Kabuki in Las Vegas to Stay: Are You Serious Somegoro?

Our dear readers course know well that Kabuki is "Japan" in theatrical art - the undisputed symbol of Japanese stage art. Somegoro Ichikawa is a big time Kabuki actor of fine repute who has done memorable performances.

Now, Somegoro bared in an interview on January his intention to radicate, mark you, Kabuki in Las Vegas, Nevada. He is saying not occasionally putting up a few performances but causing Kabuki to take root in Las Vegas!

By the way, we are aware he led a troupe last year to stage Kabuki in Las Vegas where some 100 thousand Americans enjoyed a localized stage of the Japanese traditional stage art.

Somegoro is eager to stage something stageable only abroad and to cultivate a fresh ground for Kabuki to flourish as a form of entertainment geared for foreign environments. His troupe has prepared a new work entitled "Lion King" featuring flying, quick-changes plus modern imaging techniques on top of traditional tricks. 

He stressed:

"Our idea is to create a form of Kabuki stageable abroad to find it space as an entertainment for many years ahead."

Now, this desk admits to be a seasoned connoisseur of Kabuki with a difference of view of how Kabuki should survive at home or otherwise. While appreciative of Somegoro's concern for Kabuki and its future, radicating it in a metropolis of entertainments is no answer. 

Kabuki is no entertainment in the sense roulette and slot machines are, nor a form of stage art to compete with magic shows. Kabuki has a world of its own untranslatable in other environments than in the cultural soil it has survived for centuries. Of course, Somegoro and his troupe are free to present a pseudo-Kabuki with whatever titles and wherever acceptable. 

Las Vegas' MGM Grand is to stage "Lion King" from May 3-7 this year.

News Source: NHK