Ribingurumu no Metamorufuoshisu

Director Toshiki Okada and composer Dai Fujikura have, each from their own disciplines, developed a musical theatre piece together for the first time. Together with Klangforum Wien, they explore the possibilities for having spoken language and music figure as independent and distinct actors.

In Metamorphosis of a Living Room, six Japanese actors and seven musicians from Klangforum Wien initially share the stage in harmony. The story is about a family that is evicted from their home. This problem can be solved, but soon enough another catastrophe of unprecedented magnitude looms. Little by little, the music and scenic actions blend together, opening possibilities for the emergence of an entirely new experience. All manner of narration, the entire human oriented world, dissolve in sound.

'The music of Dai Fujikura is powerful and beautiful. In this production, I am striving to put together a theatrical work that will coexist with it. This will naturally turn out to be a piece of musical theater in an overwhelmingly new form.

I say “overwhelmingly new form,” because I think the shape of the relationship and balance between musical and physical expression will be overwhelmingly new.

This work that will soon be created juxtaposing music and theater on the basis of a new relationship and a new balance is bound to be something really awesome that can clearly not be encapsulated in the term “musical theater.” I am applying myself to its creation with this kind of audacious ambition.'

— Toshiki Okada

'In this work, I aspired to the creation of musical theater in which music and theater would be on equal footing, together with Toshiki Okada. What does it mean for music and theater to be on equal footing? Thus far, I have often been asked to compose music for films by the film-making side, and have always been fired when the demo was finished, because they thought the music was too powerful. With Okada, in contrast, there was a perfect collaboration that was constantly peaceful, calm, and open.

After my experience of being fired from film jobs, I initially asked Okada if he thought that the music might be too powerful. He replied with words of encouragement, telling me that such a thing was absolutely impossible and to make music in the way I liked. I believe he wrote the text upon the repeated workshops we held, dozens of times, by Zoom. He would watch the performances of actors while listening to the music I had created at the studio, and make exclamations such as, “Oh, the music comes on like this. If so, the script and the direction…let’s try it this way!” In composing the music, I too strove to avoid exerting any kind of control over the acting. This is completely different from opera, in which music dominates the whole performance. But there is also a decisive difference from film music that is always in the position of being a servant to the screen.

I think we managed to discover a completely new kind of storytelling based on the fusion of the visual and aural senses. Our collaboration produced a new stage music and score. I am already eagerly looking forward to seeing what kind of chemical reaction will occur in the performance with the actors and musicians.'

— Dai Fujikura

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text Toshiki Okada direction Toshiki Okada music Dai Fujikura music performed by Klangforum Wien cast Izumi Aoyagi, Chieko Asakura, Wataru Omura, Mariko Kawasaki, Ayana Shiibashi, Makoto Yazawa sound design Aki Shiraishi, Koichi Ishimaru light design Masayoshi Takada (RYU) costume design Kyoko Fujitani (FAIFAI) set dot architects dramaturgy Masahiko Yokobori technical manager Daijiro Kawakami (Scale Laboratory) stage manager Chikage Yuyama assistant director Marie Moriyama producer Megumi Mizuno (precog), Tamiko Ouki (precog) creative advice Makiko Yamaguchi production management Yuko Takeda translation (English) Aya Ogawa translation (German) Andreas Regelsberger graphic design Mariko Okazaki (REFLECTA, Inc.) commissioned by Wiener Festwochen production Wiener Festwochen, chelfitsch coproduction KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen, Holland Festival, Aichi Prefectural Art Theater planning and production management precog co., LTD. executive producer Akane Nakamura head of administration Yuri Saito administration assistant Kumi Hiraoka project assistant Ema Murakami footwear office III’s, KAJIMOTO, CUBE Inc., nakagoo, Steep Slope Studio, YAMABUKI FACTORY, d&b audiotechnik GmbH & Co. KG with the assistance of The Saison Foundation with the support of Japan Foundation work-in-progress: premiere performance / coproduction Japan Foundation, chelfitsch

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This performance is made possible by

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