GKIDS has revealed that it has purchased the rights to the recordings of the 2022 Studio Ghibli/Toho co-production SPIRITED AWAY: Live On Stage, which was captured during the performances conducted in Tokyo, Japan’s venerable Imperial Theatre.
Later this year, GKIDS will release two different filmed performances of the play in American theaters, each featuring a different set of cast. Chihiro, the main heroine of the stage adaptation, is portrayed by Kanna Hashimoto (Gintama, Kaguya-sama: Love is War, Kingdom) and Mone Kamishiraishi (Your Name, live-action Chihayafuru).
The cast also includes (in alternating performances) actress Mari Natsuki, who performed as the sorceress Yubaba and her twin sister Zeniba’s voices in the original film, reprises her role alongside voice actress Romi Park and a cast of the top theatrical actors in Japan. Below are some of the photos from Spirited Away: Live On Stage.
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Cast:
- Kanna Hashimoto/Mone as Chihiro
- Kotarō Daigo/Hiroki Miura as Haku
- Koharu Suguwara and Tomohiko Tsujimoto as Kaonashi (No-Face)
- Miyu Sakihi/Fu Hinami as Lin/Chihiro’s Mother
- Tomorowo Taguchi/Satoshi Hashimoto as Kamaji
- Mari Natsuki/Romi Park as Yubaba/Zeniba
- Kenya Osumi as Aniyaku/Chihiro’s Father
- Sunao Yoshimura as Chichiyaku
- Obata no Oniisan as Aogaeru
The play premiered at TOHO’s Imperial Theatre in February and March 2022. After that, a tour to Osaka, Fukuoka, Sapporo, and Nagoya was scheduled for April through July. The stage play’s performances in Fukuoka and Nagoya were postponed as a result of Hashimoto’s COVID-19 diagnosis and the COVID-19 infections of certain cast and crew members including Park and Kamishiraishi.
The performance was written and directed by John Caird, a Tony and Olive Award-winning director (Les Misérables, Nicholas Nickleby, Daddy Long Legs), who is also an honorary associate director of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Before Demon Slayer – Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen broke the record, Spirited Away held the title of highest-grossing Japanese movie globally. Spirited Away, which won the 2003 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, is still the only movie that wasn’t in English.
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Synopsis:
Hayao Miyazaki’s Academy Award-winning animated feature film comes to life in this first-ever stage adaptation, full of dazzling sets, captivating musical numbers, and wondrous puppets of beloved characters. Adapted and directed by Tony Award®-winner John Caird (Les Misérables), two unique casts and performances were filmed during the show’s acclaimed 2022 run at Tokyo’s historic Imperial Theatre, featuring Kanna Hashimoto and Mone Kamishiraishi as Chihiro.
While traveling to their new home, Chihiro and her family stumble into a world of fantastic spirits ruled over by the sorceress Yubaba. When her parents are turned into pigs and she is put to work in a magical bathhouse, Chihiro must use her wits to survive in this strange new place, find a way to free her parents, and return to the normal world.
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