Hirokazu Tategata's Danceable LIFE Vol.7

Encounter with musicals
Hirokazu Tategata (Actor, Dancer, Choreographer)

I like musicals.
When I thought about when I first became interested in musicals, I remembered seeing a musical on stage as a child. I don't remember the content, but I seem to have played "pretend musicals" with my friends afterwards, so it must have been really interesting. Later, when I was in high school, I even did a "mock musical" at the school festival.
I started dancing seriously when I entered university and joined the Musical Research Club. A senior student I met there told me that I should try dancing, so I went to Nagura Jazz Dance Studio. Maybe it was because of my height, but I started getting dance jobs while I was still a student, and I feel like I spent the latter half of my university life completely absorbed in dancing.

In those days, Japanese musicals had a sort of "division of roles" between dance and singing, so if you could dance, you could appear on stage as an ensemble dancer. Recently, musicals have become more focused on singing, so I feel that it has become difficult to appear on stage if you can't sing properly.

By the way, while I was at university, I continued to be active in the musical research group, so I was very busy with my work as a dancer, university classes, club activities, and so on. I was so busy that there are times when I have no memory of anything. However, the people I met and the experiences I had during my four years at university were very important, and they have certainly formed the foundation of who I am today.

I think there is a certain kind of "magic" in musicals. It may be something that is often said, but even if something seems a little unnatural in a straight play, by expressing it through song or dance, it can easily fly to another dimension. It is okay to omit detailed explanations, and I think there is a freedom and fun in being able to fly to another world with the music.
There is a mysterious "power" in the songs and dances of musicals that is not found in straight plays. Show dance also has songs and dances, but I feel that it is a little different. I like straight plays, but I also feel a wonderful charm in the world where songs and dances coexist.
The first full-scale musicals I saw when I was young were Shiki Theatre Company's "A Chorus Line" and "Cats."
At the time, importing an authentic Broadway stage production, building a dedicated theater, and staging a production over a long span of several years was unheard of.
I had just started dancing seriously, so I never thought I would become a professional dancer, but the long-running performances of the Shiki Theatre Company overturned that notion in a good way. In an era when it was still difficult to make a living from dancing alone, the long-running system, which allowed you to continue performing on stage for a long period of time in one production, was a very groundbreaking system that had not existed in Japan until then. So on the day of the Shiki audition, all the powerful senior dancers flocked to take the audition, so much so that the studio was deserted. However, I was still just starting out at the time, so I was an outsider (laughs).

The most memorable stage performance I performed in as an ensemble was "Guys and Dolls" (1993, Nissay Theatre). It is known as a Takarazuka Revue lineup, but the stage I performed in was produced by Toho, starring Toshihiko Tahara. I performed in the stage because Nagura-sensei was in charge of choreography, and the other ensemble members were all dance friends. Tahara-san took everyone out to dinner and held parties at his house, so it was really fun.

However, since I was part of the ensemble, I had no lines and was not given a microphone. The more I stood on stage, the more I wished I had lines and could sing.

Looking back on it now, I realize how lucky I am to have been given a role with a name and to be able to sing my own songs.