Legendary Anisen and Chihiro's Missing Original Tour Performance in January next year
Jul 31, 2025
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The work, which swept the Japanese archipelago and gained worldwide attention as a box office sensation in the West End of England, will land in Korea in January next year after passing through Shanghai, China, and will open at the Opera Theater of the Seoul Arts Center.
This is the first time that the original production of Ghibli's staged work meets a domestic audience.
"The Master of Animation" Director Hayao Miyazaki's masterpiece, "The Missing of Sen and Chihiro" won the Academy Award for Best Feature Animation in 2003 after an explosive box office hit when it was released in 2001. Combining brilliant storytelling and visual elements, the masterpiece 'Sen and Chihiro's Missing' features Chihiro's fascinating adventures when he and his family moved into a new home and entered the world of fantastic gods dominated by witch Yubaba.
The play 'Sen and Chihiro's Missing' presented its world premiere in Tokyo in March 2022 as a special plan for the 90th anniversary of the founding of Japan's leading performance and film production company, Toho. John Caird, the original director of the musical 'Les Miserables' and the winner of the Olivier Award and Tony Award, directed it. The magnificent film Original Score, played as a live orchestra, was directed by Joe Hisaishi, a world-renowned composer with numerous award-winning experience, arranged by Brad Hark of 『Mary Poppins"; John Bowser of"Bat Out of Hell" for colorful set design; Toby Ollier of"Punocchio" for original Puppet design and direction; Shigehiro Ide of"Noda Map Series" for choreography; and Sachiko Nakahara of"Kingdom" for luxurious costume design, completing Hayao Miyazaki's beautiful masterpiece.
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In April 2024, he moved to the West End of London. With the news of the performance at the approximately 2,300-seat London Coliseum, the number of early bird ticketing subscribers surged and 100,000 people joined in 10 days. Early bird ticketing extended the performance period by five weeks due to unprecedented demand for most episodes to be sold out, and achieved nearly 100% of the seats in all episodes, attracting more than 300,000 audiences, creating a box office sensation. Local media in the UK also reported that "The Guardian's stage where spectacles from other stage works unfold every 20 minutes'finale' scene can't be imagined for a better stage!" (The Independent), "This performance is the height of a brilliant production that has magic in itself. He praised the phenomenal fantasy presented by "Sen and Chihiro's Missing", such as "Deep, unforgettable and dramatic works" (Sunday Times). At the 25th Watts-on-stage Awards, he won Best New Play, and at the 2025 Olivier Awards, he was nominated for four categories: stage design (John Bowser stage design, Toby Ollie and Daisy Beatty Puppet design, Kuriyama Satoshi video design), costume design (Sachiko Nakahara), sound design (Coichi Yamamoto), and best new entertainment.
This year, it is currently performing in Shanghai, China. The tour, which opened at Shanghai Culture Square on July 14, will prepare for a Korean tour after meeting Chinese audiences for only five weeks until August 17. The Shanghai concert in China also sold out all episodes at the same time as the ticket opened, realizing its popularity around the world.
Executive Director Atsuo Ikeda said, "Since the Japanese premiere in 2022, the performance of 'Spirited Away by Sen and Chihiro ' has steadily improved the completeness of the work, and we are very happy to finally present the work to Korean audiences" We are honored to have established a solid and reliable partnership with CJ ENM, a leader in the Korean entertainment industry. I sincerely hope that the Korean audience will be able to fully experience the world of 「Sen and Chihiro」 through live entertainment" he said
Ye Joo-yeol, head of CJ ENM's performance business division, said "I am confident that it will be a historic performance that combines Studio Ghibli's beautiful worldview with stage art."We will make every effort to provide an unforgettable stage experience to Korean audiences who have been waiting for this work for a long time. "
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
