"Modern Words" - Katsura Yonedanji "Operakugo"

//Summary - Level-B2//

Operakugo is a fusion of opera and Rakugo, developed over 25 years. Singer Katsuya Kikuchi first coined the term after adapting a Rakugo story into an opera. The concept evolved, using Rakugo to simplify opera plots, adding humour, and reducing redundant arias. This method clarifies the story and enhances the character's emotions. Operakugo blends opera's powerful music with Rakugo's engaging storytelling. The goal is to create a unique art form, not just an introduction to opera. True fusion happens only when both music and storytelling reach their full potential, striving for something more significant than the sum of its parts.

1)
"Operakugo is a performance art that combines opera and Rakugo. It has been 25 years since I started working on it. (Posted on February 3rdrd 2018)

2)
The first person to use the word "Operakugo" was the singer Katsuya Kikuchi, who was a member of the Kyoto Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra at the time.

After hearing the late Shijaku perform the Rakugo "A Cat," Kikuchi wanted to turn it into an opera, so Operakugo's "A Cat" was born. I remember performing there and singing "The Cat Said Something" without knowing anything as if it were yesterday.

3)
At that time, I thought, "It's good to turn Rakugo into opera, but is there a way to make operas with complicated plots easier to understand through Rakugo? I thought that comedy would be a good way to do this, so I performed a digest (excerpt) of Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro".

4)
After seeing it, music critic Toshiya Hibiki suggested, "Let's do it on a larger scale. " Thus, the opera Rakugo "The Clever Marriage of the Suitmaker" was born.

With a title that parodies Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro" and Rossini's "The Barber of Seville", I made it into a comedy set in a merchant's house in Senba, Osaka.

After that, I expanded it to include "Don Giovanni", which was renamed "I Can't Do Anything", and "Cosi fan tutte", which was renamed "Take the Bean Jam!"

5)
However, this series was quite theatrical, so I continued to create works based on Rakugo in my own way. In recent years, this has become what I have called " Operakugo."

6)
First, I turned the opera into Rakugo. The method involves writing a script with a strong punchline and adding only the necessary songs.

As a result, the amount of arias, which can quickly become redundant, was reduced, and the story's outline and the author's intention became clearer.

It's strange how the character's feelings, which tend to be buried between the lines in opera, become increasingly prominent when performed as Rakugo.

7)
The strength of Rakugo is that it can convey the plot to the audience without a guidebook. Regardless of the story's complexity, Rakugo performers never hand out flyers with the "plot".

On the other hand, opera's strength is its heavy sound, which can shake the audience's hearts. When I experience the beautiful harmony, I get goosebumps all over my body and think, "I'm glad to be alive." It's a blissful moment.

8)
Operakugo wants to take the best of both worlds. Sometimes people say, "It would be even better to see a real opera after watching Operakugo," but I feel frustrated.

"I guess mine is not the real thing after all. But I'll show you that I can surpass it one day."

9)
You can't do it half-heartedly. Even if a musician and a storyteller each contribute 50% of their strength, they will never reach 100%.

New art is only born when both parties give 100% of their strength. The essence of this is fusion, which goes beyond collaboration.

"Modern Words" - Katsura Yonedanji "Operakugo"

https://www.yonedanji.jp/%E3%80%8C%E7%8F%BE%E4%BB%A3%E3%81%AE%E3%81%93%E3%81%A8%E3%81%B0%E3%80%8D%EF%BC%9C12%EF%BC%9E/

Katsura Yonedanji "Operakugo" special video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SP_nzRxsPTQ

A special video of Katsura Yonedanji's "Operakugo" is now available!

Unfortunately, the "Katsura Yonedanji Shunjuza Special Performance" scheduled foJune 6thth this year has been cancelled due to concerns about the spread of COVID-19. For those looking forward to it, we will show a digest version of the past five "Operakugo" works.

The "Katsura Yonedanji Shunjuza Special Performance", which began in 2014, features a Rakugo performance of Kamigata Rakugo in the first part and Yonedanji's speciality "Operakugo" in the second part. Yonedanji, the reincarnation of Mozart, has devised "Operakugo", which transforms long and difficult-to-understand operas into Rakugo stories of less than 60 minutes that can be easily understood and enjoyed without subtitles or explanations. A trinity of storytellers, opera singers, and the Kyoto Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra will be created, utilizing the unique stage mechanisms of Shunjuza to create a mysterious stage performance.

This time, we will be showing a digest of five works, from the 2014 premiere of "The Marriage of Figaro" to 2015's "Don Giovanni," 2016's "Cosi fan tutte," 2017's "The Marriage of Figaro" and 2018's "The Magic Flute." We hope you will enjoy them to the fullest. And please look forward to the renewed version of "Don Giovanni" next year!