A musical that highlights the charm of taekwondo, Korea’s traditional martial arts, has recently been unveiled at Theater Yong at the National Museum of Korea.

With a mixed group of musical actors and actual taekwondo athletes, “Taekwon, Fly Up!” offers a dynamic 70 minutes for all ages.

The musical revolves around the story of a high school taekwondo team that used to be famous for its high ranking. But after several years of underperforming, their school decides to give their studio space to the school’s judo team. In danger of being cut from the school curriculum, the team was given an ultimatum: Get first place at the Taekwondo Festival.

“While working on the staging of this work, I thought a lot with the creators about how to blend taekwondo into the genre of musical and present it in a creative and nice way,” Kim Myeong-hoon, the producer of the show, told reporters during a press conference on Thursday. 

The musical features actors that are not only talented in singing and dancing, but also with taekwondo abilities of a competitive level. Twenty-two actors went through six months of training to prepare for their roles.

Among the actors, five are professionally trained taekwondo athletes. For former taekwondo national athlete Um Ji-min, in particular, who is a part of the World Taekwondo Demonstration Team, this musical marks her debut as an actor. Um appeared on last year’s “America’s Got Talent” with the World Taekwondo Demonstration Team, which came sixth in the finale.

Co-produced by CultureHolic and Live Inc. and supported by the Taekwondo Promotion Foundation, “Taekwon Fly Up!” runs until July 3 at Theater Yong.