My Neighbour Totoro, on its debut run on the West End, brings a beloved Studio Ghibli story to the stage, carrying a message more relevant than ever - to never stop being curious.
The play, on at the Gillian Lynne Theatre in Covent Garden, sees sisters Satsuki and Mei, played by Ami Okumura Jones and Victoria Chen, navigate the Japanese countryside and befriend Totoro, a fantastical creature.
The show mixes physical comedy, live music and pacy dialogue to leave audience members smiling throughout its runtime, and beyond.
Ami said: "The play contains not only this magical, wonderful adventure to the forest, it's also about loss, and grief, and absence and the wonder of growing up, and the pain of growing up."
"My Neighbour Totoro is not quite like anything you've seen.
"It features live music, but it's not a musical, it's a deceptively simple and gentle but it's full of such wonder and magic, and it features some spectacular puppets of a scale that I think people don't believe."
The original, hand-drawn film was released in 1988, and it was brought to the stage in 2022 at The Barbican.
Victoria, now playing younger sister Mei, was in the audience on its first run.
She said: "When I went to see My Neighbour Totoro at the Barbican, the show ignited a light in me that I forgot I had, and I hope there are people in the audience who leave feeling a bit more illuminated from this experience as well."
It was an excellent performance, which transported you out of day-to-day life almost instantaneously, and with a unique set piece in the gigantic Totoro puppet, who delivers a masterclass in nearly silent comedy, if you don't count grunts and roars.
The show is clever, well-executed and has broad generational appeal - for those considering a trip to the West End, make sure you consider My Neighbour Totoro for a transfixing experience.
Thank you to the River restaurant at The Savoy Hotel (@riverrestaurantbygordonramsay) for providing dinner before the show. I tried the pre-theatre set menu, two courses for £37 and three for £45
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