Dream High

Synopsis

Six students at Kirin High School share dreams of becoming K-pop idols, among others. During their school years, they learn how to develop their singing, songwriting and dancing skills while undergoing personal growth. They also start to develop feelings for one another. Each of them has their own strengths and weaknesses, but they strive to debut with the support and guidance of one another.

Cast

Main

• Bae Suzy as Go Hye-mi

  • Lee Joo-yeon as young Go Hye-mi (Ep. 2 & 5) :She originally wanted to become an opera singer but is forced to take up mainstream pop to pay off her father's debt to a gangster.

• Kim Soo-hyun as Song Sam-dong :A country bumpkin who is a music prodigy with a rare disease. He develops a one-sided crush on Hye-mi.

• Ok Taec-yeon as Jin-guk / Hyun Shi-hyuk

  • Kang Yi-seok as young Jin-guk (Ep. 2, 5 & 10) :An aspiring dancer who plans on making his entertainment debut due to the contentious relationship with his father, the mayor, who hasn't acknowledged him as his son. Hye-mi's Love Interest.

• Hahm Eun-jung as Yoon Baek-hee :Formerly best friends with Hye-mi, the two become bitter enemies when Hye-mi betrays Baek-hee during an audition.

• Jang Wooyoung as Jason :An American-born dancer who plans on making his entertainment debut in Korea.

• Lee Ji-eun (IU) as Kim Pil-sook :She was discouraged from pursuing music because she was shy and overweight. She also has the gift of perfect pitch.

Supporting

• Ahn Gil-kang as Ma Doo-shik
• Ahn Sun-young as Kang Oh-sun (Oh-hyuk's older sister)
• Ahn Seo-hyun as Go Hye-sung (Hye-mi's younger sister)
  • Park Eun-bin as 16-year-old Hye-sung (Ep. 16)
• Lee Hye-sook as Song Nam-boon (Sam-dong's mother)
• Choi Il-hwa as Hyun Moo-jin (Jin-guk's father)
• Park Hyuk-kwon as Go Byung-jik (Hye-mi's father)
• Jang Hee-soo as Kang Hee-seon (Baek-hee's mother)
• Park Hwi-soon as Jin-gook's roommate (Ep. 1–2, 5)

Teachers in Kirin High School

• Um Ki-joon as Kang Oh-hyuk
• Lee Yoon-ji as Shi Kyung-jin
• Park Jin-young as Yang Jin-man
• Lee Byung-joon as Principal Shi Bum-soo
• Lee Yoon-mi as Maeng Seung-hee
• Baek Won-kil as Gong Min-chul
• Bae Yong-joon as President Jung Ha-myung (Ep. 1–4)
• Joo Young-hoon as the composing teacher (Ep. 11)

Students in Kirin High School

• Jeon Ah-min as Jo In-sung (Jin-gook's friend)
• Joo as Jung Ah-jung
• Han Ji-hoo as Park Do-joon
• Yoon Young-ah as Lee Ri-ah
• Park Jin-sang as Jun Tae-san
• Han Bo-reum as Ha So-hyun
• Bae Noo-ri as Han So-ri (Ep. 6, 9, 12–13)

Special appearances

• Sumi Jo as Sumi Jo (Ep. 1)
• Kim Hyun-joong as Kim Hyun-joong (Ep. 1)
• Song Hae as variety show host (Ep. 2, 3)
• Jay B as Jason's back up dancer (Ep. 3)
• Young K as Jason's back up dancer (Ep. 3)
• Shownu as Jason's back up dancer (Ep. 3)
• Nichkhun as Lee Ri-ah's CF partner (Ep. 8)
• Koo Jun-yup as Koo Jun-yup (Ep. 9, 10)
• Hwang Chan-sung as Oh-sun's imaginary boyfriend (Ep. 12)
• Leeteuk as Leeteuk (Ep. 13)
• Eunhyuk as Eunhyuk (Ep. 13)
• miss A as flash mob dancers (Ep. 16)
• 2AM as flash mob dancers (Ep. 16)
• Dal Shabet as Baek-hee's students (Ep. 16)

Production

In January 2009, media outlets reported that Bae Yong-joon, hallyu actor and chairman of KeyEast, would co-produce a television drama with Park Jin-young's entertainment company JYP. A television drama production company, Holym, was established as a joint venture between KeyEast and JYP Entertainment. In April 2010, CJ Media signed a MoU with Holym becoming the part of production team. Bae being the creative producer of the drama, he provided overall concept, goals and ideas while Park composed the music and choreographed the dance for the series. The screenplay was written by Park Hye-ryun and the series was directed by Lee Eung-bok.

Bae Yong-joon was also part of the cast for four episodes making his first small screen appearance in three years. While Park Jin-young marked his acting debut with the series. Ok Taec-yeon and Jang Wooyoung from 2PM, Bae Suzy from Miss A, Hahm Eun-jung from T-ara, singer IU and Kim Soo-hyun were selected for the main cast. Kim was the only non-idol among the cast, but he had studied music and dance at JYP Entertainment for 3 months in order to portray his role.

