Day 10: part 2 - Dreamgirls

It felt odd that I slept so late today. Perhaps the ordeal of getting home the night before took a lot out of me. In any case, since I did wake up so late, going to either of the far out places of Sakaiminato or Wakayama seemed out of the question by now. My friend had left me the address of the theater, but not the nearest train station, so I had to figure that out for myself. To be honest, I didn't even know what show I was going to see.

As I made my way through Osaka, following the map that I hoped would lead me to the right place, it started to rain. This reminded me that the night before my friends had told me that a typhoon was expected to come to Japan this weekend. I was worried because this might affect my scheduled train trips, and accomodations. Anyways, that wasn't the problem ahead of me at this moment; right now I had to find this theater.

Although I had doubts that the map was certain, I ended up at Festival Hall, only a little bit wet. Since I didn't know what kind of show to expect, I was very surprised when I arrived at a large theater suited for Broadway-style shows. The show I was about to see was Dreamgirls. I was only familiar with this show as a movie that was released a few years ago, but I later learned that it was originally a Broadway musical in the 1980s. I was even more surprised with I found my seat. I was dead center, in the first box-seat in the theater. I felt like a VIP at this show!

Dreamgirls was enjoyable. It was about a musical group of black women that spanned the years from the 1960s to the 1970s. Although the plot itself didn't have much politics, there were a couple of elements that the director snuck in that really caught my eye, especially in how they used the American flag within the set design, turning it from red white and blue in one instance, to black with white stars to connote difference in meaing. In fact, the set design was rather minimal, with most of the job being done by large video screens that moved around the stage. I thought this was quite brilliant and economical, having moved the American cast and staff all the way to Japan, and the rich costumes stood out much flashier with minimal backgrounds.

Despite my complaint earlier in the trip regarding viewing theater, perhaps this was the cosmos telling me to open my mind a bit more, and pay attention to theater a bit more. I certainly learned a lot watching this show, and I hope to use some of the interesting ideas soon.