While live-action anime adaptations like One Piece and Rurouni Kenshin have found success on the screen, numerous stories are taking the opportunity to bring their tales to the stage. Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away is often thought of as one of the studio’s biggest films, winning an Academy Award for Best Animated Picture. Now, fans will have the opportunity to add the recent stage play to their digital collection.
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Earlier this year, we here at ComicBook.com had the opportunity to chat with the play’s director, John Caird, about how the live-action adaptation of one of Studio Ghibli’s biggest films came about, “I’d done big musicals [at the Imperial Theatre] like Les Mis and Knight’s Tale and huge, huge musical theater ventures. I just thought I’d love to do something authentically Japanese there, and so I was really looking for a potential Japanese project that would fill a massive theater. I started to think about what might that be. What might be the great big Japanese story that would appeal to a big audience? And almost immediately I started thinking about the greatest Japanese storyteller alive today, Hayao Miyazaki. That made me think, well, which of his movies could be adaptable most immediately? I thought that Spirited Away was the one that presented itself as the best candidate.”
Spirited Away’s Stage Play Arrives
If you haven’t had the chance to check out one of Ghibli’s biggest films, it is currently available to stream on MAX. Here’s how the streaming service describes the film, “Chihiro’s family is moving to a new house, but when they stop on the way to explore an abandoned village, her parents undergo a mysterious transformation and Chihiro is whisked into a world of fantastic spirits ruled over by the sorceress Yubaba. Put to work in a magical bathhouse for spirits and demons, Chihiro must use all her wits to survive in this strange new place, find a way to free her parents and return to the normal world. Overflowing with imaginative creatures and thrilling storytelling, Spirited Away became a worldwide smash hit, and is one of the most critically-acclaimed films of all time.”
Which other Studio Ghibli movies are deserving of their own live-action stage play? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of Spirited Away.
