Tag: cultural festival

  • Oklahoma! / オクラホマ!

    日本文が後ろに続きます。

    This year I saw Oklahoma! at Kokugakuin Tochigi University High School. Every year I go to the cultural festival of this high school to see a play performed by the Musical Club. This club consists of tenth and twelfth graders of this high school, playing musical on an after-school basis. They have regular performances several times a year, and the biggest one is a show at the cultural festival in early September. Mieko Saigusa, one of this club’s instructors in charge of choreography, is the lady I know well and look forward to seeing once a year. That’s why I go to this high school even though I didn’t graduate from it and, to be sure, I’m nothing to do with it.

    The city of Tochigi is about 50 miles to the north from central Tokyo. Car is the most convenient option to go there, but I went there by train for the last two years as I didn’t have my own car since I sold it two years ago.

    Nevertheless, this time I rented a car to get there faster and more comfortably.

    Ms. Saigusa was fine, worked energetically, and looked a bit younger than last year. To my happiness, when I came this morning in front of the entrance door of the musical venue, she led only me to the front row of the spectator’s seats inside the theater where the show was performed, while other guests were still waiting in front of the door 🙂

    The musical was perfect. All the cast members played almost as skillfully as professional musical players. I enjoyed it very much.

    The synopsis of Oklahoma! is shown here.


    今年も國學院栃木高校の文化祭の時期がやってきました。恒例のミュージカル部公演を見るべく、今回はレンタカーを借りて朝から栃木まで行ってきました。今年の演目は「オクラホマ!」。

    高校生の部活ですが、内容はプロ顔負けの高レベルです。主役2人を含めみなさん好演していましたが、特にJudを演じた人の演技は際立っていたと個人的に感じました。それから、Gertieの怪演も見事でした。

    指導する三枝美江子先生に会いに行ってきました。今年もお元気でした。今年は少しお若く見えたような気がします。毎年見に行ってる常連だということで配慮してくれたのか、今年は入口に立っていると、特別に他のお客様に先んじて最前列の席をご案内いただきました。おかげさまで維持員席でかぶりつきで堪能することができました 🙂 ちょうど理事長先生もお見えだったようでその専用席も用意されていたんですが、理事長席は2列目だったので、理事長先生よりも前の席でちょっと恐縮だったんですけどね。

    ちなみに他の展示はというと、英語部が3年ぶりに復活してました。部員が確保できたんですね。その代わりというわけではないですが、恒例だったアイオワホームステイの展示が今年はなかったようです。他にも電車の実験とか面白そうなものはいくつかあったんですが、レンタカーの時間もあったのでお昼過ぎには失礼しちゃいました。。。

    【2017年10月22日追記】

    動画でウエディングドレスを着て歌っている女性は関谷ひかりさん。今の宝塚宙組 天瀬はつひさんです。

  • Kelso Heartland Homestay Program 2008

    Kelso Heartland Homestay Program

    In addition to the musical SHOW BOAT by the Musical Club, one of the Cultural Festival's attractive displays I wanted to visit was the reports of "Kelso Heartland Homestay Program" by some students who visited the United States. Devin Kelso, born in Mount Vernon, Iowa, working for Kokugakuin Tochigi University High School as a communicative English teacher, hosted the home stay program with his family.They arranged the host families in Mount Vernon to encourage them to accept each of the participants.

    About a dozen of high school and junior high students took part in this program. They spent about two weeks with the host families, learning English, and taken to cities around Mount Vernon for shopping, camping, barbecuing, and sightseeing. Every picture displayed on the boards showed that the students had been very excited to experience unknown new culture.

    Kelso Heartland Homestay Program

    They brought back plenty of American items as well as American mind. They are really nice.

    According to an article of a local newspaper, Devin Kelso began this program to encourage Japanese youths to have such experiences that he did when he was 15. He visited Mexico with his father and learned many things there. He found out that his Spanish he had learned at school worked well, and that the people were getting along well without English.

    I thought the students were very happy to see the world of different culture when they were very young. I hope I could participate in this program some day 😉

    Extra: the pictures of trains from Tochigi to Tokyo.

    Tochigi station Ryomo Line train Hachiko Line train (Takasaki to Komagawa) Hachiko Line train 2 (Komagawa to Hachioji)

  • SHOW BOAT

    Today I went to Kokugakuin Tochigi University High School to see the musical SHOW BOAT that the students of the Musical Club of this high school performed. Every year I go to Tochigi to watch Musical Club’s performance because they play very well like professional actors, although they are just high school students, and you can see such wonderful shows for free.

    I used to drive to Tochigi by car but this year I have no longer my own car so I got there by trains (Subway and Tobu Isesaki and Nikko lines). I arrived at Tochigi station at 8:30 am.

    Tochigi station Shuttle bus service

    It took about ten minutes from Tochigi station to the high school.

    Cultural Festival

    This was the musical SHOW BOAT, the story by a troupe on a boat sailing the Mississippi river.

    Show Boat

    For those of you who don’t know what the story is, here’s the synopsis.

    Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
    The show boat Cotton Blossom is a pleasure boat sailing the Mississippi river. There is a troupe who gives performances on the boat. Magnolia Hawks, a daughter of the owner of the boat, dreaming to be a superstar, is now just a staff member occupied with trivial routine duties. When the show boat is anchoring at Natchez, Mississippi, she happens to meet a gambler, Gaylord Ravenal, and falls in love with him. Her mother, Parthy Ann Hawks, is against for her to meet him, but her father, Cap’n Andy, allows him to get on the boat.
    One day the leading actress of the troupe, Julie La Verne, who is a daughter with a black parent and white one, is arrested for being married with a white man, because it is illegal in this state that a non-white person marries a white one. Losing the leading lady of the company, Cap’n Andy makes Magnolia the leading actress instead of Julie and at the same time hires Gaylord, who is experienced of playing on stage. The show business results in a big success with them.
    Magnolia and Gaylord love each other more and more deeply, and eventually they marry. They retire from actors and get off the boat to live their new life.
    However, the new life by a steady-minded woman and a gambler doesn’t last long. Gaylord does nothing but gambling instead of working, and they manage to live in a cheap apartment. Depressed and shamed by his inability to support his family, Gaylord leaves her. Magnolia has a baby, and gives birth to a daughter Kim. She gets back to the show boat and begins an actress job again.
    The troupe of the show boat is doing a show with another troupe at Trocadero Theatre, where Julie is a leading lady of this company. Julie meets Magnolia again, and suddenly leaves Trocadero so that Magnolia can fill her position. Magnolia passes the audition and is hired. She becomes a great musical star on the Trocadero stage.
    Julie, disappearing from Trocadero, joins a different musical troupe and happens to meet Gaylord, who is a member of the company. She tells him how Magnolia is doing, and encourages him to see her again. He is uncertain whether he has the right to ask Magnolia to take him back, but she does. They becomes happy again with their daughter.

    Cultural Festival 2006 at Kokugakuin Tochigh University High School 1 (Oliver!)
    Cultural Festival 2006 at Kokugakuin Tochigh University High School 2 (Write what you hear)