The ‘My Neighbor Totoro’ Play is So Many Winning Awards!
My Neighbor Totoro is the latest Studio Ghibli film to take the stage in live-action. And it’s so good it’s just won six awards.
My Neighbor Totoro is one of the most famous and popular movies by Studio Ghibli. The giant teddy-bear-like namesake has even been used as the studio’s mascot for years and years. Everyone likes Totoro; even my dad likes Totoro.
Additionally, Studio Ghibli has a history of adapting their more popular movies for the stage with live performances of Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke making waves on stage in recent years. So it wasn’t surprising to hear that My Neighbor Totoro has also gotten the live-action stage play treatment as well. What might surprise you though, is who’s made it and just how well received it’s been.
Totoro On Stage
Directed by Phelim McDermott, composed by Joe Hisaishi, and produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company, Totoro’s stage adaptation has some serious weight behind it. Even if you’re not very familiar with live theater, you’ve probably heard of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
The show premiered in London’s Barbican Centre on October 8th, 2022, and ran through January 21st. But it will return on November 21st 2023 and run through Marth 24th, 2024 according to the play’s official website. And recently, Totoro earned no fewer than six Olivier Awards.
Awards include:
- Noël Coward Award for Best Entertainment or Comedy Play
- Sir Peter Hall Award for Best Director – Phelim McDermott
- Best Costume Design – Kimie Nakano
- d&b audiotechnik Award for Best Sound Design – Tony Gayle
- Blue-I Theatre Technology Award for Best Set Design – Tom Pye
- White Light Award for Best Lighting Design – Jessica Hung Han Yun
They were also nominated for:
- Gillian Lynne Award for Best Theatre Choreographer – Basil Twist (puppetry direction)
- Best Original Score or New Orchestrations – Joe Hisaishi (music) and Will Stuart (orchestrations, arrangements)
- Best Actress – Mei Mac
My Neighbor Totoro stars Ami Okumura Jones as Satsuki and Mei Mac as Mei as well as a huge collection of puppeteers bringing out favorite soot sprites and forest spirits to life.
About Totoro
Originally premiering in animation in 1988, My Neighbor Totoro follows two young sisters, Satsuki and Mei as they move to the Japanese countryside in the 1950s while their mother recovers from tuberculosis. But their new house is haunted by soot spirits and the forest is home to benevolent forest spirits. It’s an adorable, kind movie that’s enjoyed 35 years of popularity and love for a reason. Totoro holds up.
If the trailer and accolades are any indications, this show is well worth watching before it leaves the theater forever. Leaving those of us without the time or ability to travel all the way to London for a show to wonder if it will be recorded like Spirited Away was recent. At this time, we have no idea. But I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed if you will.
Have you seen the My Neighbor Totoro stage play? Would you like to see if it were more readily available to you? What Studio Ghibli film do you think should be brought to the stage next? Let us know in the comments!
Ja ne, adventurers!
