Hold it! We can’t hear you in the back of the audience, Phoenix. You need to use more PROJECTION! I’m sorry; that was uncalled for. I’m sure the woman who will be playing Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, in the upcoming musical stage performance based on Capcom’s game series, has a marvelous voice. Spotted this morning through a Capcom press release, the game developer and publisher has partnered up with the Takarazuka Revue Company to produce a musical adaptation of the courtroom adventure title. Takarazuka will be giving performances during the month of February in Takarazuka Bow Hall, and then later in the month at Tokyo’s Nippon Seinen-kan Hall.
Why is a woman playing Phoenix? The Takarazuka Revue is an all-female troupe, whose many performances have included a number of traditional Western and Eastern musicals, including old standbys like Guys & Dolls, West Side Story, and Singin’ in the Rain, as well as adaptations of popular Japanese manga and American movies and novels. I guess you haven’t really experienced theatre until you’ve been to an all-women musical version of Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls.
Why is the Takarazuka Revue adapting Phoenix Wright? In the words of the press release: “An unprecedented form of collaboration, the show will combine the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney game, which is very popular among women and casual game players, with the Takarazuka Revue, which has an extremely large number of female fans.” Musical courtroom drama, by ladies, for ladies. And yet, I would still pay money to see singing female versions of Edgeworth and Gumshoe.
The full press release awaits you after the break.
Capcom Co., Ltd. has reached an agreement with the Takarazuka Revue Company to do a performance that is based on Capcom’s extremely successful Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney series of home video games. There will be performances at Takarazuka Bow Hall in the city of Takarazuka and a special performance in Tokyo.
In the “Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney” game that the Takarazuka Revue has decided to perform, players assume the role of an attorney. The objective of this detective adventure game is to fight in court on behalf of a client who has been falsely charged. Since the first version made its debut in October 2001, the Ace Attorney series of games has recorded more than 3 million units of shipments in Japan and overseas (as of June 30, 2008), making it one of Capcom’s most successful products. The game has been very successful as well in a cell phone version and as the basis for comic books, novels and a variety of merchandise. In addition, there was a performance by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra of music and sounds used in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney games.
The Takarazuka Revue, which will perform this Ace Attorney game, is well known for putting on spectacular performances of many types of plays and other material. The Takarazuka troupe is one of Japan’s best-known theater groups and has a large number of fans in all areas of Japan. The Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney show will be a Soragumi production that is written and directed by Kei Suzuki, a producer of the Takarazuka Revue.
This endeavor goes beyond the conventional bounds of the entertainment industry. An unprecedented form of collaboration, the show will combine the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney game, which is very popular among women and casual game players, with the Takarazuka Revue, which has an extremely large number of female fans. Audience members will enjoy a show that draws on the content and creativity of both Capcom and the Takarazuka performers. Capcom expects this collaboration to produce synergies that enlarge the customer base for the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney series as well as the Takarazuka Revue. Both partners believe this will further increase the value of the Capcom and Takarazuka Revue brands.
Capcom will continue pursuing its content multi-use strategy, in which the company’s large selection of game content is also developed for movies, animation, publications, cell phone games, merchandise and other applications. Basing operations on this strategy creates more opportunities to earn profits by increasing the range of people who enjoy Capcom content in some way. Capcom plans to employ this strategy to both maximize the value of its content and achieve more growth in sales and earnings.
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