JQ Magazine: Nippon in New York – ‘Left on Tenth,’ ‘Metropolis,’ Hiromi’s Sonicwonder
By JQ magazine editor Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02). Justin has written about Japanese arts and entertainment for JETAA since 2005. For more of his articles, click here.
As the summer days fade into fall colors, the weeks ahead are shaping up with these exciting events, ready to be enjoyed all through Halloween.
This month’s highlights include:
Now playing
Mary Ellen Matthews
James Earl Jones Theatre, 138 West 48th Street
Tickets from $59
Based on Delia Ephron’s bestselling memoir, this warm and witty new play is directed by five-time Tony Award® winner Susan Stroman and stars Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife), Peter Gallagher (Grace and Frankie), Peter Francis James (Funny Girl) and Kate MacCluggage (Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret). When she least expects it, Delia, beloved novelist and screenwriter of You’ve Got Mail, reconnects with a man from her past and falls into her own romantic comedy. What starts with an unlikely spark blossoms into a love story that seems to defy all odds in the face of life’s challenges. Left on Tenth tells the messy, beautiful true story of a woman discovering how to embrace the unpredictable and open her heart again.
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Nov. 3, 4 & 6
Various theaters
Various prices
Iconic Anime Expo Cinema Nights Presents Osamu Tezuka’s Metropolis, where it's man against machine in this film based on the classic manga (comic) by Osamu Tezuka, the godfather of Japanese anime and manga. In the late 1940s, long before Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion established Osamu Tezuka as one of the most influential animators of all time, the legendary illustrator created the classic manga Metropolis. Directed by the legendary Rintaro (Galaxy Express 999) and set in the future, Metropolis is a grand city-state populated by humans and robots, the cohabitants of a strictly segmented society. Detective Shunsaku Ban and his sidekick Ken-ichi search for a rebel scientist, to arrest him and seize his latest creation, Tima, a beautiful young girl. But when they locate him, Shunsaku quickly realizes that the eccentric genius is protected by a powerful man and beyond their reach. A retro-futuristic cautionary tale, Metropolis is spectacularly rendered, combining the best in Japanese cel animation with the latest in digital technology.
Courtesy of Sonyhall.com
Nov. 6-7
Sony Hall, 235 West 46th Street
$45-$70
Various prices
Sonicwonderland is Hiromi’s 12th studio album, from a prolific artist who has explored a number of musical spheres over the course of her career. This new collection of songs represents a new musical adventure for the constantly evolving pianist and composer, who is a star in her native Japan, and burst onto the music scene 20 years ago with her debut album. Recorded with a new quartet called Hiromi’s Sonicwonder, the album features nine dazzling new works bursting with synthesizer and deep-in-the pocket grooves. Hiromi’s Sonicwonder is a quartet featuring blossoming young talents Hadrien Feraud (bass), Gene Coye (drums), and Adam O’Farrill (trumpet), which began performing live together earlier this spring. Says the artist, “The word ‘wonder’ has a lot of meaning. It fits the musical view that I have for this project…it is definitely a new adventure for me.”
One Night in Winter © Richard Termine; Sachiyo Takahashi
Nov. 7-9
Shinnai Meets Puppetry: One Night in Winter & The Peony Lantern
Japan Society, 333 East 47th Street
$28-$38 (limited GA seating)
Following her highly popular run of SHEEP #1 at Japan Society in 2021, NYC-based artist Sachiyo Takahashi/Nekaa Lab presents two whimsical and spooky tales: a heart-warming-then-wrenching fable on the friendship between a shapeshifting tanuki trickster and a lonely old man; and a classical Japanese ghost story to chill you to the bone. These stories were set by shinnai-bushi Grand Master Okamoto Bunya (1895-1996) to rustic, lyrical storytelling music with shamisen accompaniment. Takahashi, who has practiced shinnai-bushi under the authorized stage name of Okamoto Miya, performs this expressive music while her collaborators Rowan Magee and Emma Wiseman animate these fantastical stories with original puppets and new puppetry techniques, sure to enchant children and adults alike. Recommended Age 8+. Performed in English and Japanese with English supertitles.
For more JQ articles, click here.