A Nobel for Dylan: Not all right

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I’m a big Bob Dylan fan – I still have my LP and cassette versions of Blood on the Tracks among others, and that was the first CD I ever bought when the technology came out here in Japan – but a Nobel Prize in Literature? Since when is music literature? Unlike non-laureates Keats or Wordsworth, say, Dylan’s lyrics are written to be heard, not seen. These are not poems but lyrics, and that’s not a criticism. You can’t recognize one without the other. I thought the lesson was learned with the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1932, which was presented to Of Thee I Sing lyricist Ira Gershwin and the show’s book writers while pointedly leaving out composer George Gershwin. (The Pulitzer people have corrected their ways since.) Those lyrics were not written in a vacuum; they’re inseparable from the music that accompanies them. It’s the same with Dylan, who of course writes both together. A Peace Prize would have made more sense – or maybe Chemistry in honor of the reaction that occurs when music and lyrics gel into one perfect whole. Dylan is amply deserving of something, maybe a new Nobel Prize for Culture. But let’s not put him on the level of Faulkner, any more than we should give Faulkner a prize for lyrics.  Continue reading →

Greasepaint (化粧)

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化粧 2幕

5/26/09 (Tue), Tokyo

This is a frequently revived one-woman show by the prolific Inoue Hisashi that’s been around since the early 1980s starring Watanabe Misako. Besides Japan, it’s been performed by Watanabe in Paris, London and the U.S. in Japanese, and there was a brief English-language production in London with Frances de la Tour under the name Greasepaint (much more evocative than the usual English title Makeup). The show was sold out throughout the entire run, but I was fortunate to get a same-day seat.
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Konpira Kabuki: Shunkan, Ninokuchi Village, The Zen Substitute (俊寛、新口村、身代座禅)

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

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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 →

Barbra Streisand, Rod Stewart

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  • Barbra Streisand, 8/6/16 (Sat), Las Vegas, T-Mobile Arena
  • Rod Stewart, 8/7/16 (Sun), Las Vegas, Caesar’s Palace

Barbra was making the latest of her farewell concert tours, and I figured it was about time to see her. The hefty price tag was off-putting, especially since she’s far from her peak at age 74. But I still kick myself for missing my only chance to catch Frank Sinatra in his last tour of Japan (with Liza Minnelli and Sammy Davis Jr, no less) because I was too cheap to shell out ¥30,000. I’ve long decided: no more regrets. While I’m not a big Streisand fan – I only have one of her albums, a gift from a friend – she’s undeniably a star in her own universe with a strong catalog of hits. So I combined a business trip with a side visit to Las Vegas.  Continue reading →

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

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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 →

Takarazuka: Chicago

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Takarazuka: Chicago

7/11/16 (Mon), Yokohama

Takarazuka versions of Broadway musicals are always entertaining in their inimitable way, including rewritten scripts, reshuffled songs and superstar treatment for the main male character, regardless of his/her co-stars or the needs of the story. Chicago was a strange choice since its two leads are female – it’s just not as interesting when women are playing women, especially at the usual talent level of Takarazuka players. Continue reading →

London shows (June 2016)

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  • How the Other Half Loves, 6/11/16 (Sat), West End
  • Showboat, 6/11/16 (Sat), West End
  • In the Heights, 6/12/16 (Sun), King’s Cross
  • Iris, 6/14/16 (Tues), Holland Park Opera
  • The Invisible Hand, 6/15/16 (Wed), Tricycle
  • Elegy, 6/16/16 (Thurs), Donmar
  • The Flying Lovers Of Vitebsk, 6/18/16 (Sat), Sam Wanamaker
  • The Comedy About a Bank Robbery, 6/19/16 (Sun), West End
  • Macbeth, 6/19/16 (Sun), Globe

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Grease Live (TV)

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Grease Live (TV), 5/2/16 (Mon)

Fox’s entry into the live musical genre pioneered by NBC. Grease seemed a natural choice as an ever-potent title about high-school life in the 1950s, using a retooled version incorporating songs from the super-successful movie. The broadcast had received strong reviews and ratings, and while I’m not a big fan of the show itself, I had been interested in seeing what they did with it. Continue reading →