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Spirited Away live-action stage announces first outside-Japan performances

Casey Baseel Aug 3, 2023
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Adaptation of Studio Ghibli classic is coming to London, keeping its Japanese stars and Japanese-language dialogue.

The works of Studio Ghibli have become worldwide hits, with theatrical and home video releases around the globe now the norm for the famed animation production company. But while you can see Ghibli’s anime just about anywhere these days, it’s been a different story with the live-action Spirited Away stage play.

The adaptation of the Hayao Miyazaki-directed, Oscar-winning anime film opened in Tokyo in February of 2022, and has been performed in a few other Japanese cities as well since then. For fans outside Japan, though, the only way to see the play has been through online streaming or, as of last week, the home video Blu-ray release. But as theater fans will tell you, there’s no substitute for seeing the cast perform in-person, live on stage in front of your very eyes, and thankfully that’s an experience audiences outside Japan are going to get for the very first time as the Spirited Away stage play has finally announced its first overseas performances.

Spirited Away will be coming to London next spring, for a “strictly limited season” of performances at the London Coliseum to take place between April and July of 2024. Exact dates have not been revealed, but the official announcement from the producers describes it as an engagement of “more than three months,” seemingly suggesting that it might not be all the way from the very start of April to the tail-end of July.

While it’s not clear if the entire Japanese cast of the Spirited Away play will be making the trip to the U.K., it has been confirmed that stars Kanna Hashimoto and Mone Kamishiraishi, who alternate in the lead role of Chihiro, will be part of the London performances. What’s more, the dialogue will still be performed in Japanese (no mention has currently been made of what, if any, sort of translation will be provided for the audience).

▼ Preview of the Spirited Away stage play Blu-ray, which was released on July 29 in Japan

／
舞台『#千と千尋の神隠し』
Blu-ray本日発売✨✨
＼

初演(2022年)の軌跡を詰め込んだBlu-ray📀

8月の御園座、来年の帝劇公演の予習としても🐥
ぜひこの機会にお求めください⛩️https://t.co/HLhc7KutAA #橋本環奈 #上白石萌音 #舞台千尋 #千尋ブルーレイ pic.twitter.com/0C7OQE3HVb

— 舞台『千と千尋の神隠し』 (@sentochihiro_st) July 29, 2023

An on-sale date for tickets is yet to be set, but the official Spirited Away U.K. performance website, found here, has a form in which interested parties can register “for priority booking and [to] be the first to access tickets” for the London performances.

Source: Spirited Away stage play official website, NHK News Web
Top image: PR Times
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