Have you ever seen "The Hunchback of Notre Dame"?
Or have you ever heard of 劇団四季, Gekidan Shiki, or "Shiki Theatre Company" in English?
Well, in Japan, "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" is known as "ノートルダムの鐘," or "The Bells of Notre Dame."
Why is that? I also wondered why, so I googled it and read that the original English title includes a word that is prohibited on broadcast TV in Japan when the title is translated into Japanese; It's the word "Hunchback."
So that's why "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" is translated like that in Japan.
To tell you the truth, just the day before yesterday, I saw the muscial "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" by Shiki Theatre Company. It was great. I was very moved. It made me cry and think about a lot of things, actually.
Why did I go to see the musical? Well, it's a long story ... My honey knows why and how I visited Yokohama day before yesterday and how I felt during and after the show. To be honest, I was just looking forward to having a lot of great foods, haha.
I did eat a lot at "SIRIUS"the Yokohama Park Hotel. I'll write about why I was there sometime and show you what I had with other photos. You know, I mentioned Yokohama last year in this blog, so just check it out till I add a new blog post.
Yummy. There were more.
I really saw them. They did perform in Yokohama on June 6. All of them are great.
It says, "Today's Cast."
I'm not good at taking photos, so I got this paper there.
This also shows who were going to perform in the musical that day and which roles.
The official video of the rehearsal and the interview.
The musical "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" and the story touches people's hearts. I didn't know that though this was not the first time I'd seen the Shiki Theatre's musical. I've seen their "The Lion King" before. I was a teenager when I saw it. You know, their "The Lion King" has been so popular in Japan, and they also have played shows based on other disney films such as ""Beauty & the Beast," "Aladdin" and "The Little Mermaid," all of which have been famous and popular disney works in Japan, too.
On the other hand, I'd say the disney movie "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," "The Bells of Notre Dame" in Japan, or "ノートルダムの鐘," isn't so popular in Japan compared with the other disney films. It's really difficult to find and get its goods or items, I think, while we can easily get various items of other disney movies and characters. Well, Japanese people also have so-called disney shops, which sell disney goods, and the Tokyo Disney Land. But, I'm really surprised to find that Shiki Theatre Company sells various original goods for the Disney musicals including "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." I think it's cool. They also have an online shop here. Oh, they also do musicals that are not based on disney movies, you know, like "CATS."
You know what? "Frozen" was a big hit in Japan a few years ago when it was released, and one of my friends who have been working abroad told me it had not been so popular in other countries except Japan. Is that so?
Well, I like disney movies, and "Beaty & the Beast" is still my favorite. I have lots of DVDs, but I don't have "The Bells of Notre Dame" and I've never seen the film, actually. I thought it'd have a sad ending and that's it. You know, I like disney movies because I like singing, happy endings and so on, and I just didn't want to see the movie. So it was not until the day before yesterday that I knew the story. It was not only sad. It was so moving and philosophical.
Also, I've read the story of their musical "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" is based on the original novel as well as the disney film, so the story is different from the disney's one, which is said to have a happy ending after all.
Still, Shiki Theatre's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" seems to have been popular since it started a few years ago.
While I saw the musical, I found a few songs are familiar to me. Well, when I was a teenager, I used to listen to Disney's complilation albums, and they had lots of English songs from almost all disney animated movies that had been already released at the time, and they also included some songs from "The Bells of Notre Dame" such as "Topsy Turvy, " "God Help Outcasts" and "Someday."
"The Hunchback of Notre Dame" I saw the other day performed the song in Japanese. The lines were also Japanese, but they seem to have offered the same musical in English ... maybe here in Japan or in other countries, I guess. I'm not sure it's still playing somewhere though.
"Flat White" at bills in Yokohama.
Thanks to the kind and nice staff members of the bills restaurant. It was raining outside
, but I had a great time there.
My mother was with me then, but my mom doesn't know I have an English blog. She doesn't read English and I don't think I should put our photos online, so I've edited my photos with her and added them here. She had "Iced Yame Matcha Tea Latte" while I ordered "Flat White." Actually, I'd always wanted to their "Flat White." I thought I'd make it at their Omotesando location, and I didn't expect it'd come true in Yokohama. Well, Omotesando is located in Tokyo while Yokohama is in Kanagawa prefecture.
I'm always thinking of my honey, of couse, and I was thinking of him while I was in Yokohama, too, you know, but bills always reminds me of Hugh Jackman.
I frist went to bills last year. He's the one who made me want to go to the bills restaurant located in Ginza, Tokyo; Just check my another blog post "Peace 'n Heart."
Did you know that Hugh Jackman was once a stage actor in Australia, where he was born?
... To be continued.
I'll correct my spelling or grammar mistakes later, as always.