# Jeongnyeon: The Star is Born (2024)

> A gifted young woman in 1950s Korea trains to become a top male-role performer in a traditional all-female gukgeuk opera troupe.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/135304

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 12
- Episode runtime: 70 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama, music
- Network: tvN
- Cast: Kim Tae-ri, Shin Ye-eun, Ra Mi-ran, Jung Eun-chae, Kim Yoon-hye, Woo Da-vi, Hyun Seung-hee, Jung Lael
- TMDB rating: 8.3/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt28197611/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: none
- Tone: warm, earnest, wistful, tense, hopeful

## What critics say

Critics broadly praise the lead performances, the detailed gukgeuk stagecraft and music, and the earnest backstage drama, while finding the storytelling somewhat conventional.

## Synopsis

Jeongnyeon: The Star is Born (2024) is a Korean tvN drama created for a single season of twelve episodes, adapted from a webtoon. Kim Tae-ri plays Yoon Jeong-nyeon, a girl with a gifted voice who dreams of becoming the finest actor of gukgeuk, Korean female classical opera, in a troupe where men's roles are performed by women. Shin Ye-eun plays Heo Young-seo, her rival for the top role, and Ra Mi-ran and Moon So-ri appear among the senior performers who shape the apprentices. The engine of the story is the grinding training regime, the competition for leading parts, and the fragile solidarity that grows between performers sharing cramped dressing rooms and demanding stages. Each episode moves through rehearsals, backstage tensions, and public performances, with the music and stagecraft at its center. Set in 1950s Korea in the uneasy years after the Korean War, the series balances hardship with aspiration and desire. Its tone is warm, earnest, and wistful, with moments of cutthroat rivalry and genuine tenderness. Viewers who enjoy period dramas about artistic ambition, such as those in the vein of Crash Landing on You and stage-centered tales of rivalry, will find resonance here.

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