Noh: 望月 (Mochizuki)

11/20/16 (Sun), Tokyo

Mochizuki belongs to a class of Noh works that actors aren’t allowed to do until they are deemed ready by their elders. As such, the lead’s performance was a big honor for him. In a lecture on the show a week earlier, he noted that the story was basically scratched out some centuries ago to give young performers a chance to do the popular lion dance from an even-higher ranking show called Shakkyo. Here it’s presented as a show within a show, so technically doesn’t violate the hierarchy keeping the unworthy actors from the lions, a very Japanese compromise — though the fact that this show is now itself a ranked show is ironic.  Continue reading →

BUNRAKU: 大塔宮曦鎧、恋娘昔八丈

12/14/13 (Sat), Tokyo

Bunraku was showing off some of the younger singers and performers this month. Continue reading →

Konpira Kabuki: Shunkan, Ninokuchi Village, The Zen Substitute (俊寛、新口村、身代座禅)

4/18/09 (Sat), Konpira Kabuki, Kotohira City (Shikoku)

I finally got a chance to see Konpira Kabuki, the series performed in April each year at the foot of the famous Konpira Shrine in this small Shikoku town. The theater, Kanamaruza, dates from 1835 and is not only Japan’s oldest active Kabuki playhouse but the only extant theater from the Edo Era. I love regional Kabuki and their typical small old theaters, but this is a step way beyond that, featuring the biggest names in the business with full costumes and specially made sets and extremely high production values. Continue reading →

BUNRAKU：敵討襤褸錦 (Vendetta of a Samurai in Rags)

2/7/09 (Sat), 国立劇場

I had never even heard of this show, a 1736 drama translated variously as “Vendetta of a Samurai in Rags” and “The Outcast’s Revenge and the Brocade of Rags”, and there’s little information about it out there. So I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. It turns out to have been memorable for unexpected reasons.  Continue reading →

KABUKI: 柳影澤蛍火 (The Ambition of Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu)

7/19/16 (Tues), Kabukiza

The first Tokyo revival of a show written by Uno Nobuo for the National Theatre in 1970. A young ronin manipulates friends, acquaintances and his own fiancée to claw his way to the shogun’s inner circle before overplaying his hand. The ruler is the eccentric Tsunayoshi, the disastrous “dog shogun” in the late 17th-century Genroku Era known for his edict protecting animals. Continue reading →

獅子王 (Shishi-Oh), 5/3/16 (Tues), Las Vegas MGM Continue reading →

KABUKI: 小春穏沖津白浪（子狐礼三）

26 January 2016 (Tues), Tokyo National Theater

I’m a big Mokuami fan, and this 1864 show hasn’t been done in years – the last production, in 2002, was apparently the first full showing in 138 years. I decided on the spur of the moment to catch it on its penultimate day. Continue reading →

Kabuki: 高野聖  (The Holy Man of Mt. Koya)

10 July 2008 (Thurs), Tokyo Kabukiza

Having loved Tamasaburo in a recent Kabuki Cinema showing, I decided to see him live in this month’s unusual production. This was not one of the classics but Kabuki versions of two ghost stories by the Meiji writer Izumi Kyoka. Because of the casting with both him and the popular young heartthrob Ebizo (not to mention a poster with Tamasaburo half-removing Ebizo’s priestly robes), the tickets were said to be selling fast. As it turned out, there seemed to be plenty of open seats not only for the opening show but also for the main attraction. Continue reading →

夏祭浪花鑑 (The Summer Festival) (Cocoon Kabuki)

As my fourth straight show in the annual Cocoon Kabuki series (held at Shibuya’s Theatre Cocoon), this had a very familiar ring. I’ve seen this much-performed show in both its Kabuki and Bunraku versions, and remember especially vividly the great climactic scene, where the guy murders his father and quickly disposes of the body in the mud as the festival procession approaches. I ended up with seats on the floor – literally on the floor in traditional style, since there were no normal seats left for the afternoon show. But for all the discomfort, it’s more fun to be down close to the stage, and these particular seats, evidently the house seats (exactly the same as last year), are right at the equivalent of the key 7-3 spot on the hanamichi. So I wasn’t too unhappy with the arrangements.

The show was as fun as ever in its usual crowd-pleasing style, and the production was professional. But I had a slight feeling of déjà vu, a feeling that this was becoming somewhat formulaic. Continue reading →

Cocoon Kabuki: 三人吉三  (Sannin Kichisa)

23 June 2007 (Sat), Tokyo

My third straight year to see Kanzaburo’s annual Cocoon Kabuki series in Shibuya’s Theater Cocoon, which turns away from the overly reverent traditional staging of Kabuki classics in an effort to bring back the raucous atmosphere of the old Edo Era days. This year was Mokuami’s venerable 1860 drama Sannin Kichisa, which I’d seen a few times in the past. It’s a much-revived show, especially the scene along the river when the three Kichisas meet, and includes some of the most famous speeches and set pieces in all of Kabuki. It seems a good choice for the Cocoon series given its populist touch and the grotesquery of certain of its characters. The show was as usual sold out, but I managed to get a couple of seats on the floor right next to the makeshift hanamichi. I guess it was an authentic way to watch Kabuki and not as crippling as I had imagined, but I think I’d rather spend the three-hours-plus on a chair. Continue reading →