'Every moment means something': The trio who beat 50-to-1 odds to join 'The Tribe' [Interview]

A wild energy surges through the stage. To thundering percussion and lively piano melodies, the faces of 12 ancient tribespeople leap out like figures from a comic strip. A language only they understand — painted in vivid expressions — fills the theater. These are the true rulers of the musical's world.

"The Tribe" is a strange and whimsical adult fairy tale built on a single premise: lie, and an ancient tribe will appear. First staged by the Seoul Metropolitan Musical in 2024, the production has undergone a full overhaul as it moves from the intimate S Theater at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts to the larger M Theater. As part of that transformation, the company held its first-ever open audition to cast ensemble actors — a process that drew more than 460 applicants. Kim Dan-ju, 36, Lee Ji-yong, 32, and Park Cho-rok, 27, beat the competition at 50 to 1. They are the "third leads" who complete the ancient tribal world the original production could not fully realize.

The three actors met a reporter recently at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Gwanghwamun, Seoul, ahead of opening night. They said they are "stripping away pretense and pulling out the raw, real versions of ourselves."

A contemporary dancer, a puppeteer and a Daehangno lead and supporting actor — their common ground is musical theater. For these three performers, who had worked stages of every size, the Seoul Metropolitan Musical, the country's only national public musical company, was uncharted territory.

"From the outside, it looked like a kind of 'royal' organization — or a large corporation — that not just anyone could walk into," said Kim Dan-ju.

For young actors, a company where 50 to 60 permanent members enjoy guaranteed employment until retirement is both a dream workplace and an object of curiosity. Unlike commercial producers who pour massive budgets into blockbuster productions, the Seoul Metropolitan Musical points in a different direction. As a public institution, it carries a mandate to pursue the kind of bold, diverse artistic experiments that the private sector cannot.

"Rather than 'doing business' the way licensed productions do, this is a place that makes short, intense, artistically daring original work," Park Cho-rok said. "I was always curious about it."

That curiosity is precisely what drew all three to audition for "The Tribe." Their resumes are anything but thin. Kim Dan-ju made her mark in the musical "Moulin Rouge!" (which had its Korean premiere in 2023), Lee Ji-yong recently worked as a puppeteer in "Life of Pi," and Park Cho-rok has built a strong presence in Daehangno as the lead in the musical "Anne."

All three said they had not seen the original production but had heard so many good things about it that they wanted to come and work alongside the company. Lee Ji-yong laughed recalling that when he heard the audition was for a tribe, "I honestly pictured primitive cavemen," and that friends told him, "If not you, then who?" and urged him to go for it. There were practical reasons, too. "Because it's a public institution, the working conditions are more stable than on the outside, and the pay for ensemble actors is good," Lee said. "I figured at least I wouldn't starve." Park Cho-rok said she was equally curious: "I really wanted to know what the lifestyle and work looked like for actors who create inside a stable environment."

The world they stepped into after passing the audition was, in their words, a whole new universe. It was nothing like the commercial production environment, where nights, weekends and days off barely existed.

All three laughed describing the company's strict schedule — "10 a.m. start, 5 p.m. finish, an hour and a half for lunch" — and said the hardest thing to get used to was actually leaving on time. The public-institution culture even extended to local elections day on June 3, when staff were told to vote and come in by 1 p.m. "Having a regular rehearsal pattern is the first time I've experienced this," Park Cho-rok said. "It's been a huge help for managing my stamina."

These three are seasoned audition veterans — and the 50-to-1 odds they cleared prove it. Each came armed with a signature move.

Park Cho-rok's audition day was a whirlwind. She finished a separate performance earlier that day and rushed straight to the audition venue, still wearing her full stage makeup — long lashes, bold eye shadow — having only swapped into a tracksuit. Nerves of steel. When she received the script pages given to female ensemble candidates, she went straight for the jugular. The task was to choose one of four characters' lines to perform, but Park decided that doing just one would be boring — and performed all four. The creative team had no choice but to be won over by her one-woman, four-character show.

Kim Dan-ju's weapon was meticulous preparation. A past audition triumph — showing up to the "Moulin Rouge!" audition dressed head to toe as a living version of the film — had taught her that thorough presentation pays off. For "The Tribe," however, she chose to present a blank-slate version of herself, resisting the urge to over-accessorize. She had agonized until the night before over whether to order feathers from Coupang Inc to look more tribal, but ultimately settled on a leopard-print shirt — "just a hint of tribe." What she did not skimp on was props: she made a custom poster to match the lines she was given.

"I was confident no one else would have prepared to that level," Kim said. "Looking around at the male applicants, I thought a few strong performers would get in on talent alone, and I'd get in on preparation — but then I saw someone who had done even more than me."

That person was Lee Ji-yong. He had not only handmade every prop mentioned in his script — a T-shirt, socks and a postcard — but also ordered 10 DIY keyrings from Coupang Inc, printed with his own face, and handed them out to the judges. Midway through his performance he dramatically ripped off his outer layer to reveal the T-shirt bearing his face, sending the audition room into fits of laughter.

"After the audition I gave a keyring to the music director," Lee said, grinning. "That same evening I ran into him in the lobby of the 'Life of Pi' theater, and he pulled the keyring out of his pocket and showed it to me. I got goosebumps." The keyring bearing Lee Ji-yong's face still hangs on the wall of the Seoul Metropolitan Musical rehearsal room.

