Draft:Ukiyo Hotel Project
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Ukiyo Hotel Project (Japanese is ウキヨホテルプロジェクト） is a Japanese theater company led by playwright Shoko Kawada, dedicated to producing musicals. The project's ultimate goal is to create and stage a new musical, Ukiyo Hotel.
Overview
[edit]In 2015, playwright Shoko Kawada, then a member of the group Mojamoja Atama to Herahera Megane (formed in 2011, now disbanded), wrote a 30-minute original musical titled "Ukiyo Hotel" for the "Kanagawa Prefectural Government Main Office Large Conference Room Short Play Collection vol. 2." The musical was produced and performed with actors who had previously been part of Shiki Theatre Company.
Ukiyo Hotel is based on the night culture of the "Chabuya" in Honmoku, Yokohama, and focuses on the real-life establishment "Kiyo Hotel," the most popular Chabuya in the area, and its top entertainer, "Meriken Ohama". After the short version of Ukiyo Hotel was staged, it was decided to expand it into a full-length production.
Despite much of the historical materials being lost in the Yokohama air raids, Kawada continued the project by conducting fieldwork in Honmoku.
In 2018, prompted by photographer Hajime Kato, who had a connection with Honmoku, Kawada officially launched the Ukiyo Hotel Project to stage the full-length musical Ukiyo Hotel. As the first step of the project, a reading play titled Ukiyo Hotel was performed at Saravah Tokyo, restructured as a four-person reading play centered on Hamako, a heroine modeled after Meriken Ohama, and a maid named Yae.
At the same time, Kawada and photographer Hajime Kato started producing a photo series titled 100 Hamako, which involved photographing 100 actresses as Hamako.
In May 2019, a trial performance of Ukiyo Hotel was held at Lazona Kawasaki Plaza Sol.
Trial performances, which were rare in Japan at the time, are a method used on Broadway and other places to refine a production by performing readings or local shows before opening in large urban theaters.
The full performance of "Ukiyo Hotel" was planned for 2020, but it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The script was restructured, and an 18-page set design plan was created with one of Japan's leading film art directors, Yohei Taneda.
In November 2021, a show titled "Ukiyo Hotel Bar", which was adapted to fit the COVID-19 pandemic, was held at the long-established dance hall Cliffside in Yokohama Motomachi, with the venue being transformed into Ukiyo Hotel. The show featured big-band music, dancing, and singing. Additionally, the 100 Hamako photo exhibition was held on the second floor of Cliffside, in the Trump Room.
In October 2022, a musical short story collection titled "Yokohama Short Stories" was performed at Cliffside, consisting of five short musicals based on historical events in Yokohama (Planning, Production, Script, Lyrics by Shoko Kawada; Music by Kazune Tanaka, Ko Tanaka; Direction by Hajime Kikuchi).
The 100 Hamako photo exhibition was also held again in the Trump Room at Cliffside, as in the previous year.
In December 2023, a new musical trial performance titled "Gilles de Rais: I Am a Flea in a Brothel", set in 1918 Paris, was performed at Lazona Kawasaki Plaza Sol (Planning, Production, Script by Shoko Kawada; Music by Kazune Tanaka; Lyrics by Azusa Fujikura; Costumes by Coppelia_Circus; Direction by Hajime Kikuchi; Choreography by Mayu Suetomi).
With this production, Kazune Tanaka won the Staff Award at the 2023 All About Musical Awards.
Performance History
[edit]- Reading Play Version "Ukiyo Hotel" (2018) - Saravah Tokyo
- "Ukiyo Hotel" trial performance (2019) - Lazona Kawasaki Plaza Sol
- Ukiyo Hotel Bar (2021) - Cliffside
- Musical short story collection "Yokohama Short Stories" (2022) - Cliffside
- New musical trial performance "Gilles de Rais: I Am a Flea in a Brothel" (2023) - Lazona Kawasaki Plaza Sol