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Showing posts from September 18, 2022

Cho Kabuki: Hatsune miku vocaloid Vs. Nakamura Shidokabuki

 And the winner is: the blue-haired outrageously, contagiously cute and cool Hatsunemiku? Who could compete with the long-legged, flowing pigtailed, slender-waisted animated projection? Effortless leaping from small to large screen, and even a standing Japanese screen, while the stocky middle-aged men of kabuki posed, earthbound and sweaty. Their voices, amplified to carry over the electronic/live geza/electronic sounds,  hoarse or slightly breathless could not compete with her pre-recorded sweet digital lyricism. While the plot thickened, lead actors left the stage to change costume, but Miku, effortless changing her gorgeous pastel costumes and beautifully quaffed hair (rolled into a back-bun or left dangling gaily was the bride of the ball. They had come to be in her presence, which happened to include this ancient art called "kabuki", but it was clear from the pen-lights they waved aloft and the silent cheers only she could hear why they were here.     In a rever...

Q Madama Butterfly Japan premiere @ Rohm Theatre: A caterpillar pinned and wriggling

Q Madama Butterfly Japan premiere @ Rohm Theatre:  A caterpillar pinned and wriggling: Sept 16,17 2022 https://rohmtheatrekyoto.jp/en/event/71137/ This shocking and fierce fantasy by female playwright Ichihara Satoko premiered in September 2021 in Switzerland, a collaboration of Ichihara’s Q company and the Zurich’s Neumarkt theatre, then toured Austria and German this spring. This review was written after viewing the premiere of Q Madama Butterfly in Japan at the Rohm Theatre, Kyoto on Sept 16 and 17, and chatting with some actors afterwards. There was little in the program notes or online, and I have not yet read the script (published in Mook Kotabato Vol. 3) http://www.kankanbou.com/books/kotobato/0455 so offer these immediate impressions hoping that my more experienced and fluent colleagues may correct me. As a compilation of two viewings, they are also a bit confused, stimulated but revulsed, applauding as it were with one thumb down.           ...