KABUKI TOURS IN NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA (original) (raw)

June ~ July 1960: first Kabuki tour in the USA, in New York at the City Center (2~22 June), in Los Angeles at the Greek Theatre (27 June~10 July) and in San Francisco at the War Memorial Opera House (12~16 July). Here are the plays and the casting:

July ~ August 1985: special Kabuki tour in the USA, which celebrates the sh�mei of Ichikawa Danj�r� XII; 38 performances in New York (Metropolitan Opera House, 8~20 July), Washington (Kennedy Center, 23 July~4 August) and Los Angeles (UCLA Royce Hall, 7~11 August). This is the first time in Kabuki history that a sh�mei is staged abroad. The 22nd July, the troupe enters Washington by boat via the Potomac river and parades from the wharf to the theater in traditional ceremony costums. Here are the programs (program A includes a k�j�) and the casting:

April 1986: tour in South America, in Rio de Janeiro (1~3 April, Municipal Theatre), Brasilia (7~8 April, National Theatre), Sao Paulo (11~14 April, Sergio Caldosso Theatre) and Buenos Aires (18~21 April, San Martin Theater). The program is made up of "Kenuki", "Tachi Nusubito" and "Ninokuchi-mura". The troupe includes Nakamura Matagor� II, Sawamura Tanosuke, Band� Yasosuke, Ichimura Manjir� and Nakamura Matagor�.

June ~ July 1990: Kabuki tour in the USA, 26 performances in Columbus (Ohio), San Antonio (Texas), Atlanta (Georgia), Indianapolis (Indiana), Iowa City (Iowa), Lincoln (Nebraska), Minneapolis (Minnesota), Costa Mesa (California), Los Angeles (California), Berkeley (California), Portland (Oregon) and Seattle (Washington). Here are the plays and the casting:

July 2004: Heisei Nakamuraza tour in the USA, the first tour for this troupe abroad, in Boston (8~10 July, Cutler Majestic Theatre), New York City (17~25 July, Lincoln Center) and Washington DC (28 July, Warner Theater). "Natsu Matsuri" is staged in New York City, while the dances "B� Shibari" and "Renjishi" are staged in Boston and Washington DC. Here are the plays and the casting:

June 2005: Chikamatsuza tour in the USA, in Seattle (Paramount Theater, 11~12 June), San Francisco (Berkeley Zellerbach Hall, 17~18 June) and Los Angeles (Cerritos Center, 21~24 June). Here are the plays and the casting:

July 2007: second Heisei Nakamuraza tour in the USA, in New York (Lincoln Center, 16~22 July) and Washington (Warner Theatre, 26 July). Here are the plays and the casting:

October 2010: Kabuki tour in Central America, to commemorate the 400th Anniversary of Japan's Relations with Mexico [more details]. The tour goes through Monterrey (8th of Oct.) and Mexico City (12th and 13th), San Salvador (16th) and Santa Ana (18th) in Salvador and Tegucigalpa (21st) in Honduras. The program is made up of lectures about the art of Kabuki and two dance-dramas, "Sagi Musume" and "Shakky�". The troupe is led by Nakamura Ky�z�, Nakamura Matanosuke and Ichikawa Kinosuke.

July 2014: third Heisei Nakamuraza performances in New York City. The summer kaidanmono "Kaidan Chibusa no Enoki" is staged from the 7th to the 12th of July at the Rose Theater (in the Lincoln Center). Based on a rakugo story by Sany�tei Ench�, this is a showpiece for the zagashira (Nakamura Kankur�) who will play multiple roles, culminating in a thrilling fight scene in a waterfall where he switches rapidly from one to another. An artist named Hishikawa Shigenobu (Nakamura Kankur�) is killed by a handsome samurai named Isogai Namie (Nakamura Shid�) who wants Shigenobu's wife Oseki (Nakamura Shichinosuke). He carries out the murder with the help of Shigenobu's honest, but simple minded, servant Sh�suke (Nakamura Kankur�) and the tattooed villain Uwabami no Sanji (Nakamura Kankur�).