Take a cast of stars, any of whom could fill a theater on their own, add a couple of Oscar winners -- costume designer Emi Wada ("Ran," 1985) and songwriter Ryuichi Sakamoto ("The Last Emperor," 1987) -- garnish with an A-list director (Kazuya Yamada), scriptwriter (Nozomi Makino) and art director (Yukio Horio), stir the emotions with a rousing tale of wronged ronin (masterless samurai) in the dying days of Japan's feudal era, and what do you get?
Well, not cutting-edge drama, perhaps, but "Ronin Gai" is nonetheless guaranteed a sell-out run at the Aoyama Theatre in Tokyo.
But if you're inclined to be cynical about the well-worn theme and big-name lineup, don't be put off. This sumptious, two-hour staging is worth seeing -- if only for the last 15 minutes, a chanbara (swordfighting) display in and around a small pool. It's brilliant eye-candy, with no less than 30 handsome young specialist samurai actors serving up a stunning scene that's both a symbol of youth's scorn for an outdated, repressive regime and also the climax of the play's central story of love (almost) lost.