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Little Angels come to London

Sadlers Wells seems to be the venue of choice for big budget, but free, Korean shows. Hot on the heels of the musical Another Sun, we will be getting the Little Angels, who will be performing at Sadlers Wells on 2 October in aid of the British Korean War Veterans. Two performances, 3pm and 7:30pm.

The event is free, via http://www.little-angels.org.uk/

<Update 26 September 2010>: The website will ask you for a secret booking code. The code you need to supply is

KRUK/family name and first name initial.

For example, if your name is John Smith, input the code: KRUK/SmithJ.

</Update>

Here’s the press release.

To commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Korean War, the Little Angels Childrens Folk Ballet, Korea’s best cultural and peace ambassadors are touring the 16 UN-member nations that sent troops to the conflict. The tour which began in Washington DC, USA is coming to the UK at the beginning of October. The purpose of the tour is to honour the Korean War veterans together with their families.

The Little Angels Children’s Folk Ballet of Korea was founded in 1962 by Rev. and Mrs. Sun Myung Moon to convey to the people of the world the peace-loving spirit of the Korean people and the beautiful culture and arts produced throughout the nation’s 5,000-year history.

The group’s polished repertoire, which includes delightful traditional Korean dances, songs and theatrical sketches, ranges in effect from the breathtaking to the heartwarming. Their enchanting performances have won high praise from the press around the world. The Guardian commended their “superabundant charm and efficiency” and the Times said “amazing”. The New York Times dubbed them “a phenomenal company” and Pravda wrote that they were on a “glorious peace mission,” realising the most sublime human values and beauty in art.

<Update 26 September 2010>: The following rant was written before the organisers put the word out about the secret code you need to provide.</Update>

<rant>

But how do you book? It confuses the hell out of me. If you try the website specially set up for the occasion it looks like you can only register if you have a secret code – but there’s no indication of how you get to be the proud possessor the secret code. There’s a nice lady on Facebook who has been doing a bit of PR for the event, but somehow I feel I shouldn’t bother her for tickets because I’m not sure if she’s associated with the organisers. The Cultural Centre has published a press release, presumably from the organisers, which gives an email address to apply for tickets. This seems to be a step forward, but it the only response you get from that email address is that you need to register on the website, so you’re back to square one. I think the trick must be to put in a dummy secret code. That’s what I tried anyway.

Ticket allocation for Another Sun was commendably egalitarian: yangban were seated with the proles. You couldn’t secure yourself a front row seat by paying top dollar, because the tickets were free. But, but, but…

I really thought we had moved on from the uncertainty of free Korean events in places where people are used to paying. Thankfully, ever since their move from the Prince Charles to the Barbican, the London Korean Film Festival now has a proper box office, so you can get the certainty (and tickets) you want. We’ve moved on from the ridiculous process of queuing up for the free tickets immediately before the screening on a first come first served basis. For the film festival you can ring the box office and pick up your tickets on the day. But now with the Sadlers Wells productions we seem to have stepped back a decade in event organisation, giving the audience the hassle of emails and snailmail to secure a place at an event. The occasional free productions at the Kingston Rose Theatre as part of the New Malden Festival are similarly booked by email – but at least you can pick up your tickets at the theatre on the day.

I’m sure the organisers are all working very hard and everything will be fine come the performance. Tickets will miraculously appear, but it would be nice if the hassle was taken out of this for the benefit of the prospective audience.

Even more to the point: this is a charity event, in aid of British Korean War Veterans. Highly commendable. But wouldn’t the charity be assured of more cash if the ticket proceeds were donated to them?

Hey ho. I know it will be a great event. If I manage to get myself a ticket…

</rant>

(automatically generated) Read LKL’s review of this event here.

3 thoughts on “Little Angels come to London

  1. The show i attended little angels from korea were fantastic i would like to know where i can purchase the dvd for the Auckland show which was held at the Edge.

  2. I have only just discovered The Korean Little Angels. Is it possible to purchase a DVD of their show.They fascinate me with their talents. Thank you.

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