Manhattan, one of whom lapses into Yiddish
in the middle of his Japanese. That's the
Tokyo production of Visiting Mr. Green,
which played in Kobe as well.
When Jeff Baron was invited to see the
production, he was warned that Japanese
audiences wouldn't be very demonstrative in
terms of audible responses, but they laughed
and cried the same as audiences everywhere.
From his author's note in the Japanese
program:
I was standing backstage at the Union
Square Theatre after a performance of
Visiting Mr. Green, and a familiar face
appeared. It was Whoopi Goldberg, who
said, "Everyone in the world should see
this play. People in Japan should see this
play."
I never imagined an audience for this play
outside of New York, but I've come to
learn that as human beings, wherever we
live, whatever our religion, whatever our
culture, we are more alike than different.
Families are the same throughout the
world, and generations struggle to
understand one another everywhere. I
find that reassuring.
the Tokyo area will open in July, 2006,
using the same translation by
Daisaku Hirakawa.
It is a production by Gekidan
Mingei whose Japanese website
is www.gekidanmingei.co.jp
Satoi Masami will play Mr.
Green, and Yuji Kosugi will play
Ross Gardiner.
text of Visiting Mr. Green,
translation by Daisaku
Hirakawa. The production was
by the Hyogo Performing Arts
Project, Masakazu Yamazaki,
Artistic Director. The director was
Greg Dale.