Live Version Of SPIRITED AWAY Is Coming To U.S. Theaters

GKIDS has announced that it has acquired the distribution rights to recordings of the stage play 2022 which is scheduled to make its debut onstage later this year.

By kdavs - Feb 09, 2023 10:02 AM EST

Filed Under: Ghibli

The recordings of the 2022 Studio Ghibli/Toho co-production Spirited Away: Live On Stage, which was recorded during the performances in Tokyo, Japan's famed Imperial Theatre, have been acquired by GKIDS, according to a press release. The stage play is significant for having Tony Award-winning director John Caird in charge of the production. Caird is most recognized for his work on the stage play version of Les Misérables.

Later this year, GKIDS will release two distinct filmed performances of the play in American theaters. Starring as Chihiro, the main protagonist of the stage adaption, are Kanna Hashimoto and Mone Kamishiraishi. Character actress Mari Natsuki, who provided the voices for the sorceress Yubaba and her identical twin sister Zeniba in the first movie, reprises her previous part alongside voice actress Romi Park and a cast of the top theatrical actors in Japan.

Cast

Chihiro: Kanna Hashimoto/Mone Kamishiraishi
Haku: Kotaro Daigo /Hiroki Miura
No Face: Koharu Sugawara/Tomohiko Tsujimoto
Lin/Chihiro’s Mother: Miyu Sakihi/Fu Hinami
Kamaji: Tomorowo Taguchi/Satoshi Hashimoto
Yubaba/Zeniba: Mari Natsuki/Romi Park
Aniyaku/Chihiro’s Father: Kenya Osumi
Chichiyaku: Sunao Yoshimura
Aogaeru: Obata no Oniisan

This is the first stage version of Hayao Miyazaki's Academy Award-winning animated feature film, and it has gorgeous sets, mesmerizing musical pieces, and amazing puppets of well-known characters. Two distinct casts and performances were captured during the show's celebrated 2022 run at Tokyo's famous Imperial Theatre, including Kanna Hashimoto and Mone Kamishiraishi as Chihiro, and were adapted and directed by Tony Award®-winner John Caird (Les Misérables).

About Spirited Away: Live On Stage

Chihiro and her parents are traveling to their new home. When her father decides to take a shortcut, he stops in front of a tunnel that appears to go to an abandoned amusement park. Despite Chihiro's objections, her father proceeds to explore the tunnel. Chihiro's parents uncover a seemingly deserted restaurant that is still loaded with food, and they start eating right away. Chihiro discovers an immense bathhouse while going farther, where she encounters Haku, a kid who cautions her to cross the riverbed before sunset. Chihiro, however, learns that her parents have changed into pigs, making it impossible for her to cross the now-flooded river.

Chihiro is located by Haku, who tells her to approach Kamaji, the bathhouse's boiler man and a yokai in charge of the susuwatari, to request a job. Kamaji declines and requests that a worker by the name of Lin send Chihiro to the bathhouse's witch, Yubaba. Chihiro resists Yubaba's attempts to scare her away, and she eventually receives a working contract. Yubaba changes her name to Sen by removing the second kanji from it. Haku explains that Yubaba controls people by taking their identities; if she fully forgets hers like he once did, she will never be able to escape the spirit realm. She quickly finds that she can't recall her own name.

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