BroadwayWorld.com Japan Stories

STAGE TUBE: PHANTOM OF THE OPERA Celebrates 25th Anniversary at Shiki Theatre Company

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 08:07:26 PST

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA reached its 25th Anniversary at the Shiki Theatre Company. Check out the video below!

Established in 1953, the Shiki Theatre Company enjoyed a major success in 1983 with "Cats," the first long-running show in the company's history. Now Japan's largest theatrical company, it has about 800 members. At the Osaka Shiki Theatre, "Mamma Mia!" which had been presented since the theater's opening, concluded its run on February 12, 2007. Its second production, "the Phantom of the Opera," opened on May 3, 2007. Eventually, the theater will present overseas musicals and Shiki's original productions on a fifty-fifty basis.

http://www.shiki.jp/

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Voting Opens for the 2013 BroadwayWorld Awards! Vote Now for the Best of the 2012-13 Theatre Season...

Thu, 02 May 2013 15:39:40 PST

The Tony Awards nominators had their say earlier this week and now it's your turn! We're pleased to announce that voting has now opened for the 11th Annual BroadwayWorld.com Awards!

Once again last year, hundreds of thousands of theatregoers and fans weighed in, breaking site traffic records and further solidifying the BroadwayWorld.com Awards place as the largest and most popular online Broadway polling event of its kind, open to all and with fully visible and audited results. Voting is open through May 31, 2013.

Click Here to Vote Now!

PRINCE OF BROADWAY to Make World Premiere in Tokyo

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 15:23:30 PST

As BroadwayWorld previously reported, PRINCE OF BROADWAY, the new musical celebrating legendary Broadway director and producer Harold "Hal" Prince has been postponed indefinitely due to scheduling conflicts. Now in an interview with the Washington Post, Prince revealed that the show will soon premiere at Tokyo's Umeda Arts Theater and will hopefully move on the Broadway after.

He told WP: "They had trouble raising the money. I understand that. I'm going to get the production I want."

Click here to read the full article.

The show was originally scheduled to open in Toronto, as a part of the Dancap Productions 2012 season, prior to a Broadway production in November 2012. In January 2012, the Toronto enagement was cancelled and later that spring it was revealed in a statement from representatives that it would 'continue without Dancap's involvement.'

In March 2012 it was announced that the Broadway production woud star Linda Lavin, Sebastian Arcelus, Sierra Boggess, Daniel Breaker, Josh Grisetti, Shuler Hensley, Richard Kind, Amanda Kloots-Larsen, LaChanze, Caroline O'Connor, David Pittu and Emily Skinner.

Then in May 2012 it was announced that the show had been delayed from the Fall of 2012 to the Fall of 2013 as the production hunted for new producers. The production was to be directed by 21-time Tony Award winner Harold Prince, co-directed and choreographed by 5-time Tony Award winner Susan Stroman, and features a book by Tony Award nominee David Thompson.

In November 2012 it was announced the the production had been picked up by Tom Viertel and Richard Frankel who were aiming to bring the show to New York in the fall. There is no word yet on when the show will move forward.

Celebrating one of the most influential and successful careers in the American theatre of the past 60 years, Prince of Broadway will look at the circumstances and fortune, both good and bad, that led to Hal Prince creating some of the most enduring and beloved theatre of all time, including The Pajama Game, West Side Story, Fiorello!, Fiddler on the Roof, Cabaret, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Evita, and The Phantom of the Opera, the longest-running show in Broadway history.

Tokyo Symphony Orchestra Returns to Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 14:07:38 PST

Two years after the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra is finally back home at Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall. Music Director Hubert Soudant led the TSO in a performance of Bruckner's 9th Symphony and Te-Deum on April 7 to mark the reopening of the hall.

The 2013/14 season, Mo. Soudant's last as Music Director, has been named "The Hubert Soudant, Grand Finale." The program includes Mozart's Requiem and Coronation Mass, Haydn's first and last symphonies, Shubert's 2nd symphony, Bruckner's 4th Symphony, and excerpts from Berlioz's Romeo and Juliette.

