Sailor Moon musicals

Overview

The series was staged by a division of the Japanese entertainment company Bandai and generally ran three times a year to match with the holidays of Japanese schools. It became the practices that in the winter the only venue for would be the Sunshine Theatre in the Ikebukuro area of Tokyo; however in the summer it would also tour the larger cities in Japan.

After The New Legend of Kaguya Island (Revised Edition) (新・かぐや島伝説 <改訂版>, Shin Kaguya Shima Densetsu (Kaiteiban)) was staged in January 2005, the actresses for Moon, Mercury, and Jupiter "graduated" with the final performance, and the series then entered into, what BMO (the official fan club) called, a "short hiatus",

In June 2013, Takeuchi's editor Fumio Osano, revealed that a new Sailor Moon musical would open in September 2013. It is said that Takeuchi personally auditioned actresses for the cast. The musical featured Satomi Ōkubo as Sailor Moon, Miyabi Matsuura as Sailor Mercury, Kanon Nanaki as Sailor Mars, Yū Takahashi as Sailor Jupiter, Shiori Sakata as Sailor Venus, and Yūga Yamato as Tuxedo Mask. This is the first time that all characters are played by women.

The musical, named La Reconquista is a new story, recounting the battles between the Sailor Soldiers and the Dark Kingdom over the search for the Silver Crystal.

Takuya Hiramitsu (SeraMyu Director from 1995 to 1998) produced, wrote, and directed the new musical with music by Toshihiko Sahashi, and Dwango and Nelke Planning co-producing the musical's run from September 13 to 23 at Shibuya's AiiA Theater Tokyo. Tickets were ¥6800 ($54.81) each.

In April 2014 a new musical,Petite Étrangère, was reported based on Sailor Moon R, it ran again at AiiA Theater Tokyo from August 21 to August 31, 2014, before moving to Osaka for performances from September 5 to September 7.

In August 2014, it was announced that a version of Petite Étrangère would be staged in Shanghai, China, in January 2015. Opening on 16 January at the Shanghai Theatre Academy Theatre for a run of five performances, it marked the first time that an official Japanese production of Sailor Moon musical opened outside Japan.

The musicals have a few elements in common: a theme song, usually used in battle when the Sailor Soldiers defeat the antagonist; sight gags (characters in drag, puns, etc.); and songs generally tailored for the same characters or groupings of characters: romance songs between Usagi Tsukino and Mamoru Chiba, outer Sailor Soldier attack songs, Sailor Soldier civilian songs, and villain songs.

"Revised Versions" are another major aspect of Sailor Moon musicals. Generally new musicals are staged in the summer and then are revised for the winter. Major plot elements stay the same but tend to be more fleshed out in revised versions. Parts of the show are generally rearranged; villains who were only partially defeated in the original version of the show are fully defeated or healed, and actresses who are "graduating" (leaving the show) are often given more solo parts or speaking lines.

In the musicals, the producers generally follow and expand upon plot concepts presented in the anime and manga. For example, a collective romance between the four Sailor Soldiers and the Four Kings of Heaven from former lives was taken from a manga image picturing the two groups paired off in romantic couples. In addition to borrowing from the anime and manga versions of Sailor Moon, the musical series also has two mostly original plot lines: The Legend of Kaguya Island (Kaguya Shima Densetsu) and the Last Dracul series.

The sets and backdrops range from simple (only some set pieces, no backdrop or backdrop with uncomplicated paintings) to mid elaborate (a greater number of small set pieces, and some bigger ones, for example, a painted wall over the whole width of the stage with a few attached stairs and a big door), more detailed set pieces, with heavy use of different stage levels, trapdoors and hidden doors. The Sailor Soldiers' attacks are represented by colored lights hitting their targets, and sometimes minor explosions and other small pyrotechnics (for example "flame paper", special paper stripes which the actors ignite in their hands and then throw to create the illusion of a "fireball") are used. The Sailor Soldiers mostly transform off-stage (or just appear already transformed), while their transformation phrases can be heard. Only Usagi transforms on stage. This is done with the help of a body double and the "black out" of part of the stage or set pieces moving in front of her while the actors switch places. The only real "transformation sequence" that ever occurs is a pre-filmed video sequence projected onto a scrim showing the actors "morph" (with some pink ribbons) into their transformed versions.

Most shows end with an extended curtain call, especially if an actress was "graduating", during which a number of songs are performed as fan service. These songs, such as "Moonlight Densetsu" and "La Soldier", are fan favourites which would not otherwise make sense appearing in the show. The fankan deriving from "fan thankyou" were special shows, composed mostly of fan service numbers, they were used as season finales, to introduce new shows and to introduce new actresses to the audience.

Songs from the series have been compiled in some 20 music albums, and many of the musicals have been released on DVD.

The musicals introduce new characters to the series. Some of them are new members of already existing groups of villains, such as Spotted Tilmun, Aaron and Manna from the Black Moon Clan, the Death Mannetjes and the Death Nightmares from the Death Busters, or Sailors Pewter Fox, Titanium Kerokko, Theta and Buttress from Shadow Galactica. There are, however, original characters that have never appeared in any other version of the series, such as Sailor Astarte, Vulcan, Count Dracul, Bloody Dracul Vampir, Undead Berserk, and Death Lamia, among others.

Musicals

"Stage" is a term used widely to refer to groupings of the musicals.

The producers of the show have broken the musical series down into three stages. The "first stage" consisted of those in which Sailor Moon was portrayed by Anza Ohyama, the first and longest running Sailor Moon actress. This stage ran parallel to the manga and anime, as reflected by the plot, and had a nearly full graduation with all of the main actresses being replaced. The second stage included three different Sailor Moon actresses, the only fully original musical (The Legend of Kaguya Island) and the semi-original Last Dracul series, ending with a remake of the original "Final First Stage" musical, Eien Densetsu (titled Kakyuu Ouhi Kourin.) The third stage retained Marina Kuroki as lead actress, but ran for only two musicals (both remakes of The Legend of Kaguya Island), and ended in January 2005.

The series ended its hiatus with a 20th Anniversary Stage in 2013, with Satomi Ōkubo cast as the new Sailor Moon.

Conversely, most Western fans break the stages down by the actresses who played Sailor Moon: Anza Ohyama, Fumina Hara, Miyuki Kanbe, and Marina Kuroki. The list below is divided up according to the official stages used by Sera Myu producers.

First stage

Featuring Anza Ohyama as Sailor Moon:

Second stage

Featuring Fumina Hara as Sailor Moon:

Featuring Miyuki Kanbe as Sailor Moon:

Featuring Marina Kuroki as Sailor Moon:

Third stage

Continuing to feature Marina Kuroki as Sailor Moon:

20th Anniversary Stage

Featuring Satomi Ōkubo as Sailor Moon:

Featuring Hotaru Nomoto as Sailor Moon:

1st stage

2nd stage

3rd stage

Reception

In total, 32,055 people attended Gaiden Dark Kingdom Fukkatsu Hen (外伝 ダーク・キングダム復活篇), which had 29 separate performances. 25,208 people attended its revised edition, which had 35 separate performances.

An amateur Sailor Moon musical has been staged at Anime Expo 2003, and at the 2009 Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival.