Tuesday, July 20, 2004

Kings Of Kabuki

No doubt , the Lincoln Center /Shochiku production of Kankuro's kabuki rules these warm summer nights ...
Kankuro's choice of material is outstanding , the '24 hours in an Osaka day condensed into 3 hours' feel he achieves with this perf. is jolting and fresh ,
the whole cast is outstanding ,
the kabuki actors playing women in the perf. really make you forget ...

Yesterday Mick was shooting actors as they came off stage .
And then last night the whole crew got together and had dinner at Downtown in Soho last night .
Still crowded at 11:15 with slick haired cigar smokers , big boob woman ,
nip tuck people and a table of loud drunks cackling to themselves -
but it was good to eat dinner , and the food was good .
Mr. Tachikawa interviewed Kankuro ,
Mick Rock signed and showed prints from the shoot ,
his assistant shot digividdocu, the rest of us tried to eat as it was all ongoing .
While we were outside shooting Kankuro getting some more 'NY atmosphere'
for the ANA pictorial ,
I observed a shiny black SUV quietly pull up
and a hiphop crew slowly began to get out and make their way up the restaurant stairs for a private dinner .
The ladies bounced or stepped regally up the stairs ,
and they were followed by Usher himself -
who jumped out wearing a summer jacket and the "Yeah" cap
Smiled to himself all the way up the stairs .
And no one said a word

We dropped Kankuro off up at Usugi around 1:30 AM ,
they had one more last meeting with friends for the night.

The remaining "Heisei Nakamura -za" performances are completely sold out,
Mick got his dream to shoot kabuki , ANA 's happy and Kankuro is still smiling.
Well done, all

Sunday, July 18, 2004

Kankuro does NYC

The 'Heisei Nakamura -Za" kabuki show started yesterday in Damrosch Park at Lincoln Center . All shows sold out .
Friday i arrived at the dress rehearsal for Kankuro's "Heisei " in time for the last act .
Low chairs with hard wood backs helped focus attention on the stage and after the crew cleaned up the water from the earlier scene , the lights went down .
Mick Rock was there up front , shooting roll after roll
We hope all the shows go off well today
we see Kankuro tomorrow night for interview