KABUKI!

There was a moment in my adolescence when I thought "kabuki" was the coolest, funniest, most delightful word I ever heard. I think I picked it up from the branding on a can of mandarin orange sections, so it had pleasant associations, and I used it as an exclamation, much the way you might say "voila" or "ta da." No one I knew then knew what it meant; it was all mine. It wasn't until years later I learned it referred to a particular style of Japanese theater. The kanji characters in "kabuki" mean sing, dance, and skill, and also something avant garde or bizarre. I probably executed a silly little flourish when I exclaimed "Kabuki!" when I was pleased with something.

Last night I had my chance to remember the "kabuki" feeling at a performance at the University theater of a kabuki comedy (in English) called The Vengeful Sword. After a substantial meal with Kirin beer and nigori sake subsidized by a gift certificate left over from recent association with the Miss Cherry Blossom Festival, my companion and I mostly stayed awake for the stylized performance, very pretty to watch, but not quite up to the acrobatics of Peking opera or the over-the-top flash of the Cantonese style. It's hardly appropriate, but I can't help but compare this performance with the English language production of the classic Peking opera, White Snake, I enjoyed in the same theater last year.

Of course The Vengeful Sword wasn't really opera, just a sort of melodic dialog translated to English (not a language well suited for sing-song), with intriguing background noise of Japanese instruments and singers.

I like the swordplay in my Chinese and Korean dramas .... but I was not quite prepared for the stylized weapon-wielding in kabuki. It was a little slow, Mr. Rogers' Japanese Neighborhood ...on heroin. And while the Chinese and Korean protagonists are, without much exception, very sexy, the clown-faced, bald headed samurai failed to rock my boat. Although the geisha characters, in beautiful kimono, were graceful and colorful.

Still it was fun, a culturally expanding event. I am certain there were nuances completely foreign to me; the first time I saw a Cantonese opera I was completely dumbfounded.

When I got home, quite late, I watched an episode from the Season Four set of Mad Men I picked up at Costco the day before (while shopping for an Easter leg of lamb). What strange dreams followed: Madison Avenue of the mid-sixties meets 18th century samurai culture. And now, on reflection, I'd like to see The Vengeful Sword again. Kabuki! Bring on the nigori.