Rebuilt Kabukiza debuts to much fanfare
http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0000103145
After three years of construction work, the rebuilt Kabukiza
theater officially opened in Tokyo's Ginza district Tuesday, raising the curtain on a new era
for kabuki stage performances.
After the Ichiban
Daiko no Gi drum-beating ceremony to inform the public of the theater's opening
was held under drizzly skies at 10:15 a.m., the main entrance of the theater
opened at 10:30 a.m. to the cheerful shouts of many fans who were impressed
with the brand-new stage and audience seats.
At 11 a.m., Kotobuki
Iwau Kabuki no Irodori Kakuju Senzai, a dance performance to celebrate the
opening of the theater, began at 11 a.m. Sakata Tojuro, who sits at the top of
the kabuki world, Ichikawa Somegoro and other actors performed the dance based
on a myth of a crane that lives for 1,000 years. The audience called out the
actors' hereditary guild names and applauded them as the celebratory mood in
the theater peaked.
The next dance
performance, "Omatsuri" (festival), was dedicated to Nakamura
Kanzaburo XVIII, who died shortly before the theater's reopening. Kanzaburo,
who loved festivals and had a cheerful character, had many fans. Actors dressed
as firefighters and geisha in the Edo period
(1603-1867) appeared on stage, adding excitement to the performance.
In the act,
Kanzaburo's sons Kankuro and Shichinosuke appeared on the long hanamichi raised
runway that runs from the back of the theater to the main stage, following
Bando Mitsugoro, Kanzaburo's friendly rival. The audience cheered Kankuro, who
walked hand in hand to the stage with his 2-year-old son Naoya. When Mitsugoro
said, "Kanzaburo must be very pleased," cheers erupted in the
theater.
The current Kabukiza
theater is the fifth incarnation of the building. The fourth-generation theater
was closed due to aging in April 2010, and the current theater-office complex
was constructed on the same premises.