Different backgrounds, different ages — and the three had never met before this production — yet they have already built a tight bond in the rehearsal room. The mutual respect is genuine.

Park Cho-rok's powerful vocals have left everyone in awe. "During run-throughs, you suddenly hear this voice cutting through from somewhere in the room," Kim Dan-ju said. "Not just loud — staggeringly good. And it was always Cho-rok." Lee Ji-yong was equally effusive: "She already sings that well — I can't imagine where she'll be in a few years. Honestly, I'm jealous."

Park Cho-rok and Kim Dan-ju both named Lee Ji-yong's transparent sincerity as his greatest strength. "He's so open that being around him puts you at ease," Park said. "That genuine quality shows up directly in his physical performance onstage." Kim added: "The way he throws himself into rehearsal without embarrassment — giving 100 percent, going for it boldly — is something I want to learn from."

Lee Ji-yong responded to the praise with a candid volley of his own. "After I passed the audition I looked up Dan-ju's Instagram, and his genderless image was so intense it kind of drained my energy — I thought, 'There's no way I can hang out with that guy,'" he said, laughing. "But when I actually met him, he turned out to be completely my type. All that glamour on the outside, but inside he's a total country bumpkin. So funny and warm." Park Cho-rok agreed: "Offstage he's soft as silken tofu, but onstage he has this naturally quirky humor that makes him completely unpredictable — he's a special person." Kim Dan-ju smiled shyly and revealed: "My MBTI is INFJ, so I'm actually extremely timid. When I was little I used to cry because I couldn't bring myself to order jjajangmyeon over the phone." The other two were stunned.

The ensemble in "The Tribe" is unlike that of a typical large-scale musical. The tribe voices the inner lives of the main characters and drives the dramatic tension of the entire show. To amplify the tribe's presence, the musical numbers were substantially rewritten — close to a full revision — and the choreography was strengthened. Seoul Metropolitan Musical artistic director Kim Deok-hee has called the ensemble actors "the third leads."

"Unlike a conventional musical, there is not a single second in 'The Tribe' where the ensemble actors are used as mere decoration or background," Kim Dan-ju said. "All 12 tribe members have a clear reason to be on that stage, and each carries their own sense of responsibility. The fact that there is no meaningless moment — that is the biggest difference."

Each ensemble actor plays a named tribe member: Park Cho-rok is "Kkiyacho," Kim Dan-ju is "Shasha" and Lee Ji-yong is "Pipin." The three have been working hard to honor director Pyo Sang-a's vision that the energy and character of each tribe member should carry through even when they step outside the tribe and become someone else entirely.

Playing two roles is the baseline, and the physical demands are immense. From the opening number to the finale, the actors must roll, shout and perform at full power without a single exit. On top of their tribe roles, Park Cho-rok plays a rambunctious elementary school student, Lee Ji-yong a TV producer and Kim Dan-ju a museum employee — leaving all three with heads spinning over blocking and lightning-fast costume changes.

"The audience feels catharsis because the actors are pushed to their limits," Kim Dan-ju said. "In the rehearsal room we hit a physical wall, but once we're in the theater with the live band — the percussion, the microphones — the energy that comes out will be something else entirely."

With these three aboard, "The Tribe" has taken on a vibrant new dynamism. The 12 performers united under the name of the tribe move as one ensemble while each radiates a distinct individual energy. They each have their own strategy. Park Cho-rok and Lee Ji-yong rely on sheer presence: Park laughed that being the shortest of the 12 means "I stand out without even trying," while Lee said his voluminous curly hair will do the work for him. Kim Dan-ju has a solo passage in the very first number — only about 10 seconds, but she said she is "preparing to make those 10 seconds feel like a minute." "I want to be overwhelming, but not in a way that screams 'look how great I am,'" she said. "Everyone is surrounding me, so I want to absorb that energy and pass it on to the audience."

As the self-proclaimed third leads, the three actors were quick to redirect the spotlight when asked what audiences should watch for. Lee Ji-yong pointed to the sheer power of the lead actors' performances; Kim Dan-ju highlighted the rich live music from the band — piano, percussion and more. Park Cho-rok noted that the double-cast leads — Kim Chan-ho and Heo Do-young, Yoo Ju-hye and Lee Hye-ran — bring starkly different textures to their roles, making it worth seeing twice.

Rehearsing until their bodies give out, all three carry the same message they want to deliver through this production: the courage to find your true self. "People today tell so many lies — pretending on Instagram to be living well, pretending to be busy," Lee Ji-yong said. "I think audiences will leave this show feeling that they don't need to lie to live well as themselves." Park Cho-rok added: "Even if the show makes you uncomfortable because it hits too close to home, I hope people leave feeling that it's OK to be honest — that they've been given a little comfort." Kim Dan-ju summed up the production's theme in two words: "Love myself."

"You have to love yourself before you can even ask what you want," Kim Dan-ju said. "Whether you're someone who hasn't made peace with yourself yet, or someone who already does love who they are — I think everyone will walk out of that theater with a little more certainty about themselves. It's not a story about loving someone else. It's a story about loving yourself."