The Imperial Theater (Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo), a mecca for musicals, will be temporarily closed for reconstruction on February 28th. This will bring an end to its 59-year history since its opening in 1966. The final performance of "CONCER: THE BEST New HISTORY COMING," which began on February 14th, was held on the same day, and a star-studded cast including Ichimura Masachika, who played the engineer in "Miss Saigon" for about 30 years since its Japanese premiere in 1992, appeared.
"CONCER "THE BEST New HISTORY COMING"" features a concert in which actors who have appeared in the Imperial Theater performances take turns performing each day. As the final number of each performance, the entire cast has performed "The People's Song" from "Les Miserables", but on the final day, in addition to the regular cast members such as Yoshio Inoue and Kenji Urai, about 50 actors from the past, including Yoshiko Sakuma, Kinya Kitaoji, Takeshi Kaga, and Koichi Domoto, who had attended the Imperial Theater, took to the stage and sang "The People's Song" together.
The Imperial Theater opened in 1911. It was built as Japan's first full-scale Western theater, with the initiative of Hirobumi Ito and Eiichi Shibusawa, led by businessman Kihachiro Okura, and designed by architect Tamsuke Yokogawa. As a mecca for musicals, it has staged many masterpieces. The second-generation Imperial Theater, the current one, opened in 1966, and has staged a total of 372 productions (53 of which were musicals), excluding revivals. The third-generation New Imperial Theater is scheduled to open in 2030.
◇Audience members at the final performance on February 28th (titles omitted, in alphabetical order)
Aiba Yuki▽Ayabuki Mao▽ Kanji Ishimaru ▽Izumimi Yohei▽Ichige Yoshie▽Ito Hiromi▽Irie Kanako▽Kamiguchi Kohei▽Ueno Tetsuya▽Umeda Ayaka▽Kazeki Kaname▽Oka Kojiro▽Okamiya Raimu▽Kaga Takeshi▽Kato Seishiro▽ Kazuki Kato Kazuki▽Kamishiroishi Mone Kamishiraishi ▽Kamiyama Ryuji▽Kanda Kyohei▽Kishida Satoshi▽Kitaoji Kinya▽Kasu Tatsuki▽Sakuma Ryoko▽Sawaguchi Yasushi Child▽Mikiko Shiraki▽Yu Shirota▽Souma Suzuki▽Honoka Suzuki▽Sachiko Takeuchi▽Koichi Domoto▽Akinori Nakagawa▽ Jun Hashimoto Hashimoto▽Yoichi Hayashi▽Yoshihisa Higashiyama▽Aya Aya Hirano ▽Shoichi Fukui▽Mariko Fuji▽Tetsuya Bessho▽Binari Maeda▽Tsubasa Makoto▽Yoko Minamino▽Hiroshi Miyagawa▽Yuki Mirai▽Misako Murata▽Fuka Yuzuki▽Yuichi Yokotamagawa▽Keigo Yoshino
