"Vibrates with the frenzy of its contradictions...'KPOP' is likely to come across as entertaining and enervating, in fairly equal measures...'KPOP' sometimes works too hard to put itself over. It is least interesting at its most didactic. And it suffers from its own conflicted intentions. The show is best when parody blurs into the already surreal dimensions of what’s being parodied...The pastiche fusion musical numbers...are as synthetically sweet and perversely addictive as the real thing."
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"The delightful new musical ‘KPOP’ knows what kind of immersive theater it wants to be...Tiny bubbles of pleasure keep floating up and bursting all around us. Pop! Pop! Pop! We’re sold. It isn’t all froth, however...'KPOP' has impressive breadth, even if at times it feels overstretched...But any misgivings are forgotten in the rush of the extended concert finale, which sweeps you up in the thrill of a crowd that can hardly wait to burst into applause."
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"An expansive, catchy, and cunning immersive performance...'KPOP's' exuberant young ensemble make this show difficult to resist...'KPOP' is a delicious spectacle...But 'KPOP' is no mere sugar bomb. Underneath the glam and the (highly enjoyable) gimmickry, the show is a candid and increasingly discomfiting look at the struggles faced by Asian artists trying to break into an American market...It’s not subtle, but it works."
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"An ambitious new immersive, interactive musical that is often as physically exhausting as it is wildly entertaining...Despite its plethora of incidents, the show's book proves its weakest element, with the overlong proceedings becoming repetitive and meandering. But the paper-thin characterizations and hackneyed dialogue don't prevent ‘KPOP’ from being great fun...The mostly youthful ensemble is terrifically talented, delivering the infectious original score with pulsing energy."
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"The most ambitious off-Broadway musical of the year, with pulse-quickening tunes, innovative staging, and just a little bit of disappointment...There's no musical without conflict, but Kim is unfailingly heavy-handed in his approach, underlining each important issue with a thick red line...Luckily, everyone in the cast is very good...Everything comes together for a final concert that has everyone dancing and singing along. 'KPOP' is great fun."
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"Cramming in all these scenes is an enormous undertaking, which makes it all the more remarkable that Kim's book is so consistently mordant, to say nothing of Park and Vernon's insanely catchy songs...Following the intermission, the action retreats with unseemly haste from the script's acrid truths in favor of an upbeat concert finale...This wholesale abandonment of what has gone before would be more disconcerting if the medley that follows didn't raise the roof."
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"The banal script doesn't go in any direction that hasn't been pursued more interestingly before. But the scenes are competently crafted and, under Teddy Bergman's superb direction, they're performed with such conviction and velocity that the derivative nature of the enterprise is unobjectionable. And the tunes, most of them jumpy and melodically appealing, lend freshness and dazzle to the enterprise. A well-constructed immersive production...As a total package, it's pretty hard to resist."
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"Consisting of many 'empty calories,' this immersive musical is still irresistibly delicious...At its best when playing on the contrast of 'true' versus 'constructed,' emphasized most successfully in MwE’s story...Though the show is billed as a musical, most of the songs we hear on our tour are not performed live...This strange decision seems like a waste of catchy K-pop hits...'KPOP' picks up steam in the finale, with a full-blown pop concert. But its didactic conclusion is suspiciously easy."
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