shout out, Joseon
5th	2021	Han Jae-ah — Maybe Happy Ending
6th	2022	Jang Min-je — Beetlejuice (musical)
7th	2023	Lim Ha-yoon, Jin Yeon-woo, Choi Eun-young, and Hasinbi —Matilda	[15]

Best New Actor

No.	Year	Winner	Note
1st	2017	Kim Sung-cheol — Sweeney Todd
2nd	2018	Son Yoo-dong — History of the loser	[11]
3rd	2019	Lee Hwi-jong — Do and Brothers Karamazov
4th	2020	Yang Hee-jun — Swag Age: Shout out, Joseon
5th	2021	Lee Jun-young — Swag Age: Shout out, Joseon
6th	2022	Kim Si-hoon, Lee Woo-jin, Jeon Kang-hyuk, Joo Hyun-jun — Billy Elliot
7th	2023	Lee Hyung-hoon — Let Me Fly	[15]
8th	2024	Julian Jootaek Kim — The Phantom Of The Opera	[20][21]

Best Ensemble Award

No.	Year	Winner	Note
1st	2017	Kinky Boots (킹키부츠)
2nd	2018	Benhur
3rd	2019	Mathilda
4th	2020	Aida
5th	2021	42nd Street
6th	2022	The Great Comet
7th	2023	West Side Story	[19]

Best Creative

Best Producer

No.	Year	Winner	Note
1st	2017	Uhm Hong-hyun — Mata Hari	[3]
2nd	2018	Han Kyung-sook — Maybe Happy Ending
3rd	2019	Park Myung-sung — Matilda Billy Elliot
4th	2020	Oh Hoon-shik — Hope: Unread Books and Lost Life?	[5]
5th	2021	CJ ENM — Finding Mr. Destiny, 42nd Street, Werther, Big Fish, Maybe Happy Ending, Kinky Boots
6th	2022	Shownote — The Great Comet, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, Headwick
7th	2023	Kim Mih-hye, Park Min-sun — Mrs. Doubtfire

Best Director

No.	Year	Winner	Note
1st	2017	Oh Se-hyuk — Natasha, the White Donkey, and Me	[3]
2nd	2018	Kim Dong-yeon — Maybe Happy Ending	[22]
3rd	2019	Oh Kyung-taek — Red book
4th	2020	Ohrupina — Hope: Unread Books and Lost Life?	[5]
5th	2021	Kim Tae-hyong — Marie Curie	[6]
6th	2022	Kim Dong-yeon — Who Lives in Kuroi's Mansion?
7th	2023	Kim Dong-yeon — Death Note

Best Playwright

No.	Year	Winner	Note
1st	2017	Park Hae-rim — Natasha, the White Donkey, and Me	[3]
2nd	2018	Hue Park and Will Aronson— Maybe Happy Ending	[22]
3rd	2019	Young Jung — Dedication of Suspect X
4th	2020	Kang Nam — Hope: Unread Books and Lost Life?
5th	2021	Cheon Se-eun — Marie Curie	[7]
6th	2022	Pyo Sang-ah — Who Lives in Kuroi's Mansion?
7th	2023	Han Jeon-seok — Showman - A Dictator's Fourth Body Double

Music Award Arrangement/Music Director

No.	Year	Winner	Note
1st	2017	Lee Jin-wook — Rachmaninov	[3]
2nd	2018	Will Aronson — Maybe Happy Ending
3rd	2019	Kim Seong-soo — Bernarda Alba
4th	2020	Shin Eun-kyung — Hope: Unread Books and Lost Life?	[5]
5th	2021	Kim Seong-soo — Something Rotten!
6th	2022	Yang Joo-in — Red Book
7th	2023	Kim Seong-soo — Jesus Christ Superstar

Composer Award

No.	Year	Winner	Note
1st	2017
2nd	2018
3rd	2019
4th	2020	Kim Hyo-eun — Hope: Unread Books and Lost Life?	[5]
5th	2021	Choi Jong-yoon — Marie Curie	[23]
6th	2022	Kim Bo-young — Who Lives in Kuroi's Mansion?
7th	2023	Hong Min-chan — Let Me Fly

Best Choreography

No.	Year	Winner	Note
1st	2017	Shin Seon-ho — Rogisu	[3]
2nd	2018	Cha Jin-yeop — Along with the Gods	[22]
3rd	2019	Hong Yu-seon — Red Book
4th	2020	Moon Seong-woo — Benhur
5th	2021	Kim Eun-chong — Swag Age: Shout out, Joseon
6th	2022	Lee Hyun-jung — Lizzy
7th	2023	Kim Dong-yeon — Death Note

Stage Arts Award

No.	Year	Winner	Note
1st	2017	Oh Pil-young (stage) — Mata Hari	[3]
2nd	2018	Seo Sook-jin — Benhur	[22]
3rd	2019	Oh Pil-young (stage) — The Man Who Laugh
4th	2020	Park Joon (video) — City of Angels
5th	2021	Oh Pil-young (stage) — A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
6th	2022	Oh Pil-young (stage) — The Great Comet
7th	2023	Oh Pil-young (stage, lighting, video, accessories director) — Death Note

Special Award

Staff Award

No.	Year	Winner	Note
2nd	2018	Kim Moon-jung

New Wave Award

No.	Year	Winner	Note
3rd	2019	Ready to Fly

Special Merit Award

No.	Year	Winner	Note
1st	2017	Park Man-gyu	[3]
2nd	2018	Kang Dae-jin
3rd	2019	Lee Jong-deok
4th	2020	—
5th	2021	The musical
6th	2022	Daegu International Musical Festival
7th	2023	Yoon Bok-hee	[24]

Award milestones

Some notable records and facts about the Korea Musical Awards include the following:

• The 2nd edition of awards. Maybe Happy Ending received the most awards, with six trophies: Will Aronson for Best Music, Will Aronson and Hue Park for Best Book, Kim Dong-yeon for Best Director, Han Kyung-sook for Best Producer, Jeon Mi-do for Best Actress in a Leading Role and Best Small Theater Musical.^[17]
• The 6th edition of awards was held at the Blue Square, Shinhan Card Hall on January 10, 2022. The nominations were announced on December 20, 2021. The musical Red Book was nominated in 7 categories: Best Musical, Best Leading Actress (Female), Best Supporting Actor (Male), Best New Artist (Female), Producer Award, Directing Award, and Music Award.^[25]