The Spirited Away stage play releases new stills from the witty and beautiful show ahead of its premiere in four other Japanese cities.
the made to disappear play released new pictures.
The images come as the acclaimed stage adaptation wraps up its run at Tokyo’s Imperial Theater and prepares to debut in four additional cities. The stage play, which is an adaptation of Studio Ghibli and the 2001 Academy Award-winning animated film from director Hayao Miyazaki, was directed by The Miserables’ John Caird. The work has 32 artists and uses more than 50 puppets to recreate the fantastic creatures and spirits of the anime.
The play will soon go on tour to four other Japanese cities on the following dates:
April 13-24, 2022 at Umeda Arts Theater (Osaka)
· From May 1 to 28, 2022 at the Hakataza Theater (Fukuoka)
June 6-12, 2022 at Sapporo Cultural Arts Theater hitaru (Sapporo)
June 22 to July 4, 2022 at the Misonoza Theater (Nagoya)
The stage adaptation stars Kanna Hashimoto and Mone Kamishiraishi as Chihiro, a young woman who finds herself trapped in the spirit world after stumbling into an abandoned theme park. Mari Natsuki, who voiced the witch Yubaba in the film, reprises the role for the stage play, where she has a dual role alongside Romi Park, who anime fans may recognize as the voice of Edward Elric in full metal alchemistThe various anime adaptations of the . Koharu Sugawara and Tomohiko Tsujimoto play the enigmatic No Face spirit, though when the character goes berserk, he is actually rendered with over 12 artists to creatively recreate the massive creature’s size and undulating shape.
The play opens as part of the celebrations around the 90th anniversary of the founding of Toho Co. Ltd, one of Japan’s largest entertainment conglomerates. While the company is best known internationally as the movie studio behind the Godzilla franchise, is involved in a wide variety of projects throughout the entertainment industry in Japan, from operating a chain of theaters to distributing anime, such as the hit movie Jujutsu Kaisen 0. Distributed Toho made to disappear during its original theatrical run in 2001.
The original made to disappear is now widely regarded as one of the best films in Studio Ghibli’s acclaimed body of work. The film earned celebrated writer-director Hayao Miyazaki his first Academy Award, and was the highest-grossing anime film of all time for over a decade, before being recently dethroned by 2021’s. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba –The Movie: Mugen Train.
An adaptation of the new play for audiences outside of Japan has not been announced. The original film is available on DVD, Blu-ray, and digital home video from Shout! Factory.
Source: Toho press release
Images: (c) Toho Co., Ltd.
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