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Totoro Stage Play Receives Nine WhatsOnStage Award Nominations

The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC)'s stage adaptation of Studio Ghibli's and Hayao Miyazaki's 1988 film My Neighbor Totoro at London's Barbican Centre has received nine nominations for the theatrical WhatsOnStage Awards. Voting will close on January 10 2023, and the awards ceremony itself will be on February 12 2023.

The play has been nominated in the following categories: Best Performer in a Play, Best New Play, Best Direction, Best Musical Direction/Supervision, Best Lighting Design, Best Set Design, Best Sound Design, Best Video Design and Best Graphic Design.

The play received more nominations than any other stage productions, beating Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! at the Young Vic with eight nominations..

My Neighbor Totoro is currently having a 15-week run from October 8, 2022 to January 21, 2023. It is presented by the RSC and Hayao Miyazaki's longtime composer Joe Hisaishi, who created the music for the original film and serves as the play's executive producer. Tom Morton-Smith (Oppenheimer) adapted the story, and Phelim McDermott (Akhnaten) directed the production. The play was made in collaboration with the English theatre company Improbable and Japan's Nippon TV.

The evening performances of the play are at 7 p.m. Monday to Saturday. There will also be matinee performances on Thursdays and Saturdays at 2 p.m, and additional matinees on 19, 21, 23, 27 December and on 2 January.

There will be no matinee on 22 December; no evening performances on 31 December and 2 January; and no performances on 24 and 26 December.

Morton-Smith said that he had permission "to expand on the beats (in the film) that are already there and show some scenes that aren't in the film.”

The RSC describes the production on its website:

"This enchanting coming-of-age story explores the magical fantasy world of childhood and the transformative power of imagination, as it follows one extraordinary summer in the lives of sisters Satsuki and Mei.

"My Neighbor Totoro will play a strictly limited 15-week season from 8 October 2022 - 21 January 2023 and promises to delight all generations.

The original anime film My Neighbor Totoro is the story of two young sisters, Mei and Satsuki, who move to the countryside and encounter Totoro, wonderful creatures which only children can see.

Grateful thanks to Ian Wolf for the heads-up.