IT IS always sad to see a familiar landmark disappear.
One in Tokyo that is about to go is the famous Kabuki-za theatre, located just off the high-fashion Ginza shopping district.
Kabuki is a highly-stylised form of dance drama where the performers – all of them male incidentally – wear elaborate make-up and traditional costumes.
The imposing Kabuki-za theatre, last rebuilt in 1950, is where the bulk of Kabuki performances are held in Tokyo. Although registered as a cultural asset and monument, concerns that the structure may not withstand a strong earthquake has prompted its operators, Shochiku, to have it torn down and rebuilt.
SOURCE: ONG SOR FERN
The construction is scheduled to take place some time after April 2010. To mark the closure of the venerable theatre, a series of "sayonara" (farewell) performances are being held.
It will be a long countdown as these farewell performances, which began this month, will be staged until April next year!
The new theatre, and an adjoining towering office complex, will take three years to be completed. The new Kabuki-za theatre will not be an exact replica of the existing one but will sport a more modern look while preserving much of the traditional atmosphere. In contrast to the current theatre, the new one will have elevators and wider aisles thus making it friendlier to the elderly and the disabled.
Although many Kabuki fans, especially those who attend matinee performances, are elderly Japanese, Kabuki theatre has attracted a growing number of young female fans in recent years thanks to the emergence of a crop of younger actors.
Because young women have to work in the daytime, they tend to pack Kabuki performances in the evening. The most popular of today’s younger Kabuki actors are a dashing threesome – Ichikawa Ebizo, Onoe Kikunosuke and Onoe Shoroku. The latter two are distantly related.
Both Ebizo and Shoroku specialise in male roles, but Kikunosuke is also adept at playing female roles.All three men are sons of established performers as Kabuki remains a world where the main roles are mostly hereditary.
Also very popular with the ladies is Bando Tamasaburo, a veteran actor well known for his portrayal of the ideal Japanese woman. Any performance featuring Tamasaburo, who is an exponent of traditional Japanese dance, is a pleasure, even to someone watching Kabuki for the first time.
So hurry, don’t walk, to the Kabuki-za and be a part of history before the building comes under the wrecker’s ball next year.