Original soundtrack

Chart performance

Plagiarism allegation

While "Someday" fared well commercially and reached number one on the Gaon Digital Chart, it was embroiled in controversy after the song's writer and composer, Park Jin-young, was accused of plagiarizing the song, "To My Man". Songwriter Kim Shin-il won his plagiarism lawsuit against Park Jin-young in 2013, however, an appeal to the Supreme Court of Korea led to an eventual High Court retrial in 2015.

Reception

On October 5, 2011, Japan's daily paper Sankei Sports reported that Dream High was handed the Grand Prize and Hallyu award at the SKY PerfecTV! awards which took place in Tokyo. On October 24, 2011, Dream High was given the Special Award for Foreign Drama at the 5th International Drama Festival held in Tokyo. On December 31, 2011, Dream High won the following at the KBS Drama Awards: Best Supporting Actress for Lee Yoon-ji; Best New Actor and Popularity Award for Kim Soo-hyun; Best New Actress for Bae Suzy; and Best Couple Award for Kim Soo-hyun and Bae Suzy. On May 10, 2012, Dream High was honored at the Rose d'Or, the global entertainment television festival ceremony which took place at Lucerne, Switzerland. It won the Golden Rose under the Youth category, the first ever Korean production to do so.

In 2012, Philippines network ABS-CBN dubbed the show as "The most successful Korean series of 2011".

Dream High is one of the most watched South Korean dramas on Chinese video streaming platform Youku with over 26,300,000 views and an average of 2,000,000 views per episode (As of July 2016).

Ratings

In the table below, the **** represent the lowest ratings and the **** represent the highest ratings.

Accolades

Awards and nominations

Listicles

Adaptations

• The drama was adapted into a Japanese stage musical, with Yuya Matsushita and Bright's Nanaka playing the roles of Song Sam-dong and Go Hye-mi, respectively. It had runs at the New National Theatre Tokyo from July 3 to July 20, 2012 and was produced by the "Dream High: Musical Production Committee", composed of TBS, Avex Live Creative, Nelke Planning and Lawson HMV Entertainment.
• After the publication of Dream High Special Making Book in February 2011 which contained behind-the-scene stories and photos as well as special interviews with the show's cast, a two-volume "image novel" was also released featuring still cuts from the drama.
• In episode 17 of My Love from the Star, Bae Suzy makes a special guest appearance as Go Hye-mi, the main protagonist (and the same character she plays in) of Dream High.
• On November 13, 2022, it was announced Dream High would be adapted into a Korean stage musical which will be opened in May 2023, the plot focusing on the lives of main characters 10 years after the series. On February 10, it was confirmed that choreographers Choi Young-jun from 1Million and Kim Hyo-jin from Artone (also the producing house of the musical) will be participating as choreography directors on the choreograph-heavy stage work. On February 28, it was confirmed that Eum Moon-suk, Winner's Lee Seung-hoon and SF9's Yoo Tae-yang will be playing the male lead, adult Song Sam-dong. Most of the main characters from the original series are reprised as adulthood characters in the adaptation, however only childhood and adolescent casts have been revealed for Go Hye-mi, the female lead in the series.
• In March 2025, it was announced that Dream High would be adapted into another stage Musical, with Park Kyung-lim as creative director. The musical will be performed April 5 to June 1, 2025 simultaneously in both Korea and Japan. confirmed that Wonder Girls' Sunye and f(x)'s Luna will be appearing as Baekhee, previously played by T-ara's Eunjung.

Sequel

The sequel Dream High 2 aired a year later with a different cast, starring Kang So-ra, GOT7's JB and Jinyoung, 2AM's Jinwoon, T-ara's Jiyeon, SISTAR's Hyolyn, Ailee, and Park Seo-joon.

Media release

In Japan, the series received a 2-Box Set DVD release on September 28, 2011 by Avex Japan, which were only available for purchase in the country. A commemorative event for the DVD release was held at the Saitama Super Arena on September 4, 2011, in which the majority of the cast attended to hold a joint concert and fan meeting. Due to the show's popularity and the success of the previous releases, additional 2 box sets were released on August 3, 2012 under the same distributor.

Another DVD box set featuring behind-the-scenes videos and interviews with the cast and staff was released on December 7 of the same year in Japan under Pony Canyon.

International broadcast

Dream High is one of the best selling Korean dramas internationally, being licensed to over 35 channels in approximately 60 different countries. It received a worldwide broadcast on KBS World on April 27, 2021. It was also aired on MENA's largest network group MBC starting 25 August 2013 and received multiple re-runs since due to its popularity. In Europe, it premiered in Italy on September 2, 2013 on MTV and in 2017 on Lifetyle TV in Romania. The show was sold to various Latin American countries including Peru (2012), Ecuador (2012), Chile (2012, 2013, 2017), Panama (2013), Colombia (2013), Dominican Republic (2013), El Salvador (2013) and Bolivia (2014). It premiered in Indonesia on NET TV for the third time on January 17, 2022.

Streaming platform

Dream High has been licensed to multiple local and international streaming platforms since its release. Foreign releases were on American platforms DramaFever and Viki Rakuten as well as Viu, available in selected regions. It was released on Netflix on July 20, 2022.

Notes

References

References

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