Japanese Musical Theatre

 

Japan has an excellent relationship with musical theatre. They take it very seriously and there’s a lot put into their shows. Seriously, the production value is insane. And you know what they do that the US is behind on? They film their shows. It’s not always easy to get these videos. For example, we know that the Elisabeth production featuring Yuta Furukawa as Der Tod was filmed, but it hasn’t been released. Typically though, not only are these videos released, they’re released on DVD! The flip side of that however, means that videos often aren’t allowed on youtube. Recently, the Shiki company, responsible for the current production of Phantom of the Opera, which is in the process of transferring to Tokyo to Osaka, has had all Japanese Phantom videos removed, going back as far as 1988 when the first Japanese production was mounted. These copyright issues make it harder for me to find good clips to show you guys, but it’s not totally impossible. 

Here is a recently released trailer from Shiki’s current production of Phantom. It’s a replica of the current Broadway production, but it’s unusual for a replica production to look quite this good. But also it’s beautiful and everyone should see it. 

This next trailer is from the 2016 production of Elisabeth. Look at the quality of the sets and costumes. They invest so much into their musicals and the result is absolutely stunning productions.

Here in this trailer for Rebecca, you will once again find massive sets and perfection in every single detail. 

Black Butler was huge in the US when I was in middle school, but the hype eventually died down everywhere but Japan. Black Butler is still not only an ongoing manga series but has received several musicals for the different storylines. These musicals are typically produced by Toho, one of the biggest musical production companies in Japan. For Black Butler, there is “Lycoris that blazes the Earth” which has been given two large productions in Japan. Unfortunately there doesn’t appear to be any decent clips on youtube at the moment that really showcase how well this musical was put together. “Tango on the Campania” is another Black Butler musical, but again, no decent clips are available and I don’t want a copyright strike. One of the most recent musicals, which is also my personal favourite, is “Noah’s Ark Circus” and, luckily, there are actually some somewhat decent clips available on youtube at the moment. Watching this musical genuinely feels like an anime come to life. This video does not do it justice, but it’s the best I could find. (Should anyone read this and actually want to watch one of these productions in full, I can help with that. If I'm not allowed to offer dubiously obtained but definitely virus free videos to my classmates then we'll just pretend this isn't here.)

I know that’s a lot of examples of just how high the quality of their musicals are but I really wanted to emphasize this; Japan invests in it’s theatre, and the quality of their shows is much higher than places like Broadway or the West End.

You can’t talk about the Black Butler musicals without talking about Yuta Furukawa. Yuta is a huge name in Japanese musical theatre and is returning to Elisabeth in an upcoming production, but he’s best known for his role as Sebastian Michaelis, the demon butler. Yuta puts so much thought and intention behind every choice he makes on stage. He actually blinks less on purpose in order to seem less human. Vocally, he’s not the strongest singer(he’s probably the best vocally in Tango on the Campania), but he’s a very strong dancer, he moves very gracefully and catlike which again, lends to his inhuman character. He’s so good at the part that the Black Butler author, Yana, has declared him the most canon version of Sebastian. Any choice he makes as the character is automatically canon and she has even changed how she draws him in the manga to resemble Yuta more. Yuta is also known for being incredibly respectful. He is a leading man in every sense of the word. He works with his cast mates and collaborates on the relationship between their characters. In Noah’s Ark, there’s a scene where he’s very hands on with a woman and he made sure she was comfortable with each place he needed to touch her. One of the Black Butler shows toured for a while and the other lead character, Ciel, is played by a minor. Yuta took this kid under his wing, helped him through the tour, and played games with him and even let him stay in his hotel room when he was feeling scared. Yuta just deserves a little recognition for the hard work he brings to each role and just what an all around lovely person he is. 

Back on the topic!

My first exposure to Japanese musical theatre was Phantom, so when some of the lines were performed in English, I thought that maybe they just weren’t able to translate the lines into Japanese in a way that could still fit into music. I learned that this isn’t usually the case. Even shows that originate in Japan will often have lines in English because they believe it brings more emphasis to the line. We don’t do that, we don’t put lines in other languages in order to emphasize it. Sometimes it’s also done to attract foreign listeners which is another thing we aren’t usually concerned with when writing musicals in America. At about 2:19, Yuta says one of Sebastian’s most iconic lines, “Yes my lord”, in English. This is a Japanese manga performed in Japan by Japanese performers, but one of the most important lines that Sebastian says is always done in English because it emphasizes the line.

Japan also likes to add bits of extra entertainment, either at the beginning or end of their shows. The Black Butler musicals usually start off with a little skit. For the Noah’s Ark musical, it’s two random clowns telling jokes and doing little tricks. For Tango on the Campania, it’s one of the characters, Inspector Abberline, setting the scene and being very silly in the meantime. Companies like Takarazuka like to add theirs in the end, usually in the form of a dance revue, though sometimes they sing as well. The full company performs intense, incredible dances in lavish costumes- it’s a big spectacle. This is usually done as a little bonus, an added incentive for patrons to donate to the company. 

