Review: "Spirited Away: Live on Stage" is a magical night of recorded theater

An animation masterpiece translated beautifully to the stage

I had the immense pleasure of seeing the film presentation of Spirited Away: Live on Stage last night, as one of its limited engagements in the US courtesy of GKids (there will be one more screening on Tuesday, May 2^nd, around the country for those interested). What an absolutely beautiful, transcendent experience this was. This play, staged last year at Japan’s Imperial Theater in two versions with different casts (both of which GKids is playing on alternating nights) is a beautiful, creative, and heartfelt tribute to one of the greatest films ever made, and also a rousing piece of stagecraft in its own right. Director John Caird and all involved seem to have deeply relished in the opportunity to translate the film to the stage, making a theatrical version that is at once very simple and intimate – there is one central rotating set, and important elements like the sea train or some of the fantastical creatures are done as charming little toys and puppets – and also big and sweeping and transporting, finding a way to bring every nook and cranny they can get from Miyazaki’s original film and represent it on stage one way or another. The craftsmanship and showmanship on display is immense, and there’s a real joy in every new costume or puppet or piece of choreography – a lot of the play is pantomimed or danced – on display. 

The play also makes me reconsider the entire idea of translating animation into live-action. I think when it comes to film, nobody really needs it – whether it’s Disney’s rancid live-action remakes or Japanese “cosplay films” like the Fullmetal Alchemist trilogy, they are at best curios, and never really essential. Translating an animated film to the stage, though? That’s cool. Theater allows for the fundamental irreality of animation to be mirrored in the fundamental irreality of the theatrical space; the suspension of disbelief one engages with watching a cartoon is not quite the same as the suspension of disbelief one has watching a play, but they are similar in degree. You have to give yourself over to the fundamental truth that this is creation, this is play, and that your imagination will be called upon and engaged. The miming of the performances, the abstract spaces of incomplete sets, the visible puppeteers bringing characters to life – they all engage the imagination and the senses in a similar degree to animation. If you tried to make a live-action film of Spirited Away, something fundamental would be lost – the magic of the film lies in no small part in its animation, in the hand-crafted, conjured-out-of-the-mind nature of its visuals, and there really isn’t an adequate replacement for that in a traditional live-action film. On the stage, though, what is lost can be replaced by other gestures of fantasy and abstraction endemic to the theater, and which this play calls upon masterfully. It works beautifully.

The performances are exquisite across the board. I saw the version with Mone Kamishibaishi as Chihiro, and she is tremendous, capturing the physicality of the animated character and the vocal intonations while making it all her own. There’s an added moment of pathos at the very end of the film, where Kamishibaishi allows herself to let tears flow, and it produced the same in me. A beautiful moment of performance that complements and builds upon the original film.  

Oh, and Romi Park is in this. Yes, THAT Romi Park – the legendary voice actor behind Edward Elric, Hange Zoë, and Loran Cehack – is here as Yubaba and Zeniba, the dual role that is the other biggest part in the play, and she goes to town on this part. She gives an amazing vocal performance, obviously, but her physical work is incredible too. It’s so amazing to see her in this setting, when I’m used to only hearing her voice. She’s incredible, and reason enough to see this all on her own. (In the other cast, led by Kanna Hashimoto as Chihiro, Yubaba’s original voice actress Mari Natsuki reprises her role here, and that’s something I’m extremely excited to see when and if I’m eventually able to see the other version).

If I have any quibbles with Spirited Away: Live on Stage, they’re with the filmmaking of the recorded version in theaters now, and to be fair, those are quibbles shared by pretty much every “pro shot” version of a stage play or musical. It’s nice to be able to cut to close-ups and see performances or parts of the set in detail, but like a lot of pro shots, this recording leans too much on those techniques and gives us too few shots of the stage in its entirety, sometimes making it hard to get a sense of the total geography of the staging, or missing visual juxtapositions in the stagecraft. I wish it cut less and spent more time letting us see the whole stage. But, again, I’ve never seen a pro shot where that wasn’t the case (Hamilton on Disney+, for instance, had the exact same problem).  

No matter what, this is a must-see. God bless GKids for bringing it to the States, and I hope we get a home release too with both cast versions in one package. The highest praise I can give this amazing play it is that if I had any doubt Spirited Away was my favorite film ever made before seeing this, the performance washed that all away. It allows one the immense gift of seeing this masterpiece with entirely fresh eyes, and reminding us all what a rich and durable text Hayao Miyazaki created twenty-plus years ago.