On July 25, kabuki star Nakamura Kankuro will wrap up a historic weeklong run in New York City. Though Kankuro has performed in New York before, this time he brought his portable Heisei Nakamura-za theater and had it erected in the plaza of Lincoln Center.
On July 27, Fuji TV's "Tuesday Special" (7 p.m.) will present a two-hour "closeup" documentary about the New York performances and Kankuro's career. It will also look at his illustrious family, probably the most celebrated in the world of kabuki.
Though many kabuki actors work outside the rarefied world of the kabuki stage, Kankuro was the first to really embrace TV. He started acting as a child on various TV dramas in the 1960s. When he became a full-fledged stage actor, he moved away from TV, but not completely.