|
The First Art Newspaper on the Net |
|
Established in 1996 |
|
Friday, September 20, 2024 |
|
Japanese kabuki set to perform in glitzy Las Vegas |
|
|
Japanese kabuki actor Ichikawa Somegoro poses as he and Japanese entertainment company Shochiku will be presenting the "Japan Kabuki Festival" in Las Vegas, Nevada in the US in May, at a press conference in Tokyo on January 18, 2016. Japanese kabuki theatre will have its first paid show at the MGM Grand David Copperfield theater in Las Vegas customised for foreign audiences, as they hope to reach out to a wider global audience. AFP PHOTO / Yoshikazu TSUNO.
|
TOKYO (AFP).- Japan's elaborate all-male kabuki theatre is heading to glitzy Las Vegas for a series of paid shows, organisers said Monday, in a bid to spread the classical Japanese art form to a global audience.
Japanese film and theatre company Shochiku said it would present the "Japan Kabuki Festival" in May, including a new play "created specifically" for a theatre in the US gambling and entertainment centre.
Kabuki is a form of traditional Japanese theatre that has been performed since the 17th century. Though women appeared in the beginning, kabuki shows came to be all-male affairs combining dance, drama and music with men playing female roles.
The actors, scions of families of kabuki performers who usually begin training in childhood, don elaborate costumes, wigs and heavy makeup for performances on equally elaborate sets.
"It will be a new step for us in our policy of creating fresh plays that match modern tastes while retaining classic works," Tadashi Abiko, Shochiku's vice president and chief of its theatre business, told reporters.
The new play is entitled "Shi-Shi-O" -- "The Adventures of the Mythical Lion" -- and will have seven performances over five days from May 3-7 at the David Copperfield Theater at the MGM Grand for about $200 per seat, Abiko said.
It marks the first time audiences will pay to watch kabuki in Las Vegas following free preview performances last year.
The move is also part of Shochiku's strategy to attract inbound tourism that is expected to increase with Tokyo's hosting of the Olympic Summer Games in 2020, company officials said.
Since the first performance abroad in 1928 in Russia, kabuki has been seen numerous times in foreign countries but repertoires were usually works from the classical canon, Abiko said.
Ichikawa Somegoro VII, who is set to be the featured performer in Las Vegas, also starred in the preview last year.
He said he wants to use the performance to demonstrate traditional techniques such as flying across the stage and quick costume changes that are mainstays of kabuki.
But he also aims to utilise non-traditional techniques such as video as well as fire and water.
"I have set a goal this time of kabuki taking root in Las Vegas as an entertainment form," he told reporters.
© 1994-2016 Agence France-Presse
|
|
|
|
|
Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography, Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs, Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, . |
|
|
|
Royalville Communications, Inc produces:
|
|
|
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful
|
|