The NY Times has printed yet another theatrical essay bemoaning the male supremacist content of classic Broadway musicals (“The Broadway Musical Has a Man Problem”, May 2, 2019). The author, one Amanda Hess, states,
“In 2019, a central obsession of American culture is the reassessment of all of its previous obsessions. We are reviewing our stories with a skeptical eye and banishing outdated plots on feminist grounds.”
Really? And who is this we, Tonto? Continue reading
4/2/19 (Tues), Tokyo New National Theatre
This is one of four Tokyo productions in recent months of Terayama Shuji’s classic underground work from the late 1960s. This production stars Miwa Akihiro, the cross-dressing television and singing personality who was the inspiration for the show and its original star back when he was young and cute. He was so impossibly campy in Mishima’s Black Lizard a few years back that I walked out, but given his close association with this role, I figured I’d give him another chance. The direction follows that of the original hippie-era production. The Japanese and French titles (taken from a song popularized by Yves Montand) translate to something like “Marie in Mink”.
3/30/19 (Sat), Tokyo
A 1951 film by Mizoguchi Kenji about the deterioration of Japanese values after the war and the misguided attempts of a woman from a respected family to preserve them. Continue reading
4/3/2019
Every Japanese emperor gets his own imperial era name, one of the perks of the job, and it was announced this week to great fanfare that the era to take effect when the new emperor is enthroned on May 1 will be named Reiwa. Thus, the remainder of 2019 will be known in Japan as Reiwa 1, and succeeding years will follow in kind until the next emperor takes over. The present era, Heisei, will finish its 31-year run when the current emperor, Akihito, abdicates on April 30. He will be known in future textbooks as Emperor Heisei.
3/17/19 (Sun), Umewaka Noh Theater, Tokyo
I showed up early for what I thought was a 1:00p curtain (so to speak) to discover that the show was underway after a rare 11:00a start. Several dance pieces had come and gone, and Eguchi was already into its second half. Nuts. Continue reading
1/26/19 (Sat), Tokyo
A film retrospective of the noted actress Iwashita Shima offered a double-feature bringing together two works in which she played the daughter of Ozu favorite Ryu Chishu. And that’s where the similarities stop. Continue reading
2/4/19 (Mon), Tokyo
Both shows this month were torture pieces (if such a genre exists) showing the heroines under intense interrogation; both also unusually featured a Chinese kokyu. I was surprised to see empty seats in the theater, not a typical sight for Tokyo Bunraku. I had expected more of a crowd at least for the popular Akoya, especially as the Kabuki version had just played in December. They missed a great combination.
3/16/19
I didn’t think producer Scott Rudin could top himself after the perfect pairing of Bette Midler and Dolly Levy in the recent mega-popular production of Hello, Dolly! But that was Till There Was Hugh: he’s landed musical man Hugh Jackman for The Music Man, bringing together a bona fide Broadway sensation with one of the greatest musicals and musical roles ever written. The show is set to open in October 2020. Continue reading
2/2/19 (Sat), Tokyo
This puppet piece by the prolific Chikamatsu Monzaemon, inspired by the adulterous relationship of an actual couple, debuted in 1715 on the 33rd anniversary of their death, an important Buddhist date. It’s one of three major adultery plays written by Chikamatsu (all of which were performed together a few years back in a day of infidelity — wish I could have seen that). It reappeared in various forms after its debut, including a major Kabuki adaptation, but like most of Chikamatsu’s works fell off the map for many years, known mainly as the basis for Mizoguchi’s brilliant film The Crucified Lovers (also known by the terrible title The Chikamatsu Story「近松物語」) . The play was unearthed during a Chikamatsu renaissance in the early 1980s, with the long-lost music newly composed based on scattered memos. And a masterpiece was reborn. This is the first revival of this piece in nine years.
10/18/18 (Thurs)
Ichikawa Kon’s 1955 film, following the broad structure of Natsume Soseki’s iconic novel, is effectively split into two: it begins in Tokyo at the end of the momentous Meiji Era, when a student befriends an older man, then shifts in flashback to the latter’s recollection of his younger years and his confession of a dark secret regarding an old friendship. “Kokoro” means heart or soul, here a deep dark place.
1/20/19 (Sun), Tokyo
Salome was the final show in Taira’s trilogy of puppets and classical music after Medea (2014) and Hamlet (2016) – he seems to have something for crazy women. He was performing as in that latter piece with the wonderful young cellist Miyata Dai, who arranged the music and led a four-man group with harp, contrabass and oboe/English horn.
9/30/18 (Sun), Tokyo
A liberal adaptation of the famed Lorca play of 1934. A woman who waited too long to have a child (she aborted one at 23 to her then-boyfriend’s sorrow) is now feeling the biological clock, and her unsuccessful efforts to make her body do her bidding make her increasingly obsessed. She gets battier and battier until she is finally utterly deranged. And that pretty much sums it up.
sekenbanashi 