The Otsuka Museum of Art hosted the fifth Sistine Kabuki production - The Marriage of Figaro - for 3 days, on February 14, 15, and 16. Tickets sold out almost as soon as they went on sale. Two performances were held each day in Tokushima, Japan and were attended by about 2600 visitors.
From its inception, "Sistine Kabuki" productions have been based on the themes of Japanese-Western collaboration and the creation of innovative kabuki theater.
The current production - the Marriage of Figaro - is the first Sistine Kabuki comedy, and was based on Mozart's opera of the same name. Kazuo Mizuguchi produced and directed, and Kanjuro Fujima handled the choreography. Amidst the strains of Western and Japanese traditional music performed by the Tokushima Indoor String Quartet, two large stages, one in front and one in the rear of the audience, connected by an elevated "flower way" walkway, as well as a small stage placed almost in the middle of the "flower way," used the majesty of the 40-meter Sistine Hall to great effect.
The Marriage of Figaro was set in Spain, but for this production the setting was moved to the country of Awa (present-day Tokushima), and the story was modified somewhat. Starting with the third performance, Ainosuke Kataoka played the roles corresponding to both Figaro and the Ronin who appears in this production. Kazutaro Nakamura played the role of Susanna, Kichiya Kamimura played the role of Countess Rosina Almaviva, Shouzou Uesugi played the role of Count Almaviva, and Miya Setouchi, a former star of the Takarazuka Review musical theater troupe and a native of Tokushima, played the role of Marcellina.