Directed and adapted by Tony Award-winner John Caird and filmed at the stage production’s 2022 run at the Imperial Theatre in Tokyo, Japan, the movie featuring this live performance comes to theaters in Spring 2023.
GKIDS has acquired the North American audiovisual distribution rights for SPIRITED AWAY: Live On Stage, filmed during the show’s 2022 run at the Imperial Theatre in Tokyo, Japan. The play is based on Hayao Miyazaki’s Academy Award-winning animated feature and was adapted and directed for the stage by Tony Award-winner John Caird. The Honorary Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, Caird, gained international acclaim for adapting and directing the premiere of the landmark production Les Misérables.
Two separate filmed performances of the production are slated for release, starring Kanna Hashimoto and Mone Kamishiraishi, double cast as the lead heroine Chihiro. In addition, character actor Mari Natsuki, who voiced the sorceress Yubaba and her twin sister Zeniba in the original motion picture, returns to her original role alongside voice actor Romi Park and a star-studded cast of Japanese actors.
SPIRITED AWAY: Live On Stage was created in association with Studio Ghibli and presented by Toho Co., Ltd. GKIDS will release the stage production theatrically in Spring 2023.
“We are thrilled to offer this unique opportunity for Studio Ghibli fans in America to experience the stage production that wowed Japanese press and audiences last year,” said GKIDS’ President David Jesteadt. “This imaginative stage adaptation by the legendary John Caird, featuring two wonderful performances by lead actors Kanna Hashimoto and Mone Kamishiraishi, helps bring to life one of the greatest films of all time in a dazzling new way.”
In SPIRITED AWAY: Live On Stage, while traveling to their new home, Chihiro and her family stumble into a world of fantastic spirits ruled over by the sorceress Yubaba. When her parents are turned into pigs, and she is put to work in a magical bathhouse, Chihiro must use her wits to survive in this strange new place, find a way to free her parents and return to the normal world.
Source: GKIDS
Debbie Diamond Sarto is news editor at Animation World Network.
