Gender Gymnastics: Performing and Consuming Japan's Takarazuka Revue (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781876843519)

The artifice of gender performance - sometimes playful, mostly conscientious - has enthralled and entertained audiences of Japan's all-female Takarazuka Revue for more than 90 years. The dashing male-role players in its musical theatre productions enjoy the adulation of a predominantly female audience for whom these handsome idols represent ideal masculinity, while, at the same time, these 'men' in turn are reflected and magnified by the overwrought femininity of their female-role counterparts. This volume resounds with the voices of those closest to Takarazuka, the girls and women who have danced, sung, and acted in its limelight. Using exclusive interviews, historical records, autobiographies, and years of close-hand observations, former Revue translator and voice actor Leonie Stickland extensively explores the aspirations, endeavors, and experiences of Takarazuka's creators, performers, and adoring fans. Stickland's book simultaneously elucidates gender issues which have impacted upon the life-stages of women in Japan throughout the past century.

Author: Leonie Stickland, Leonie Stickland Phd
ISBN-10: 1876843519
ISBN-13: 9781876843519
Publisher: Trans Pacific Press
Language: English
Published: 09/01/2008
Pages: 281
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.90lbs
Size: 8.30h x 5.40w x 0.80d

Review Citation(s):
Reference and Research Bk News 02/01/2009 pg. 284