August28 , 2025

    Japan’s Takarazuka Revue Stage Musical Adaptation of “Castlevania”… with a twist

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    The Takarazuka Revue, a famed Japanese theater troupe, is currently staging an adaptation of Castlevania: Awakening in Moonlight in Tokyo starring Towaki Sea and Hoshizora Misaki (after having played in their home theater in the city of Takarazuka, Hyogo in June/July), drawing in record crowds in its first week. But what sets the Takarazuka Revue apart from other theater companies?

    The Takarazuka Revue is exclusively made up of female actresses, and the record crowds they are drawing are male theater goers, given that over 90% of the Revue’s normal audience is female. The theater is owned by a railroad company and was founded in 1913, and still promotes that they are training women to be good wives and mothers, and that their shows are NOT sapphic thank you very much. Actresses must retire in order to pursue marriage or even dating. In the past, they’ve staged adaptations of the movie “Big Fish”, a biography of Abraham Lincoln, Guys and Dolls, Crash Landing on You, and RRR (among many, MANY others).


    In recent years, the Takarazuka Revue has faced criticism for overworking their actresses. One 25-year-old actress committed suicide in 2023 after having been overworked (working over 277 hours in one month while leading a group of younger actresses in a production) and bullied by older actresses, including being burned with a curling iron, as a junior/senior system of hierarchy has been built into the revue – and its associated music school, to which all performers must attend as teenagers – since its founding. The company has taken responsibility for the death and vowed change moving forward, but whether or not this happens remains to be seen, especially since a lot of the behind-the-scenes work of the theater is strictly kept secret.

    Takarazuka’s fans are devoted, lining up before dawn to catch a glimpse of their favorite actress – otokoyaku, or actresses playing male roles, are by far the favorite. Fan clubs also have strict seniority, with the fans of each troupe’s Top Stars (the top otokoyaku and musumeyaku, or girl roles, having prime position to see the cast entering or leaving the theater over fan clubs for lesser known performers). It is difficult to get tickets due to the popularity of the revue with its legions of female fans. It has been debated what attracts over 2 million audience members each year – if it is because of the lesbian overtones or because of the fantasy of women doing traditionally male things in the culturally conservative Japan, or both. Probably both.

    The Takarazuka Revue has performed internationally in years past, including at the Lincoln Center in New York City.

    The musical version of Castlevania will be released on DVD/BluRay in Japan later this year.

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