David Leveaux, the English director of "Nine," is not only one of the world's leading dramatists -- constantly in demand on Broadway and in the West End -- but he is also well-known for the theatrical panache with which he endows his work, most recently this year's Broadway hit "Jumpers."
Based on Italian film maestro Frederico Fellini's 1963 masterpiece "8 1/2," "Nine" was first staged on Broadway in 1982 by the American director Tommy Tune. With its script and the lyrics for its 18 songs written by Arthur Kopit, and music by Maury Yestol, "Nine" won five Tonys that year.
Then in 2003, a new staging by Leveaux, which he has said he created to more closely reflect the pure glamour of Fellini's dolce vita world of 1960s Italy, again scooped a Tony -- this time for Best Revival Musical. Now, at Art Sphere in Tokyo's waterfront Tennozu district, Leveaux, as artistic director of Theatre Project Tokyo (t.p.t.), has transformed "Nine" yet again.