Akage no An (Anne of Green Gables)

While I was in Japan I got to see my first Japanese musical, Anne of Green Gables (in Japanese, 'Akage no An' - literally, 'red-haired Anne'). This was being put on by the Shiki Theatre Company - see their website here.

Back when I was living in Japan, this musical was being advertised but hadn't come out yet, so I never got to see it. This time, it was playing again, so I took the chance. I went on a weekday; the theatre was only half full, and although I got a cheap B section seat at the very back, the theatre (the small Jiyuu theatre) was small enough that I could see it very well.

I saw on the Shiki website that I could buy tickets via PIA tickets, which you can buy through some 7-Elevens. (A lot of convenience stores have machines to buy tickets for concerts, games or shows.) A nice staff member at 7-Eleven helped me buy a ticket. It's a Shiki production so was showing at one of the Shiki theatres near Hamamatsucho station in Tokyo.

The musical itself was good, I thought. I'm a big Anne of Green Gables fan and I know the story inside out, so I could easily follow it although it was all in Japanese. The actors were good and so was the singing. When I first heard of this musical I thought it might be unintentionally funny - not only a musical version of Anne, but in Japanese - but I enjoyed it.

One part that amused me was that act 1 ended with a big musical number, 'Ice cream', in which everyone at the church picnic sang the words 'ice cream' over and over again, while everyone held cones in the air. This was immediately followed by an interval, and everyone streamed into the foyer, where they were selling ice creams. You could see everyone thinking 'hmm... for some reason I feel like an ice cream'.

One thing I like about going to shows/movies with Japanese people is that generally, things start right on time, and the people around you are quiet and don't talk to each other during the show/movie. One thing I don't like is that the people around you generally don't respond much to anything. Part of the enjoyment of going to a movie or show is sharing the experience with the people around you. If something funny happens, I like it when everyone laughs. If a big song ends, I think everyone should clap, not just the audience in the first few rows.

Apparently, there is an English version of the Anne of Green Gables musical, which has run mostly in Canada, particularly on Prince Edward Island; you can see a song list on the musical's Wikipedia entry. This is the same musical I saw, with the same songs, though obviously all in Japanese.