Arts | The Wonderful Wizard of Oz altered for int’l audiences

From left to right: Cast Ishikawa Shin, Watanabe Mitsuro, Cast Najima Ayumi, executive producer, Dono Ken

Theatre Hikosen has returned to Macau to present The Wonderful Wizard of Oz at the Cultural Centre, opening tonight with shows running until Christmas day.

Having toured through some 20 countries, the Japanese company has previously presented Peter Pan, Treasure Island, and the musical Chibi Maruko Chan, in the region.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, a puppet musical based on the classic American tale, will take children three years old and above into the magical world of Dorothy and friends through its own rendition of the adventure.

At the meet-the-press conference yesterday, the theater’s director Watanabe Mitsuro explained that as the group travels to perform in different regions, they try to adapt their show to local languages.

Originally targeting Japanese audiences, Mitsuro said that it is significant for the play to adapt to the local language to ensure that children are receptive to the story.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has been staged for 30 years and is currently in its third edition.

“We try to ensure that the quality will be the same in the Japanese and international tours. [We] have been revising and adjusting the script to make it more lively,” he told the press.

Mitsuro noted that the play to be shown tonight had already undergone adjustments from its recent show in Hong Kong.

“Because the audience demands are different now. [We] are trying to adapt new elements in the play as time goes by,” he explained. “Even when compared to this coming performance to the last one we had in Hong Kong, they are little bit adjusted already,” he continued.

Since this is the fourth time the theater company has come to Macau, Ishikawa Shin, a cast member of the play, noted that Japanese children are more disciplined and introverted when compared to audiences from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau.

“Japanese [children] react in a more disciplined and quieter way, but children [in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau] are more active. They just rush to the cast,” he explained.

Through its magical setting, dressed in their trademark masks and costumes, Hikosen’s performers will interpret the piece which brims with a variety of imaginary creatures, from witches to winged monkeys.

From India to Russia, Australia and Japan, The Wizard of Oz is an all-time children’s classic that has been translated and adapted into more than 50 languages. LV