And this brings me to my next topic- Takarazuka. 

Takarazuka is a theatre troupe and school in Japan that is all women. They’re very well-funded, and making it into the school is considered a very high achievement. Takarazuka was founded in 1913. Something interesting that I found is Takarazuka is considered responsible for lesbians existing in Japan. The majority of their fans are women and with women playing male and female roles on stage and usually romancing each other, it’s not a huge surprise that it basically created a whole group of lesbians, but it was still a big deal. This is common in a lot of Asian countries and Takarazuka is no exception- stars are usually not allowed to have relationships, so that they’re more desirable to their fans. So because the ladies of the Takarazuka troupe were not allowed to date men… they started dating each other. When this was first discovered, there was another group imitating Takarazuka who’s two stars were rumored to be dating. When they attempted double suicide and survived, it essentially forced them to come out to the public. Takarazuka and it’s imitators were accused of trying to normalize homosexuality. There was a time when Takarazuka would not allow their actresses to receive fan mail, because they didn’t want them to receive love confessions; that was seen as condoning homosexuality. Today, thankfully, it is more or less acceptable, even though they still keep much of their personal lives to themselves. One of Takarazuka’s former actresses, with her wife, was the first same-gender female couple to receive an official marriage certificate in Japan in 2015. 

To join the Takarazuka troupe, you must first be accepted into the Takarazuka Music School. The ladies train for two years and then receive seven year contracts. They are divided during their training into two groups- male and female basically. The women in the male roles cut their hair short and speak in the masculine form. Something interesting to note is that the women selected for the male roles are usually stronger dancers while the women roles are usually stronger singers. Initially, once their seven year contract ended, the women were expected to marry and have children, but it is becoming more common to see them stay with the company into their thirties, which is past what Japan considers marrying age. 

Takarazuka puts on immense productions, with elaborate sets and costumes, the productions are opulent and spectacular. All performances are professionally filmed and a lot of them have been released, but the fan base is a little possessive of the videos, so finding complete videos is occasionally tricky. Usually, Takarazuka will not allow the full videos to be on youtube however there is one available here.

If you don’t have two and half hours to sit down and watch a musical, here are some clips:

You’ll notice they chose not to translate the phrase “You are Music” to Japanese, a romantic line that ties the Phantom and Christine through the entire show.

The last thing I wanted to talk about is Merchandise!

Japan goes all out when creating merch for their shows! They don’t offer it online which means the only way to get it is to either know someone in Japan or watch Ebay, but because it’s hard to get here and they know it, the prices are usually pretty high. Here you can see some of the merch they made for phantom. Not only is there a wide variety, this stuff is gorgeous!

Compare it to the merch offered by the Broadway production and you find that not only does Japan offer way more, most of it is much nicer than what Broadway is offering. This isn't just Phantom, this is true for most productions in Japan.

One item that you can buy at the Broadway and Japanese productions is souvenir brochures. But Japan varies from Broadway in one very important way; everyone gets equal recognition. The alternates and understudies are listed with the principals and everyone gets featured in the photos. 

I only have brochures from Phantom on hand to use as a source but you’ll find this to be true in any Japanese production. 

In the Broadway souvenir brochures, the only Phantom pictured is the principal. London used to give the understudy one photo in the back. The principal Christine is in the bulk of the photos, and the alternate usually gets two. Understudies are not usually pictured. The photos that Broadway released a few days ago don’t even feature most of the production's ensemble. There are three women sharing the role of Carlotta but only the “principal” who's doing the least shows a week got a photo. 

In Japan, everyone who plays a character is listed for that character. There no mention of alternates or understudies.

For photos, you’ll get multiple photos of the same scene, but featuring different actors.

These are just a few examples but this is absolutely unheard of on Broadway or in the West End. In fact, there’s been a recent push to make sure alternates, standbys, and understudies get promotional materials made for them and to stop putting so much emphasis on the leads. This attitude is usually the reason people get upset or want refunds when an understudy is on; because they’re often viewed as not as good as the principals when this is far from true. 

Japan’s musical theatre is on a whole other level, from the quality of their productions to how they treat their actors. They mount immense, gorgeous, engaging productions and I strongly encourage you to watch one sometime. 

[Sources]

(2021, November 13). Why do Japanese songs use English. Denwasensei. Retrieved January 27, 2022, from https://denwasensei.com/why-do-japanese-songs-use-english/

Fantasy girls: The enduring lesbian appeal of Japan's all-female theater troupe. The Free Library. (2016, July 1). Retrieved January 27, 2022, from https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Fantasy+girls%3A+the+enduring+lesbian+appeal+of+Japan%27s+all-female...-a0459349636