Yang Hui-eun’s 70s Show Takes Audiences Back In Time

“Hui-eun’s nicknames during college were Bus Token and Ramen. She used to stand in front of her school and ask anybody passing by for a bus token or ramen.

Here’s a quiz. Does anybody know how much bus fare and ramen were in the early 1970s?”

Hui-gyeong asked the audience, and the answers came rushing in. The bus fare at that time was 8 won (equivalent of 0.6 cents), and ramen was 10 cents. Hee-gyeong talked about how things have changed saying, “Now the bus fare is more expensive than the price of ramen.”

“The 33rd Year Drama Concert by Yang Hui-eun” will be held at the Electric Power Art Center in Seoul on May 16. Hui-eun and Hui-gyeong talk and sing about their daily lives or their pasts as if performing a drama. The older sister, Hui-eun, sings, and the younger one, Hui-gyeong, talks about his sister as if in a talk show and mimics her sister. Hui-eun creatively leads the stage, making a step nearer to the audience.

The 800-strong audience, many of them middle aged, empathize with the sisters’ stories. Yang In-suk, one of the audience members, says, “The memories of the 70s were revived in me when the sisters talked about their dog, ‘Baekgu,’ and said that the stage costumes were jeans and rubber shoes in the 70s.”

In the midst of the performance, Hui-eun asked the audience if any one of them had been to OB’s Cabin in Myeongdong where she performed almost every day in the 1970s. In response, about 150 people raised their hands.

Hui-eung sang 20 songs, opening the stage with “Baekgu” and continuing with songs including “Little Pond,” “Love Unattainable,” “Hangyeryong,” “White Magnolia,” and others. At the end of the concert, Hui-gyeong sang “To My Beloved Sister” with the audience.

Hui-eun said, “Since we were little, I used to sing, and Hui-gyeong used to talk about this and that. That was our pastime,” and added, “As we grew older, we talked about doing something like this, and we were only able to do this now.” The concert will be held on the 4th and the 11th at 3 p.m., and at 8 p.m. during weekdays and Saturday, and Sunday and holidays at 5 p.m. Tickets are from 60,000 won to 70,000 won. 1544-0737

Sun-Woo Kim sublime@donga.com