Toho Co., Ltd. announced a new stage play inspired by Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away. John Caird, who worked on Les Misérables and Daddy Long Legs in the past, will write and direct it. It will premiere in Tokyo in February 2022.
Kanna Hashimoto and Mone Kamishiraishi were both cast as Chihiro. Hashimoto played Ritsu in the Assassination Classroom film adaptation and Kagura in the live-action Gintama film. This will also be Hashimoto’s debut role as a stage actor. Kamishiraishi voiced Mitsuha Miyamizu in Your Name and Keno in Wolf Children. Kamishiraishi has worked with Caird in the past on Knight’s Tale, a musical that premiered in Japan in 2018.
Spirited Away is a universally acclaimed animated film that was produced by Studio Ghibli in 2001. It was the highest-grossing film in Japanese history for 19 years until Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Mugen Train surpassed it in 2020. As for Studio Ghibli, it is known in the gaming realm for being involved in Bandai Namco’s original Ni no Kuni game.
In Spirited Away, Chihiro and her family end up in another world. Her parents make pigs of themselves at a spirit world restaurant, then being turned into pigs themselves. Chihiro finds herself working at Yubaba’s bathhouse, where she learns valuable lessons and makes friends.
The Spirited Away stage play will premiere in Tokyo in February 2022.
