First performed in 1998, the musical Blood Brothers, an adaptation of the English playwright
Willy Russell's musical of the same name, is a story of twin brothers and their biological mother
"Gannan", which covers their lives from the Korean War to the end of the Yushin ("revitalizing reform") constitution period in 1979. The failure to form solidarity and move forward after the liberation from
Japanese colonialism has led to the division of the Korean peninsula, internecine war,
and ills of modernization. Checkered with all the seeds of the problems Korea faces today,
the period between the Korean War and the end of the Yushin period in 1979 is the most problematic
period in the modern Korean history that requires reflection and examination. It is hope that through the
lives depicted in the musical of ordinary people who lived in the precarious period, when Korea is
caught under the pressure to assimilate and absorb the Western model, Koreans can come to reflect
on the past and make a fresh start. The musical Blood Brothers balances fun and seriousness
with the just right dose of humor to its grave subject matter, it received Dong-a Theater Award for
artistic merit in 1998 when the musical was first staged.