Snow White is probably the most widely known fairytale of all time. Written by the Grimm brothers in the early 17th century, the story of a princess poisoned by her envious stepmother and revived by a prince’s true love became a worldwide sensation when Disney released its animated feature in 1937. Roughly five centuries have passed since the story was published and 77 years since Disney’s breakthrough movie, but it is still the reigning favorite of children everywhere.

The 2012 Hollywood film “Mirror, Mirror” starring Julia Roberts put a twist on the traditional plot of Snow White, featuring a kingdom on the verge of bankruptcy because of a spendthrift Queen, and a Snow White who rescues a prince from danger.

“Grimm’s Snow White,” a 2013 release directed by Rachel Goldenberg, has a feisty Snow White who faces her stepmother to take back control of the kingdom. These are just a few films that were adapted from the original Snow White. South Korea has been presenting a musical adaptation of Snow White since 2001, but instead of the princess the Korean version stars a mute dwarf, one of the seven dwarves featured in the story, who harbors special feelings for the princess, thus the title “The Dwarf Who Loved Snow White.”

In the original fairytale, Snow White was the main character and the seven dwarves were just helpful additions. But in “The Dwarf Who Loved Snow White” a young mute dwarf named Bandari반달이 is central to the play.

The audience learns what love is all about by seeing Bandari’s pure, selfless love toward Snow White. Here’s culture critic Kim Heon-shik to tell us more about the musical.

The story of Bandari in this musical goes well with the overarching Korean sentiment of sacrificing love. In western culture it is more commonplace for people in love to express their feelings, but in Korea people are more drawn to the stories of unrequited love. So rather than taking the story of Snow White and Seven Dwarves as it is, the production put a Korean spin on the story to appeal to the Korean audience. Also, the musical features a number of stage props and story components that are unique to Korean culture. The musical turned the mere fairytale into a heartbreaking romance by adding the element of Bandari’s crush. This is why the musical is popular with both young and old, especially “kidults,” a new term coined to indicate adults with interests traditionally taken by children.



Loosely based on Snow White, “The Dwarf Who Loved Snow White” has become a long-time favorite of Koreans, drawing roughly 800 thousand people in its 13-year-long run. Here’s culture critic Kim Heon-shik again.

This is the most well-known steady seller of all small-scale musical productions in Korea. There have been 2,800 showings over the past 13 years. The show debuted in May 2001 and at the beginning it was a children’s play, but over time it has become a favorite for all age groups, making both children and adults cry. It developed a reputation for being “a performance that people most want to see with their children 10 years down the road.” It’s difficult even for a movie to draw 800 thousand people, but this was a children’s play that appealed to that many people. It was possible because it was Koreans’ favorite musical. The show certainly lives up to that fame.

When the first show was staged in 2001, it was just a small play produced to celebrate Family Month. Its cast had only seven actors and the director had incorporated his own experiences into the show. Here’s director Park Tul박툴.

There was a girl I had a crush on for seven years. I tried to win her heart by emailing her three witty stories every day. Those stories represented my feelings for her, and were the foundation for this production. I read her these stories once and she cried at the end. So I promised that since I’m a director, I’d produce a play for her. That was the beginning of this show and the year was 1998.

So director Park started writing a script loosely based on Snow White. The basic plot was still there, but the story revolved around the youngest, the smallest, and the quietest dwarf. When it first debuted, it was in a stage play format. This year was the first time that it was shown as a musical.

The show begins with Snow White fleeing from her evil stepmother and meeting up with the seven dwarves living in the forest.

The dwarves let the princess live with them and this is where the musical production diverts from the original story. Among the dwarves who admire Snow White is the mute Bandari.

The shy Bandari falls in love with Snow White at first sight. And then he risks his own life to save Snow White every time she is put in danger by her stepmother’s treacherous plan to kill her.

When the queen generated a storm in the lake to drown the princess, Bandari rescues her from the water.

Then Snow White pricks her finger on a poisonous rose given by the queen and falls unconscious. Bandari embarks on a dangerous quest to find an antidote for her. Here’s director Park Tul to tell us more.

Bandari goes on a long journey to find an antidote for Snow White. It is a very dangerous quest, where he has to climb mountains, cross seas, and travel through forests. Just when Bandari nears death, fairies appear to give him the antidote and tell him about the meaning of true love.

The two become much closer after Bandari saves her life twice. Bandari has never been happier.

But his happiness is short-lived. The malicious queen again attempts to kill Snow White by giving her a poisonous apple.

A kiss from Prince Charming is the only way to revive her. Bandari takes off on another life-threatening journey to save Snow White, even though he has to travel outside the forest and venture out to the unfamiliar human world. Despite numerous challenges, Bandari succeeds in bringing the prince to where Snow White lay unconscious. The prince approaches Snow White to give her the life-saving kiss.

Snow White wakes up and Bandari is ecstatic. Now he decides to tell her his true feelings. But just then…

Prince Charming tells her that he loves her and wants to take her back to his kingdom. Bandari’s crush ends just like that. After Snow White leaves the forest with the prince, Bandari lets go of his will to live and slowly fades away.

He gets buried in the misty forest, surrounded by baby’s breath, just like he wanted.

A long time later Snow White, now a mother of three children, discovers a magic mirror.

“Mirror, mirror, on the wall. Who in this world loves me the most?” asks Snow White and the magic mirror answers, “The person who loves you the most is Bandari, who now lies amid baby’s breath in the misty forest.” As soon as the mirror tells this secret, the background turns into a field of tiny white flowers and standing in the middle is a smiling Bandari. Dancing happily in the field, Bandari finally tells Snow White how much he loved her. The sad, true love of Bandari tugs at the audience’s heart string.



(Woman 1) I got all teary throughout the show. It was really laden with emotion. I felt like I’ve been healed by the music.
(Man 1) It was a sad ending. In the original story, it ended happily with Snow White marrying Prince Charming, but here the unrequited love story of Bandari was different and very sad. I could relate to his feelings of innocent love. It was moving to see how he kept his love pure and unspoiled. I think everyone would want to see a story about such unselfish love.

People today yearn for some kind of spiritual healing. We feel hurt when our sincerity and feelings are not rewarded with the results we wanted. Bandari loved someone with his whole heart and did everything to win her love, but the result was tragic. Although his love ends in his death, we feel somewhat comforted, because we’ve all had experiences in which we felt we were treated unfairly or things didn’t turn out the way we wanted. Bandari showed that there may have been sadness in his life, but the fact that he loved someone with all his heart was inspiring enough.

“The Dwarf Who Loved Snow White” is a love story for adults disguised as a children’s play. The dramatic music scores and choreography served as the perfect means to communicate to the audience the depth of Bandari’s love for Snow White, and people came away from the play deeply touched. Those with an aching heart would be comforted by Bandari’s everlasting love and those with a mean streak, like the queen, would look back on themselves and feel remorseful. This Korean musical shows how the smallest person can sometimes have the biggest heart.

That concludes today’s Trend Korea. This is Bonnie Choi signing off. Thank you and good bye.