THE LITTLE MERMAID Opens in Tokyo This Weekend

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 13:10:00 PST

Producer and President of Disney Theatrical Productions, Thomas Schumacher and Shiki Theatre Company celebrate their ongoing producing partnership with The Little Mermaid, which opens in Tokyo, Japan on Sunday, April 7th, 2013 at Shiki's Natsu Theatre.

Along with the critically-acclaimed productions in Holland and Moscow, The Little Mermaid in Tokyo will be one of three currently running premiere productions of an entirely original version of the show. The production is being helmed by a creative team including director Glenn Casale (Beauty and the Beast) with set and costume design by five-time Tony Award winner, Bob Crowley (Tarzan, Mary Poppins, Aida). The score features the classic songs: "Part of Your World," "Kiss the Girl" and the Academy Award-winning Best Original Song, "Under the Sea," composed by eight-time Academy Award and Tony Award winner Alan Menken and his longtime collaborator, the late Howard Ashman, as well as 10 new songs by Mr. Menken and lyricist Glenn Slater, with book by Doug Wright.

The Little Mermaid will mark the fourth collaboration between Disney Theatrical Productions and Shiki Theatre Company following the successful and current runs of Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King and AID.A

Disney Theatrical Productions, a division of The Walt Disney Studios, was formed in 1994 and operates under the direction of Thomas Schumacher. Worldwide, its eight Broadway titles have been seen by over 124 million theatergoers, grossed over $8.9 billion and have cumulatively run a staggering 195 years. With 15 productions currently produced or licensed, a Disney musical is being performed professionally somewhere on the planet virtually every hour of the day.

The company's inaugural production, Beauty and the Beast, opened in 1994. It played a remarkable 13 year run on Broadway and has been produced in 28 countries worldwide. In November 1997, Disney opened The Lion King, which received six 1998 Tony Awards including Best Musical and is now the highest grossing show in Broadway history. The show continues in its 16th smash year, having welcomed over 68 million visitors worldwide. The Lion King can also currently be seen on tour across North America, the U.K., and Japan, and in London's West End, Hamburg, Tokyo, Madrid, and Sao Paulo.

Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida opened on Broadway next, winning four 2000 Tony Awards, and spawning productions around the world. Mary Poppins, a co-production with Cameron Mackintosh, opened in London in 2004 and established itself as one of the biggest stage musical successes to emerge in recent years. The Tony Award-winning Broadway production played more than six years at Disney's New Amsterdam Theatre and can now be seen on tour across North America and in Mexico City.

Tarzan, which opened on Broadway in 2006, is now an international hit with an award-winning production in its 6th year in Germany. In January 2008, The Little Mermaid opened on Broadway and was the #1-selling new musical of that year. Its success continues with three new productions around the world: Holland, Russia and Japan.

Two new critically acclaimed productions opened on Broadway in 2012, receiving seven Tony Awards between them: Newsies, in its second year at the Nederlander Theatre, and Peter and the Starcatcher, now playing at New World Stages.

Other successful stage musical ventures have included King David in concert, the national tour of On The Record, several touring versions of Disney's High School Musical, and Der Glöckner Von Notre Dame in Berlin.

In addition, DTP licenses stage performance rights to more than a dozen Disney musicals around the world through Music Theatre International.

Its new musical, Aladdin, will open in Toronto in fall 2013.

THE RIDE Debuts in Japan Today

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 00:30:00 PST

Nippon TV and Yomiuri TV correspondent, Chelsea Gaeta, will host THE RIDE JAPANESE EDITION, set to begin performances today, April 3rd, 2013.

The weekly JAPANESE RIDE will feature Gaeta and an English-speaking guide to enhance THE RIDE's experience for the hundreds of Japanese Tourists currently reserving tickets.

The Japanese Edition of THE RIDE is scheduled for every Wednesday in April and May at 8:30pm.

Chelsea Gaeta grew up near a small Japanese community in suburban Ohio and began enthusiastically studying the language in middle school. Her interest in comedic Japanese was sparked by a locally-broadcast variety show. As a student of television broadcasting and film, Chelsea attended Kansai Gaidai University and film school in Osaka. She has appeared on several programs for Japanese television stations Nippon TV and Yomiuri TV, in addition to interpreting for non-profit events in Japan and the United States. As a guide on THE RIDE, Chelsea enjoys bridging cultures with humor while giving visitors a fun and memorable New York experience.

