#1
Posted: 4/22/09 at 10:28am
OK i lied
Desperately Seeking Susan the musical opened in Japan earlier this year and wait for it....people liked it!!!
Review Snippets
Stage Performances Rating (Nikkei Newspaper) February 19, 2009
Although it is not easy to combine music and drama in a rock musical, but this production is one of the rare successful examples.
G2 translated and directed the stage version with Blondie?s songs based on the movie ?Desperately Seeking Suzan?.
The revolve stage is used so effectively, and it moves around the glaring night town. Chizu Hosaka is on the up. I saw Tatsuki Koju?s Suzan, and was impressed that she was playing a wild woman so well. The supporting players? songs are also comfortable to our ears. Playing until March 5th at the Theatre Creation. ????
Self-searching Journey of A Woman -- Distinctive Feature of the Theatre
6th February 2009, Asahi Newspaper
I have never thought that the film "DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN" (1985) would be adapted for stage. Moreover, although a catalogue musical with tunes of a certain artist has achieved success, I have never even imagined that a musical with songs of Blondie, an American rock band very popular in the 1970s and 1980s, would be put on stage.
However, in 2007, the musical premiered in London (written and conceived by Peter Michael Marino). This Japanese premiere version by G2 (Direction, Translation of Book and Lyrics) is a very fascinating production with a unique rendition, which tactfully combines the story with powerful hit songs, such as "Call Me," "Heart of Glass" and "The Tide Is High."
Susan (played alternately by Tsubasa Makoto and Tatsuki Koju) is a beautiful, free-spirited woman and Roberta (played by Chizu Hosaka) is an ordinary housewife. Fascinated with Susan by reading the strange newspaper personal ads looking for her, Roberta follows after Susan whom she has found at the meeting place, and buys a jacket Susan has sold at a second hand store. The main highlights of this musical are the adventures of Roberta, who is mistaken as Susan, and the fuss caused by the identity confusion.
It is amusing to see mature actors -- Hosaka who sings and performs with a great deal of expression, Koju who performs naturally and gorgeously, Kazuhiro Yamaji who plays Roberta's husband as a frivolous snob, and Keigo Yoshino who gives a peculiar performance as a musician, Susan's boyfriend -- let themselves cut loose. Direction by G2 puts emphasis on the motif of 'self-searching of a mature woman.' His intention worked well, and reality and modernity can be seen through the portrait of the glitzy way of life in New York in 1979.
Stage Review "Desperately Seeking Susan" (Theatre Creation)
Fascinating Tsubasa Makoto in "A Fairy-tale For Adults"
by Takashi Kimura (Sports Nippon)
A musical made by fitting pre-existing hit tunes tactfully into a story is called a jukebox musical, but in most cases it does not create much impact, for some reason. The story of "Desperately Seeking Susan", a musical set to the hit songs of the U.S. rock band Blondie, is based on the film of the same title starring Madonna. The musical was premiered in the U.K. the year before last. It is said that the songs used in the musical make the disco generation feel nostalgic, but I, being of a musically-challenged generation, have no special feelings toward rock music and do not even know Blondie. However, fortunately, my concern proved to be unfounded. I found out that each of the Blondie songs is catchy and unique.
We, people, tend to ask too much. We often feel unsatisfied with our present state and think "Perhaps, I could have lived a different life." The standards of happiness can change in an instant, from moment to moment. Roberta, played by Chizu Hosaka, is an ordinary housewife living a boring life with her husband. She happens to know there is a free-spirited woman called Susan who is living for her own pleasure, and becomes totally fascinated by Susan. The house wife makes a move as she wants to see Susan. It is like a little "adventure" for her. Also it seems like a world of a fairy-tale which strongly appeals to the mass market, so to speak. Tsubasa Makoto is perfect for the role of Susan (alternately played by her and Tatsuki Koju), as there is nothing domestic about her.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqEYQadh05U&feature=channel_page
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux9YuJUG7Rs&feature=channel_page
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auCSqwCO_F4&feature=channel_page
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ewZHxuTUSI&feature=channel_page
Desperately Seeking Susan the musical opened in Japan earlier this year and wait for it....people liked it!!!
