Taking classic musical 'West Side Story' to new heights
Director David Saint brings West Side Story to IHI Stage Around Tokyo, with his ambitious and multi-stage production being run first with a Broadway cast and later with a Japanese ...
Bringing Japanese opera into the 21st century
Kazushi Ono, artistic director of opera at New National Theatre, Tokyo, is using his experience of working in Europe to help stage operas with a nod to the digital age in Japan
Giving Sherlock Holmes a new lease of life in Japan
Actor Hayato Kakizawa explains how he went from performing in 'Mary Poppins' to being picked to play Sherlock Holmes in Koki Mitani's new production
The Royal Opera's Vittorio Grigolo is on a mission to bring opera to the masses
Forget its reputation as art for the culturally elite. If Italian superstar tenor Vittorio Grigolo has his way, modern opera will soon take its place as pure entertainment for the masses. Audiences in Tokyo can share his passion this autumn as the very best from ...
Iwami-kagura: The changing face of a Shimane theatrical tradition
Kneeling on the floor of his atelier in the Nagahama district of Hamada, Shimane Prefecture, master craftsman Katsuro Ka-kita applies the finishing touches to one of his colorful, striking and sometimes terrifying creations. Each depicts characters from Japanese mythology, such as the jealous female demon ...
Aichi Triennale: Our freedoms are not dead just yet
The sudden Aug. 3 closure of "After 'Freedom of Expression?'" — a multiartist exhibit at the Aichi Triennale 2019 — clearly highlighted the ongoing struggles some people have with that very issue of freedoms in Japan. Ironically, too, that exhibit comprised contributions that, according to ...
The Theatre Olympics goes back to its roots for ninth iteration
Since the late 1970s, people from all over the world have traveled to the village of Toga in rural Toyama Prefecture to attend Tadashi Suzuki's renowned acting classes or to see the Suzuki Company of Toga (SCOT) and other invited artists perform at the ...
In an effort to reach a broader audience ahead of next year's Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, Japan's National Theatre is accommodating international guests of traditional kabuki performances by using in-show commentary and English subtitles. On a day during the early summer rainy season, the venue ...
Diving into the world of political performance at Aichi Triennale
The political function of art is a perennial question in the field of aesthetics. In classical Athens, Plato argued that art as a form of imitation was limited in its ability to communicate knowledge about political life. In contrast, Aristotle saw this mimetic gap ...
Among the many absurdist opera stories in existence, nothing is more preposterous than the happy ending generally used for Giacomo Puccini's final opera "Turandot," in which Princess Turandot suddenly accepts Prince Calaf's wooing right after the suicide of Liu, a slave, as if her ...
Capturing Haruki Murakami's 'eccentric atmosphere'
"As a university student, I never even imagined that I could be an actor. Because, to me, they only existed on screen," says Yuki Furukawa. Now a well-established actor, Furukawa is largely known for his portrayal of Naoki Irie in "Mischievous Kiss: Love in Tokyo," ...
What's in a name? Ask Ichikawa Ebizo, a kabuki scion
When it comes to kabuki, there are few names as recognizable as Ichikawa Ebizo. A member of the illustrious Ichikawa kabuki family, Ebizo has been a mainstay of Japanese traditional theater since his stage debut in "The Tale of Genji" in 1983 at the ...
