LOS ANGELES — All things must change.

Even the nearly 20-year-old Korean Culture Night at UCLA.

Instead of a variety show consisting of a hodgepodge of skits and musical and dance performances, the organizers at UCLA Hanoolim, the student-run group that presents the annual KCN, decided to create an entirely original, full-length musical production titled "The Tale of Changsu."

"It has always been a problem, at least for me, for the past four years because everyone separates into different acts," said Sunny Park, UCLA senior and producer for KCN 2005. "All the performers … didn’t have ownership of the show itself."

Like the hip-hop dancers that would take the stage in years past. "They get their 10 minutes of fame," said Park, "but they didn’t do anything more [for the rest of the show]."

Not so in 2005. With this two-hours-plus-long musical based on a Korean folktale and set in Korea’s royal past, the dancers are merely members of a cast of 60. "They are just part of the story; they aren’t their own dancers," said Park.

Reuel Kim (left) and Sunny Park led the efforts to make the UCLA Korean Culture Night a different experience in 2005 — an original musical production.

"That was the original purpose of culture night — to bring together the students," said Reuel Kim, who wrote and directed "The Tale of Changsu."

"It’s like one cohesive unit, one cohesive show."

However, the thought of not having those 10 minutes of fame wasn’t well received by all.

"I have had people approach me and tell me that they didn’t want to be a part of it this year," said Park.

But some came around. "Once people realized the magnitude of the production and how different and special it would be, I think it changed their minds," said Park.

Breaking out certain elements of KCN’s past also helped. Kim incorporated poongmul drumming and fan dancing into some scenes, and the hip-hop dancers even got to showcase their modern moves in another.

Everything is pieced together — anachronisms, Broadway-style show tunes and all — by a single narrative about a son’s duty to his family.

The magnitude of Hanoolim’s ambitions did dawn on them at the outset.

"When we started out, it was a whole bunch of question marks everywhere," recalled Kim. "It was like, ‘This is ridiculous. We’re going to make how many costumes from the Goryeo Dynasty?’ And then you’ve got: ‘We gotta make a set. We gotta make music. We gotta have people who can sing. Is this possible?’

"I think we were foolish."

Kim, for one, had never directed a play. He is a UCLA grad now in film school at the University of Southern California recruited by Park to create the play.

Kim’s screenwriting classes helped in writing the script. And Eric Cha, a UCLA student who had attended the Peabody Institute, a prestigious music conservatory in Baltimore, composed the musical’s songs and lyrics. So the pieces came together. The Korean television network KBS even donated genuine-looking Goryeo-period costumes for the production.