“Q - A Night At The Kabuki” review by Ms. Hiroko Shintani.

Queen added a new chapter to their longstanding special relationship with Japan with an idiosyncratic theatrical production, namely, “Q: A Night At The Kabuki” conceived and written by an internationally-acclaimed theatre director/playwright Hideki Noda, currently on a sell-out run at Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre. Inspired by Queen’s iconic 1975 album, A Night At The Opera, what Noda attempts here is a retelling of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet with a bold twist in 12^th-century Japan, incorporating all 12 songs from the album, having been granted access to the original master recordings. 

Noda, who assembled a star-studded cast, expanded on the innate theatrical aspect of A Night At The Opera, and perhaps Queen as a band, to the fullest extent to present a layered tale with music, playful dialogue, dancing, comedy, flamboyant costumes, that invokes deep emotional and historical resonance.

A full-house, multi-generational audience seemed to heave and stir with a mix of recognition and excitement each time a piece of familiar Queen song is played. Since Noda developed many scenes from the lyrical content, it is not hard to discern thematic connections, like Seaside Rendezvous soundtracking a summer outing, or ‘39 sending a group of men into the battle. Bohemian Rhapsody is heard in scenes depicting grave consequences of taking human life. And others, such as The Prophet’s Song with its solemnity or Sweet Lady with its swagger, act more as an emotional amplifier, while various individual elements like guitar riff or drumbeat are taken from the album and cleverly used as a sound effect. 

But the song Noda designated as the heart of his play is the beloved ballad, Love of My Life that accompanies the doomed lovers throughout the story. After four curtain calls and a standing ovation later, as people exited the theatre, this must have been the song playing over and over in their head, Freddie Mercury’s voice pleading tenderly for the lover to come back.

***

“Q: A Night At The Kabuki” runs from Oct. 8 to 15 and from Nov. 9 to Dec. 11 at Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre. An English translation service is available on request on certain days. In between these dates, the show will tour to Osaka and Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture.

For more information, visit www.nodamap.com or www.geigeki.jp.

Click here to see more images from the show.