Stirring, cinematic, and featuring an excellent female-led cast, Jeongnyeon – The Star is Born sets the stage for a story about following your dreams even when the rest of the world says you don’t have what it takes. Our determined heroine has the odds stacked against her, but when the chance of a lifetime comes her way, she seizes it with both hands, ready to prove herself one way or another.
EPISODES 1-2
I went into this show with sky-high expectations, and I’m ecstatic to say that this first week of Jeongnyeon – The Star is Born rose to the occasion. Right from the opening sequence — an onstage introduction of our main cast and their respective characters, narrated by a real-life first-generation gukgeuk actor — I was as captivated as our leading lady was upon seeing her first performance.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. The leading lady in question is YOON JEONG-NYEON (Kim Tae-ri), a young girl growing up in the aftermath of the Korean War whose family makes a meager living selling fish. Curiously, her mother (Moon Sori) imposes a strict rule: no singing — even to attract customers — or she’ll shave her head. But what’s a girl to do when thugs come along smashing market stalls and demanding extra money they don’t have? Jeong-nyeon hops up on a crate and sings her heart out, and the whole market stops to listen to her powerful voice. Emboldened, Jeong-nyeon tries to wheedle a “concert fee” out of the thugs. It doesn’t work, but it does make them leave, for now. Even better, it convinces a charming stranger to buy out Jeong-nyeon’s entire stock in exchange for an encore.
But this isn’t just any stranger. This is MOON OK-GYUNG (Jung Eun-chae), the revered “prince” of an all-women gukgeuk troupe, and to say she’s impressed by Jeong-nyeon’s talent would be an understatement. She even chases Jeong-nyeon down afterwards to get her name and give her tickets to the next show. Though flattered, Jeong-nyeon isn’t terribly impressed… until she hears just how much money a gukgeuk performer like Ok-gyung makes. With that kind of salary, her family would never have to sell another fish again!
So Jeong-nyeon brings her sister JEONG-JA (Oh Kyung-hwa) along to see what’s so special about theater performers. I don’t know enough about gukgeuk to judge the accuracy of its portrayal here, but I can say that I get why Jeong-nyeon finds it so mesmerizing. Later that night, when she tries to recreate the gravitas and elegance of Ok-gyung’s performance, Jeong-ja muses that actors must be from beyond the stars.
But it’s not all stardust behind the scenes. Ok-gyung suffers from major burnout, and rumors of opium use pose just enough of a threat that troupe leader KANG SO-BOK (Ra Mi-ran) has her stay behind, out of the public eye, while the rest travel on. Fortunately, though, that means Ok-gyung is still at the inn when Jeong-nyeon comes looking for the troupe, and happily invites her in for an impromptu skills evaluation. Jeong-nyeon’s acting is stiff at best, and she can’t dance, but she’s memorized every word of last night’s show — plus, as Ok-gyung puts it, she was born with “a voice from the heavens.”
So Ok-gyung takes Jeong-nyeon under her wing to help her prepare for an audition to recruit new gukgeuk trainees. But it’s only a matter of time before Mom gets suspicious about Jeong-nyeon’s constant absences. Ultimately, the truth comes out, and Mom about has a heart attack then and there. She locks Jeong-nyeon in the shed and forbids Jeong-ja to give her food or water until she promises to give up on gukgeuk once and for all.
Of course, Jeong-nyeon can’t do that. And, being a wonderful big sister, Jeong-ja can’t let her lose out on her dream. The night before the audition, Jeong-ja breaks Jeong-nyeon out and helps her run away to meet Ok-gyung. As they tearfully say their goodbyes, Jeong-nyeon vows to make it big and come back to lift the family out of poverty.
Ok-gyung drives through the night to get Jeong-nyeon to the audition (only just) in time. An injured shoulder from trying to break out of the shed hinders Jeong-nyeon’s dancing, but not even her snobbish fellow auditionees can deny her singing talent. In the end, Jeong-nyeon isn’t selected as an official trainee — but she is accepted as an understudy. Troupe Leader Kang makes it clear that Ok-gyung’s recommendation may have gotten her a foot in the door, but Jeong-nyeon will have to prove herself if she’s going to stay.
And that sentiment follows her throughout the rest of her acclimation to troupe life. Most the trainees look down on her for her humble roots and take every opportunity to remind her that she’s only here because Ok-gyung pulled the strings and not by any merit of her own. The worst part is, they’re not entirely wrong. Ok-gyung herself says, repeatedly, that she wants Jeong-nyeon to become her rival and successor. So when another trainee challenges Jeong-nyeon to “prove herself” by accomplishing an impossible task — procuring a copy of an official audition script, which no trainees are ever given — Jeong-nyeon agrees.
Jeong-nyeon’s strategy is simply to ask Troupe Leader Kang’s assistant BAEK DO-AENG (Lee Se-young) for the script. Instead, Do-aeng gives her the script for the much smaller-scale trainee production. If Jeong-nyeon performs well there, Do-aeng might reconsider her request. Except, Jeong-nyeon has to get a part in the production before she can perform at all, and the person in charge is none other than her antagonistic roommate, HEO YOUNG-SEO (Shin Ye-eun).
Young-seo and Jeong-nyeon are clearly being set up as perfect rivals. While they’re both intimidated by each other’s talent, Jeong-nyeon’s intimidation is mixed with awe — whereas Young-seo’s is mixed with scorn. In Young-seo’s defense, though, she is under a ton of pressure. Since she chose gukgeuk instead of following in her mother and sister’s footsteps (both are famous opera singers), her only hope of measuring up to her mother’s impossibly high standards is to be the very best gukgeuk performer there ever was. But contrary to her high-and-mighty attitude, Young-seo has yet to land a leading role in any official production.
To everyone’s surprise, Young-seo agrees to let Jeong-nyeon have a role in the trainee production — but only because she knows Jeong-nyeon has no idea what she’s getting into. Once Jeong-nyeon realizes she’s been set up to fail, Young-seo gloats that her only options are 1) give up or 2) embarrass herself onstage in front of everyone.
But, of course, there’s a secret third option. Ok-gyung invites Jeong-nyeon to her lavish house and casually hands her the coveted Official Audition Script. No need to waste time trying to prove herself like all the other trainees — what Ok-gyung is offering is a fast track to the very top. The problem is, if Jeong-nyeon accepts, she’ll be proving everyone right and her success will feel unearned.
I don’t expect Jeong-nyeon to take the easy route, but I like that she has to wrestle with the temptation. And there’s one more element at play here that I’m sure will further complicate everything once it comes to the surface. Before diving into Jeong-nyeon’s story, we were introduced to two young girls. One went on to become Troupe Leader Kang, and the other was famous for her natural gift as a singer… before she vanished. Even Young-seo’s mother speaks of her as the exception to the “opera is better than gukgeuk” rule. It’s strongly hinted that the disappearing singer is Jeong-nyeon’s mother, and if she is, she must have changed her name when she left the gukgeuk scene. The question, of course, is why? And how will whatever made her walk away from it all impact Jeong-nyeon’s own journey toward stardom?