Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon the Super Live Coming to the Orpheum Theatre April 6th!

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon The Super Live is a stage show based on the original manga (japanese comic book) of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon. For those not in the know, Sailor Moon was introduced in 1991 in what is now one of the most popular mangas series of all time. The characters popularity can be measured by the sheer volume of formats into which the world of Sailor Moon has been adapted. Everything from Anime series and films to video and collectible card games. For decades there have been Sailor Moon Stage shows as well, produced in Japan. Now for the first time ever they are bringing one of those shows on a 21 city North American tour which launched in Austin Texas and plays here in Minneapolis on April 6th at Hennepin Arts’ historic Orpheum Theatre, before ending the tour in NYC. Tickets for the Minneapolis show can be purchased at https://hennepinarts.org/events/pretty-guardian-sailor-moon-the-super-live-2025.

Described by its producer Makoto Matsuda as “a unique genre of ‘2.5 dimensional musicals’ rather than a category such as Broadway musicals, etc.”. Expanding on that Matsuda says “it has, you know, the regular song, music, dance, technology, visuals, projections, so much more than a normal conventional musical. So we wanted to kind of honor the situation by naming it and giving it a new category name. And it’s almost kind of like a manifesto to call it a new thing. And that is our intention of calling it something, not a musical, but the super live”, explaining the impetus to create this new genre Matsuda says “I think musicals in Japan was something where the audience wasn’t necessarily young. It was more geared towards a certain demographic that was stable, but not necessarily all encompassing. But once we started doing 2.5 and we incorporated more comics and animation as an original story, their fan base came to see it much more. So we now have a robust group of young audiences that many have never been to a musical before that have been starting to come see the productions, and it has grown so much.” There may be a lesson here for American theaters to study on ways of attracting new and younger audiences by appealing to their tastes and sensibilities.

Riko Tanaka who plays Sailor Moon in the North American tour also commented on the format saying “The format of the production is actually that they have the Super Live musical, and then at the end, there is a second part, which is almost like a concert, and they play all the super classic hits from Sailor Moon. So it’s kind of a different setup and that part when you switch to the concert is really exciting. Because, you know, up to that point, they’re doing all this storytelling, which is great, but then once you switch to the concert, the beloved characters come out and do their known music.” “There’s characters like Tuxedo Mask and Queen Beryl and they have their number where they’re belting it out, and the characters, Sailor Moon and everybody are in the back enjoying it and cheering on as well. So it’s like a really fun part and I think that kind of resonates with the audience as well.”

Tanaka also talked about the what it is about the character that make fans love her so much. “The main character, Usagi, is a really charming, kind of a little clumsy, fun character that people want to just kind of reach out and help almost. And then there’s this other, Sailor Moon, which is like the fighting, really powerful, strong, enigmatic character that is like unbeatable. And that contrast between the two makes it very interesting and attractive, I think. And I feel like keeping that gap is something that makes it very interesting to people.” I asked Tanaka what it was like to take on such an iconic role? “definitely it’s been incredible to be selected and of course all my family, my relatives, everybody was like, oh my God, that’s amazing and they were very happy about it and they were celebrating it. But of course, this is a role that has been very important within this industry. So my fellow actors who understand the significance of the role have been so encouraging and they have been celebrating with me this achievement. Not only just to portray the role, the beloved Sailor Moon, for the people all over the world who love Sailor Moon, but I do it also as me, as an actor. This is going to be my main rise to fame role. So it is something that I take with such honor, and the responsibility is felt, but I’m very excited about it too.” Producer Matsuda added “So actually in Japan There is very few auditions, not as much as you think. But, that being said, every young actress in Japan wants to play Sailor Moon, so there’s a lot of people who apply. So she [Riko] is very casual about it, but this is a really big deal though that she won the Sailor Moon position”.

Tanaka remembers that her first exposure to Sailor Moon was the anime series when she was three or four years old. “It was at that age when you kind of played the character with your friends and stuff. And, actually my favorite character was Sailor Jupiter.” Choreographer for the show Satomi Toma talked about going back to the original manga’s for inspiration “Once I got involved in this production, I had the opportunity to reread the original manga. And I was so moved and impressed by like this elegant line, the beauty of how it’s being portrayed. Talking about choreography, how her hair moves, how her skirt flitters and like that sense is something that I really wanted, that sense of awe. I do want to keep in the production as well that impression that it had on me, it was very strong. There’s a color version as well, but especially the black and white version, I feel like that line is something that left an impression on me when I was looking at the original comic for the first time.”

Matsuda hopes that audiences take away three things from Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon the Super Live “The first message is this is also a message about peace and how there’s a lot of fighting and action, but it is about how that is a sad thing and how important it is to know how precious peace is. The second thing is the message of love. Sailor Moon is loved by generations of people. We see people, mother and daughter that come together and enjoy. Different generations that come together and they go and are very happy about it. And we want people to, you know, after seeing it, feel the sense of love doesn’t have to be certain partners or anything. It could be, I want to just call my mom and say hello, that kind of love as well. A message of love is something that is really compassion and love is something that’s important. And this is probably the most important thing. I want people to feel energized. We get energized from the feedback from the audience, the love that we receive is something that’s so contagious and we will hope that the audience feels that love and excitement and feel really fresh and energized through seeing our production as well. So those are the three things that I hope the audience could feel when they come see the super live.”

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