Kafka on the Shore
based on the book by Haruki Murakami
adapted for the stage by Frank Galati
Ninagawa Company
Lincoln Center Festival
July 23, 2015
Production website   💉💉💉💉 out of 5.

Only in New York after a quiet cappuccino do you get a chance to see a play with talking cats, transgender librarians, truck drivers, a man named Johnnie Walker that cuts off he heads of cats and refrigerates them, and Colonial Sanders (yes, the one from chicken fame) hustling to get you laid for the night. All of this in an elaborate Peer Gynt-like story of finding yourself by taking the greatest journey. Crazy right? But sometimes crazy works – – and this time it really worked. A big, beautiful stage full of gigantic glass cages and terrariums and jewelry counters – each with scenes and characters living inside of them – – moving and spinning around by those all-in-black Japanese deck crew members. So beautiful – so damned beautiful. 🙂 spinning around in a great orchestration of life. How fun to be exposed to all the stories and contemporary culture of Japan in a spinning comic book or Manga as the Japanese call it. It is hard to put down in words what the experience was like. It was taking all of the conventions of the theatre, super-sizing them, and serving them up as dessert. My mind still spins from the magic of it all. This 57 year old man just wants to go Anime on your ass!