Japanese Culture in New York - Chopsticks NY

In his newest musical-play, composer Eric Schorr takes us on a sensual and mysterious journey through the entangled meanderings of love, conventions and prejudices.  When, in 1879, Isabella Archer, a young, American civil-war widow, decides to take the 16-day journey across the Pacific to visit the land she has so often admired in traditional wood-block prints, nothing prepares her for a life-changing encounter as she gazes at the tattooed body of a Japanese rickshaw driver.

Eager to become a piece of art herself, she decides to offer her body as a canvas to the most renowned tattoo artist of the time, Horiyoshi, and unwittingly puts her life at risk. The intimacy between the artist and his canvas, built through hours of tattooing, blossoms into a passionate and dangerous love.  Against conventions, the two protagonists develop an unusual trust for each other.  As the ink permanently penetrates Isabella’s skin, she realizes that Horiyoshi will forever be a part of her.

Japan has a long history of tattoo culture and skin-carving was not looked down upon until the 17th century, when they served as markers for criminals. A few centuries later, international visitors viewed them as a permanent souvenir from an exotic place. Despite the active westernization right after the Meiji Restoration, physical contact between a Japanese man and a western woman was in itself a dare to conventional society.

Schorr’s extensive historical research (both in Japan and the U.S.) about the Meiji era and the Japanese art of tattoo translates on stage with noticeably accurate scenery and costumes. The set design is supported by a soaring and memorable score and allows this audience to travel into an unknown, sensual and edgy world alongside Isabella.

For director Johanna McKeon,“the play is a perfect cross-breeding between the traditional Noh theatrical form and legitimate, American musical theater.” While the characters struggle to make sense of a reality dictated by the strings of duty, the powerful voices of their heart rise against their will. The 19th century tattoo parlor becomes a nest where their two worlds will inevitably collide and merge.

While set in Japan’s Meiji era, Tokio Confidential brings to light relevant concepts to a contemporary audience: interracial relationships, underground art culture, anti-war message… The New York Off-Broadway scene has rarely presented Japanese-themed musical plays. Tokio Confidential opens a fresh and imaginative breach into a new form of theater that gathers different styles, ideals and aesthetics.

Playing for only two weeks from February 5th until the 19th at the Atlantic Stage 2, Tokio Confidential is an unmissable love story, brilliantly orchestrated around a Noh-inspired stage design and a timeless musical score: a perfect outing for Valentine’s month.

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Atlantic Stage 2
330 W. 16th St. (bet. 8th & 9th Aves.)
New York, NY 10011
TEL: 212-691-5919 / www.atlantictheater.org

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