Singer Kang Kyun-sung is returning to the musical stage. His agency, S27M Entertainment, announced on November 2 that Kang has confirmed his casting in the concert musical ‘The Mission: K,’ which opens in January 2027, just days after his October 30 wedding.
Kang will play Severance, the American businessman and philanthropist whose donations funded the hospital at the heart of the story and helped lay the foundations of medical education in Korea. The production describes Severance as a figure who sponsored the establishment of a hospital and worked to build the base for medical training, and the role is expected to lean on Kang’s persuasive vocals and emotional depth to convey the themes of resolve and sharing.
‘The Mission: K’ blends musical storytelling with a concert format, telling the true stories of four real historical figures who left their mark on Korea’s modern medical and educational history: Horace Allen, Horace Grant Underwood, Oliver R. Avison, and Louis H. Severance. Four actors will carry the revival, bringing the pioneers’ stories to life through music and performance.
The revival runs from January 13 to January 17, 2027, at the Grand Theater of Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul. The production is a return engagement: the show premiered in January 2026 at the same venue, running for three days from January 30 to February 1 as part of events marking the 140th anniversary of Protestantism in Korea, with Yonsei University and the Yonsei University Health System among its sponsors.
That original staging framed the four pioneers as a present-day fictional K-pop group called The Mission, looking back 140 years in a talk-show format rather than staging a straight historical drama. The cast featured MJ of ASTRO as Horace N. Allen, Jaeyoon of SF9 as Horace G. Underwood, Kim Dong-jun of ZE:A as Oliver R. Avison, and Ricky of Teen Top as Louis H. Severance, with musical actor Seo Beom-seok as master of ceremonies.
The history behind the show gives the revival its weight. Allen, an American missionary doctor, established Korea’s first Western clinic, Chejungwon, in the 1880s. Underwood founded the Joseon Christian College that later became Yonsei University. Avison, a Canadian physician, led quarantine efforts during a cholera outbreak and went on to open Severance Hospital and Severance Medical College. Severance, the American oil businessman, provided the decisive donation that made the hospital’s construction possible. Together, the four laid foundations for the medical and education systems that still shape Korea today.
The original production team set the template the revival inherits. Executive producer and music director Jang So-young, director Ahn Jin-sung, and playwright Kim Eun-hye built the show around a talk-show format rather than a straight historical drama, after deciding that a heavy, plot-driven treatment would play like a documentary. Jang has said she wanted to deliver the pioneers’ spirit in a concert format that anyone could relate to, and the original cast performed the show’s signature number, ‘The Place That Calls Me,’ live at a press conference at the Korea Press Center in Seoul on January 5, 2026. That balance of pop performance and history is what Kang’s revival cast must now recreate, with a new lineup stepping into roles first defined by idol vocalists.
For Kang, the casting continues a busy personal chapter. The Noel vocalist married actress Yoo Ha Jin on October 30, and the musical marks his first major stage announcement since the wedding. Taking on Severance puts him in a lineage of idol vocalists who have carried the show’s message, and it gives audiences a first look at how the revival’s new cast will reinterpret a production that has already proven its format.
Tickets and further casting details for the January run have yet to be announced. With the revival still more than two months away, the production team is expected to reveal the remaining cast and the full performance schedule in the coming weeks.
