OG (Graduated Members) / M-line Club / M-line Music

[danzarely]

The play looks, just horrible haha

Does anyone know if plays in Japan are actually popular? We have Broadway, but that's really something you do once in your life and it's done for most people. Is it a semi-regular-not-unusual event for someone to go see a stage play??

[Jessi]

Broadway Musicals are where failed American Idol contestants end up. So for me it feels like they aren't successful but in a way they sort of are successful? It's like the bronze medal of the entertainment industry.

So yeah I have the same question as you do.

[Sohee]

Theater and musicals is very appreciated in Japan, yes.

[Zunu]

According to Wikipedia, "Many Western plays, from those of the Ancient Greek theatre to William Shakespeare and from those of Fyodor Dostoevsky to Samuel Beckett, are performed in Tokyo. An incredible number of performances, perhaps as many as 3,000, are given each year, making Tokyo one of the world's leading theatrical centers." Apparently that's not including shogekijou stuff, which is Japan's version of off-off-Broadway or fringe/underground theater.

[resop2]

The play looks, just horrible haha

Does anyone know if plays in Japan are actually popular? We have Broadway, but that's really something you do once in your life and it's done for most people. Is it a semi-regular-not-unusual event for someone to go see a stage play??

No idea. However, plays would not be around if they lost money hand over fist. Also, unlike Broadway, nearly EVERY play releases a DVD so perhaps the secondary market helps keep them profitable? As for attendance, enough wota are going to be interested in plays featuring idols to sell the venues out.

[Nayoko-Kihara]

It's like the bronze medal of the entertainment industry.

...Out of curiosity, what exactly do you consider silver and gold medal entertainment?

[Sohee]

^^There are very, very many plays that don't release on DVD. Idols and Takarazuka and such, yes. But even from idol stuff not EVERYTHING is released. Far from it.

[resop2]

I stand corrected.

[Jessi]

It's like the bronze medal of the entertainment industry.

...Out of curiosity, what exactly do you consider silver and gold medal entertainment?

Ok so I know that broadway is considered higher culture than being a pop star, but in my mind most people only see broadway if they are either into theater or a tourist in NYC. I happen to enjoy them but even as a New Yorker I have only seen a hand full and most were either Christmas musicials or a class trip in my 12th grade AP English class.

I was thinking in terms of American idol winners and someone who dreamed of being the next Beyonce. Silver medal is the idol who has one hit wonder, idol who is famous only within a specific genre, or idol who gets on a TV show that has a decent following but isn't that well known. Gold is obviously the million dollar artist and/or award winner. And bronze is the one on broadway.

In American idol terms:

Gold: Kelly clarkson, Jennifer Hudson
Silver: Kelly pickler, Scotty mccreery, Katherine McPhee
Bronze: Diana Digarmo

Ok this is way off topic now.

I don't really know how to bring it back to H!P other than I'm glad Aichan and Gaki are doing well in plays.

[TotallyUncool]

Maybe I see theater a little differently, because a) I grew up in a town with a major theater school, and learned to respect it, and b) I live in the L. A. area, where it isn't too much of an exaggeration to say that you see has-been stars lying in the gutter, and you see respectable but undrpaid and underappreciated artists doing theater. Given that, theater doesn't necessarily look so bad.