Review Snippets
Stage Performances Rating (Nikkei Newspaper) February 19, 2009
Although it is not easy to combine music and drama in a rock musical, but this production is one of the rare successful examples.
G2 translated and directed the stage version with Blondie?s songs based on the movie ?Desperately Seeking Suzan?.
The revolve stage is used so effectively, and it moves around the glaring night town. Chizu Hosaka is on the up. I saw Tatsuki Koju?s Suzan, and was impressed that she was playing a wild woman so well. The supporting players? songs are also comfortable to our ears. Playing until March 5th at the Theatre Creation. ????
Self-searching Journey of A Woman -- Distinctive Feature of the Theatre
6th February 2009, Asahi Newspaper
I have never thought that the film "DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN" (1985) would be adapted for stage. Moreover, although a catalogue musical with tunes of a certain artist has achieved success, I have never even imagined that a musical with songs of Blondie, an American rock band very popular in the 1970s and 1980s, would be put on stage.
However, in 2007, the musical premiered in London (written and conceived by Peter Michael Marino). This Japanese premiere version by G2 (Direction, Translation of Book and Lyrics) is a very fascinating production with a unique rendition, which tactfully combines the story with powerful hit songs, such as "Call Me," "Heart of Glass" and "The Tide Is High."
Susan (played alternately by Tsubasa Makoto and Tatsuki Koju) is a beautiful, free-spirited woman and Roberta (played by Chizu Hosaka) is an ordinary housewife. Fascinated with Susan by reading the strange newspaper personal ads looking for her, Roberta follows after Susan whom she has found at the meeting place, and buys a jacket Susan has sold at a second hand store. The main highlights of this musical are the adventures of Roberta, who is mistaken as Susan, and the fuss caused by the identity confusion.
It is amusing to see mature actors -- Hosaka who sings and performs with a great deal of expression, Koju who performs naturally and gorgeously, Kazuhiro Yamaji who plays Roberta's husband as a frivolous snob, and Keigo Yoshino who gives a peculiar performance as a musician, Susan's boyfriend -- let themselves cut loose. Direction by G2 puts emphasis on the motif of 'self-searching of a mature woman.' His intention worked well, and reality and modernity can be seen through the portrait of the glitzy way of life in New York in 1979.
Stage Review "Desperately Seeking Susan" (Theatre Creation)
Fascinating Tsubasa Makoto in "A Fairy-tale For Adults"
by Takashi Kimura (Sports Nippon)
A musical made by fitting pre-existing hit tunes tactfully into a story is called a jukebox musical, but in most cases it does not create much impact, for some reason. The story of "Desperately Seeking Susan", a musical set to the hit songs of the U.S. rock band Blondie, is based on the film of the same title starring Madonna. The musical was premiered in the U.K. the year before last. It is said that the songs used in the musical make the disco generation feel nostalgic, but I, being of a musically-challenged generation, have no special feelings toward rock music and do not even know Blondie. However, fortunately, my concern proved to be unfounded. I found out that each of the Blondie songs is catchy and unique.
We, people, tend to ask too much. We often feel unsatisfied with our present state and think "Perhaps, I could have lived a different life." The standards of happiness can change in an instant, from moment to moment. Roberta, played by Chizu Hosaka, is an ordinary housewife living a boring life with her husband. She happens to know there is a free-spirited woman called Susan who is living for her own pleasure, and becomes totally fascinated by Susan. The house wife makes a move as she wants to see Susan. It is like a little "adventure" for her. Also it seems like a world of a fairy-tale which strongly appeals to the mass market, so to speak. Tsubasa Makoto is perfect for the role of Susan (alternately played by her and Tatsuki Koju), as there is nothing domestic about her.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqEYQadh05U&feature=channel_page
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux9YuJUG7Rs&feature=channel_page
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auCSqwCO_F4&feature=channel_page
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ewZHxuTUSI&feature=channel_page
Namo i love u but we get it already....you don't like Madonna
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