So November has finally come, and "Talk Like Singing" has made its major debut in the US!
The basic plot of the story is about a man named Tarlow, who can't seem to talk. No, it's not that he can't talk, all he can do is sing and dance! Dr. Dyson, who calls himself "the best psychiatrist in Japan," and Dr. Nimoy, a linguist, try to figure out what causes Tarlow to talk through singing so that they can cure him of these strange symptoms and help him to live a normal life.
That said, the musical is a good mixture of a play and a musical. It is not a grand scale musical, like "The Phantom of the Opera," but it is modest and very cute. The Skirball Center has a moderate-sized stage, and thanks to the personality of the musical, the audience feels closer and more interactive with what's going on on the stage.
The singing and acting is great, dancing is just appropriate - not too fancy, not too little. The songs are very catchy and easy to remember and follow so that by the end of the musical, you would be humming the melodies on your way home!
I was interested as to how a Japanese musical would be able to reach out to the American audience. Would they be singing in and talking all in English? Jay Kabira, who plays the role of Dr. Dyson, is apparently bilingual in both English and Japanese, so he does a great job of narrating in English throughout the musical and of being a middleman. Some songs are entirely in Japanese, but with the help of the English narration as well as the acting, one can get an idea of what's going on. (Although, I can't really speak for others, as I know the language and knew what they were singing.) However, the musical does a great job of using different methods of translating. For example, Dr. Dyson would act as a translator and translate to the audience what Tarlow is saying. This method works great, because the musical also serves as an "academic presentation" of Dr. Dyson's "lifetime work" concerning Tarlow, so Dr. Dyson is always talking to the audience directly and explaining what's going on. Another example would be the use of posters as subtitles and electronic banners. And of course, the actors sing in English on a few occasions, although I'm sorry to say that it was harder to understand when they were singing in English... However, when they were talking, their pronunciations were pretty alright. Dr. Nimoy (Keiko Horiuchi) was a little shaky, Dr. Dyson's male assistant (Shinya Niro) was pretty good, Tarlow (Shingo Katori) was surprisingly great, and Dr. Dyson was, of course, almost perfect. I have heard that Shingo has been involved with English, such as hosting a regular show in English and putting out an educational books on conversational English.
Anyway, the show is a little more than 1 1/2 hours and less than 2 hours with no intermission. Compared to the first night that I have gone, the actors seems to have adjusted to the new stage and performances, so their acting was a little more relaxed and natural and even improvised on a few occasions. However, because they have been performing everyday from the 12th, their voices seemed a little raspy and unstable. They still gave a great performance, but I am a little worried about their voices!! I hope they take care and perform wonderfully to the very last day!
So yesterday, after the show was over, my friends and I decided to wait for Shingo to come out from the building to see him off. There was already a huge group of people wanting to do the same thing. While waiting, some of the staff starting walking out at random intervals. At one point, Shinya Niro walked out and away from the building. The people were waiting for Shingo, so they just clapped a little bit for Niro and stayed at the spot. One of my friends said, "Why isn't anybody talking to him? I'm going to talk to him." FYI, she's a student from Chile who doesn't know Japanese. She ran off, me and my other friend decided to wait, but guessing that it would take longer for Shingo to come out, we ran after my Chilean friend. She had actually gotten a hold of him and was talking, so we joined in. We exchanged greetings, shook hands, and talked a little. My Chilean friend thought that Niro knew English, because his monologue in the musical had been impressive, but he only knew very simple English, and I acted as a translator. But I was so excited and happy and nervous that my Japanese came out so shaky! His acting was amazing in the show, and I had become a big fan after watching it! Niro was very nice to give time to talk with us, but we couldn't take pictures - his agency didn't allow him to do that :( Now that I think about it, I wonder if I could've gotten a signature instead? Why didn't I think of that!
We all walked back to the crowd, and then my Chilean friend exclaimed, "Hey, aren't those the band members?" FYI, a six-piece band plays the music for the musical. We said hi, shook hands, and talked. We only saw the trumpet player, percussion player, and the drum player, but that was exciting enough! They said that they were part of a music group in Asakusa, Tokyo, Japan. Their performance was what made the musical, so we all gave our compliments. They didn't have any agency restrictions, so they were very kind to take pictures with us!
Drummer me Trumpet Percussion
Too bad I didn't have my camera... My cell phone camera is so crappy!! But I'm happy I have this as a souvenir! One doesn't have many chances to express their appreciations directly to the actual people who made the performance, so I am very grateful for this opportunity!
Anyway, they left, and we waited for Shingo. He did come out, but we were so far back that we couldn't really see him... Besides, he slipped into the car that was waiting for him and left the scene. But I saw him wave to all the people, so I guess that's good enough.
I'm going to watch it again today with another friend, who is a HUGE fan of Shingo. Maybe we'll get to see him better tonight! I know it's geeky, but I can't help it!
