The famed Broadway musical "Pippin" will open on June 10 in Tokyo, performed in Japanese and starring Yu Shirota in the title role.
Shirota is a top talent with outstanding stage presence who is celebrating his 20th year in show business this year.
When Shirota talks about "Pippin," words flow out of his mouth. Just listening to him would make anyone very much look forward to seeing the musical.
"It's sprinkled with various fun-to-watch elements, such as the circus and acrobats," he said. "It's spectacular and gorgeous. I felt as if I were watching a Cirque du Soleil show. What's more, it has a solid music structure and story line. The audience got really excited with so many showstoppers."
He was talking about the Broadway production of "Pippin" he watched by chance in New York about five years ago as if it happened just yesterday.
At that time, he never imagined he would play the lead role in the musical, he said. Perhaps because he thoroughly enjoyed the performance as part of the audience, he remembers all the excitement he felt that day so vividly.
Pippin is the name of the protagonist, who is modeled on a son of Frankish King Charlemagne in medieval Europe. In the musical, Pippin struggles to find the reason he exists as he grows up.
"The story is a soul-searching journey, which I think applies to everyone," Shirota said. "I think everyone thinks about what you are living for and what you should strive for."
Shirota, who stands 190 centimeters tall, was born in Tokyo in 1985 to a Japanese father and a Spanish mother. He officially made his acting debut in 2003 in the musical version of "Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon" (Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon). He has appeared in a wide variety of works, from TV dramas to films and theater, and narrates the audio guide for the exhibition "Vienna on the Path to Modernism" at The National Art Center, Tokyo, which opens April 24.
In October last year, he released the solo album "a singer," which includes the song "Corner of the Sky" from "Pippin." It is sung by Shirota's character early in Act I of the musical. With his refined voice, the actor sings the song exquisitely, even the parts that require subtlety. The beautiful long note he sustains in falsetto at the end of the song seems to bring listeners up to the sky. It sounds as if he is ready for the upcoming performances.
"No way," he said. "It's difficult to deliver the same quality recorded on a CD at every performance. But this is the song in which Pippin pours out all his feelings, so I want to sing it so that it shows spontaneity, elation and Pippin keeping his chin up."
Showing new depth
The world-premiere Broadway production in 1972 won five Tony Awards. It was directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse and had a medieval-style set design as well as dazzling costumes. The 2013 production, which won the Tony for best revival of a musical, retains Fosse-style dance numbers, but has evolved into a bold extravaganza, with circus acrobatics courtesy of former Cirque du Soleil members. The Japanese production will be directed by Diane Paulus, who won a Tony for her direction of the revival.
"It's awfully tough. It's peculiar. It's unique," Shirota said, looking as if he had no clue after taking part in a one-week dance workshop for the show.
Yet he has had experience overcoming high hurdles. For the musical version of "Bullets Over Broadway" last year, he mastered tap dancing in just one month.
"At first, I felt like my head was constantly boiling and steaming," he said of the experience. "At the end of the day, it's about how long you spend on it. Always."
In the Japanese production of "Pippin," singer Crystal Kay will play the role of Leading Player, an important character who acts as the emcee.
The cast also includes Kiyotaka Imai, Hiromu Kiriya, Emma Miyazawa and Ryosuke Okada, and Mie Nakao and Beverly Maeda sharing the role of Berthe.
Shirota directly asked Kay, whom he is friendly with, to join the production, saying, "Hey, Kay-chan, won't you do a musical?" His remarks were rather casual considering he was suggesting a big role to Kay, who had never performed in a musical, but he was determined.
"I wanted to seek new possibilities in the Japanese musical scene," Shirota said. "It's not interesting if the same people always appear in musicals. I'm all for taking risks and banking on merit and chemistry."
By coincidence, Kay had seen the same cast as Shirota when she watched the Broadway version of "Pippin" and was similarly excited.
"I believe in ties between people, like when you're thinking about someone, that person calls you," Shirota said.
Kay is also celebrating the 20th anniversary since her debut as a singer. It has been a good opportunity for her to take a new step forward.
"She has a delicate demeanor as well as strong passion," Shirota said of Kay, whom he empathizes with because both of them have parental roots in two countries. When a member of the crew suggested her name as a casting candidate, perhaps the wheel of fortune started spinning.
Of course, the musical also offers Shirota new challenges because it requires an air and expressions that are different from the works he has appeared in the past.
"I have to do something that will exceed the shock I felt when I saw the musical in New York," he said. "I must make a production that the audience can feel on the way home that their expectations have been pleasantly shattered."
He appears ready for that challenge, just as another challenging project is in the works.
This autumn, Shirota will star in and direct "Phantom," a musical hugely popular with his fans and based on the novel "The Phantom of the Opera." The actor will alternate the lead role with Kazuki Kato and for the first time put on a second hat at the same time as a director.
"In my 20th year in showbiz, I'm taking things on with the mind-set I had when I started out. I'm more experienced now, and I'm wondering what it's like if I face the challenges with pure feelings from the time when I was thinking, 'I'd do anything to make my living in this industry.'"
Performances of "Pippin" will run from June 10 to 30 at Tokyu Theatre Orb in Shibuya, Tokyo.
Please visit www.pippin2019.jp for more information.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
