Nobunaga (w)as a Woman: "Onna Nobunaga"

I'll continue with my intrusions in the world of stage plays, focusing on the works related to Nobunaga.

This time we take a look at the pamphlet of "Onna Nobunaga", the stage version of a popular novel by Kenichi Sato, known because of it tanpatsu version directed by Hideki Takeuchi, even if this stage play is actually older than the TV adaptation.

The pamphlet came with a nice chirashi/mini-poster with a nice picture of the protagonists of this strange love story, pretty-girl-of-many-talents Meisa Kuroki as Nobunaga, and pop idol Akinori Nakagawa as Mitsuhide.


The back of the chirashi shows the information of the events.

The stage play of "Onna Nobunaga" dates 2009, and it touched the cities of Tokyo (from June 6 to June 21) and Osaka (from June 26 to June 28).
This pamphlet was one of the souvenir available for purchase in the venues.

Since I didn't see the actual work but just these few pictures and some promotional videos, I can't talk about the skills of Meisa Kuroki.
My only experience with her acting was during "Crows Zero" by Takaashi Mike, but since she was just playing as "herself", or a pretty singer who played the role of the rebel, I don't think one could judge her interpretation... Yet, I can't really say if her Nobunaga looked anything like her Ruka Aizawa there.

She's not new to stage plays or jidaigeki scenarios after all, in fact one of her role was that of "Azumi", the kunoichi created by mangaka Yu Koyama, on 2005.

Taking a look at the other characters, here you have the co-protagonist, Akechi Mitsuhide:

In the pamphlet there are two long interviews to both Meisa Kuroki and Akinori Nakagawa and how they coped with their interpretations.

Ginnojo Yamazaki played the role of unrequired Ieyasu Tokugawa:

Fun fact: the younger guy of the lot was played by the older actor of the lot ^_^;
Interestingly, Yamazaki played the role of Nobunaga in another stage play, "NOBUNAGA - Sengoku Ibun" dated 1998.

Nouhime was Narimi Arimori:

She performed in two taiga drama, "Tobuka Gotoku" (1990) as Chie Ashina and "Hideyoshi" (1996) as Akechi Hiroko.

And in the end, a few "behind the scenes" pictures of the rehearsal:

--And that's all for today's curiousity about our favorite warlord!