Los Angels hosts The Universal Studios Hollywood Tour. Leavesden, England just opened Warner Brothers' The Making of Harry Potter Tour. New York City owns THE RIDE, which has become the singularly most requested ticket at Travel Agents' offices all over the country. The concept is a brainstorm of design that has resulted in a fleet of multi-million dollar motor coaches whose interiors are a state-of-the-art wonderland of electronic wizardry that guide 49 dazzled tourists around the most fascinating city in the world. THE RIDE'S original genius was its realization that the streets of Manhattan are a fifty-mile stage exhibiting the most riveting visuals on earth. Adding its own actors to the crowded mix on the street, the huge motor coaches deliver a show worthy of the standing ovations and group euphoria that results at the end of each RIDE.

THE RIDE has played twenty-eight months of sold-out, multi-million-dollar, state-of-the-art, electronically interactive tours of the Midtown Area of the Greatest City in the World. Over 75,000 very happy customers have supported the 4.2-mile journey that has been termed "a Passport to New York City."

There are four of them. Together they make up New York's spectacular fleet of traveling theatres created for group exhilaration and audience participation. An audience, which in this case, happens to be the hundreds of people on the streets of mid-town Manhattan. THE RIDE was inaugurated on OCTOBER 11, 2010. On May 3, 2012 CEO/President Richard Humphrey launched THE RIDE'S Second Season with the introduction of THE Fazzino RIDE, several new motor coaches, a new cast, new themes, new management and a new Box Office located at Madame Tussauds on 42nd Street in Times Square.

The motor coaches are events in their own right.

They are specifically designed theatrical vehicles; the tallest allowed by federal law, fitted with stadium-style seating that orients the 49 fortunate participants sideways so as to look through the massive windows that deliver New York as the most successful Broadway show on earth. These multi-million dollar coaches are equipped with surround sound, 3,000 LED lights and 40 video screens. They are, in essence, rolling state-of-the-Art Theatres that introduce their travelling audiences to an interactive experience that only the most interactive city in the western hemisphere could deliver. Each motor coach's external speakers and lighting allow riders and on-board performers to interact with THE RIDE'S street performers as well as anyone else they pass on the street.

THE RIDE is an event whether you are on the bus or on the street. But it's better on the bus.

The box office is located on 42nd Street between Broadway & Eighth Avenue. Directly beside Madame Tussauds. Tickets are $59 - $69. For reservations, call Ovation Tix at 866-811-4111 or click HERE. Groups, call 212-244-2551 (X155).

THE RIDE to Premiere in Japan, April 3

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 11:35:50 PST

Nippon TV and Yomiuri TV correspondent, Chelsea Gaeta, will host THE RIDE JAPANESE EDITION, set to begin performances on Wednesday, April 3rd, 2013.

The weekly JAPANESE RIDE will feature Gaeta and an English-speaking guide to enhance THE RIDE's experience for the hundreds of Japanese Tourists currently reserving tickets.

The Japanese Edition of THE RIDE is scheduled for every Wednesday in April and May at 8:30pm.

The motor coaches are events in their own right.

THE RIDE is an event whether you are on the bus or on the street. But it's better on the bus.

STAGE TUBE: Building the Set of THE LITTLE MERMAID in Tokyo

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 11:34:36 PST

Producer and President of Disney Theatrical Productions, Thomas Schumacher and Shiki Theatre Company will continue their ongoing producing partnership with The Little Mermaid, which will open in Tokyo, Japan on Sunday, April 7th, 2013 at Shiki's Natsu Theatre. BroadwayWorld has a video of the set being built below.

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STAGE TUBE: Video Trailer of THE LITTLE MERMAID in Tokyo

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 11:32:13 PST

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Photo Flash: Building the Set of THE LITTLE MERMAID in Tokyo

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 11:24:28 PST

The hands of the staff of the four seasons, we trimmed shape.

Checking the flying apparatus.‚

Flying designer Paul Rubin came to Japan

Lecture from the staff's STS

Hamagami-stage to learn the mechanics of the flying device (pictured right) / Murai stage to receive a lecture of automation equipment (lower left photo) / Kusakabe equipment to confirm the site's staff and STS (upper left photo)

Height will also be about 15 meters

The stage for the flying training will continue being built.