Did not find a thread for this actor. Forgive if I am duplicating.

Just saw interesting piece of news about Somegoro. He and his father and his little son ,aged 4, all appeared in Kabuki recently. It was the debut for the boy and he is now the youngest to debut in Kabuki. They were doing a lion dance which apparently is used for young boy's first appearance. You never saw a father looking more proud than Somegoro.

I happen to like this actor, although his Kabuki appearances prevent him doing a lot of film or TV. His sister is Matsu who has worked a lot with Kimura Takyu. He has also worked with KT in drama 'PRIDE'

Peggy

Kabuki actor Ichikawa Somegoro hospitalized due to fall

On the night of August 27th, Kabuki actor Ichikawa Somegoro fell from the stage about 3 meters down, during his performance at the National Theatre of Japan in Tokyo, and was transported to a hospital by an ambulance. According to the parties concerned, he is conscious and the injuries are not life-threatening.

The performance for the day was to celebrate Ichikawa�fs father and Kabuki actor Matsumoto Koshiro�fs 70th birthday, however, because of this accident, the performance was discontinued.

According to Shochiku Co., Ltd., Ichikawa was found to have contusion on the right side of his head and body. The performance for the 28th will thus be postponed, and Ichikawa�fs appearance at Shinbashi Enbujo, where he was scheduled to perform next month, will be cancelled as well.

Matsumoto Koshiro commented, �gI am terribly sorry for making everybody worried. I feel relieved that his injury is not as serious as I thought.�h

Source: NHK NEWS WEB

P.S. Thanks for starting this thread Peggy
If I hear any more news, I'll update it.

Maybe it's just me, but I always thought Ichikawa:

and baseball player Kaz Ishii:

looked a lot alike.

Gage,
thanks for the news altho very depressing. I do hope he will be OK and recover enough to do kabuki again. It takes a lot of physical effort as well as knowing the plays to do a proper Kabuki role. I really liked him when I saw hm in dramas and film. He is not really young now but he still looks very attractive and is a good actor.
Bring on all the Chinese and Korean herbs etc etc...

I can't find a link anywhere on the web, but they did a short piece about him today on FCI News. He seems to be fully recovered, they said he will be returning to the stage next year in February.

I'll keep looking to see if I can come up with anything else.

NHK has a series called "Kabuki Kool". Somegoro Ichikawa is the host. Mikami2010's YouTube channel has some of the episodes. Here is episode 1:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLFK9uQihWA

Somegoro Ichikawa to star in TV Asahi SP "Onmyouji"

Ichikawa Somegoro and KinKi Kids' Domoto Koichi will be working together in the TV Asahi drama "Onmyouji" which is based on the novel by Yumemakura Baku and due to be shown in summer this year. Ichikawa will play the lead Abe no Seimei while Domoto will play Abe's buddy Minamoto no Hiromasa. The same novel had been made into a NHK drama starring SMAP's Inagaki Goro and two movies starring Nomura Mansai in the past. This will be Domoto's first appearance in a period drama while Ichikawa last played Abe in the opening kabuki production "Onmyouji" in 2013 when the Kabukiza was reopened after renovations. As compared to the previous editions, this drama SP will make use of latest computer graphics to portray the world of the onmyouji, the monsters and magic. Filming was done primarily in Oshu City, Iwate Prefecture over a month from early May.

Domoto admitted that it was difficult for him to get used to wearing a wig and the Heian period clothes but said that it was a precious opportunity for him to take part in this drama and learn from Ichikawa who seemed fully at ease about being Abe. In addition, as Minamoto was supposed to be a famous flute player, Domoto had to spend a lot of time practising especially since he knew little about Gagaku.

Co-stars also include Kawahara Kazuhisa who is also Ichikawa's brother-in-law in real life, Wada Masato, Musaka Naomasa, Shigaki Taro, Uesugi Shozo, Hinagata Akiko, Wada Toshihiro, Jinbo Satoshi, Kunimura Jun.

Source: Oricon

A kabuki actor and a guy from a boy band. The contrast in acting should be pretty striking.

I posted this here because Somegoro Ichikawa will be the main actor.

Kabuki coming to Las Vegas in May

Japan�fs elaborate all-male kabuki theater is heading to glitzy Las Vegas for a series of paid shows, organizers said Monday, in a bid to spread the classical Japanese art form to a global audience.

Japanese film and theater company Shochiku said it would present the �gJapan Kabuki Festival�h in May, including a new play �gcreated specifically�h for a theater in the U.S. gambling and entertainment center.

Kabuki is a form of traditional Japanese theater that has been performed since the 17th century. Though women appeared in the beginning, kabuki shows came to be all-male affairs combining dance, drama and music with men playing female roles.

The actors, scions of families of kabuki performers who usually begin training in childhood, don elaborate costumes, wigs and heavy makeup for performances on equally elaborate sets.

�gIt will be a new step for us in our policy of creating fresh plays that match modern tastes while retaining classic works,�h Tadashi Abiko, Shochiku�fs vice president and chief of its theater business, told reporters.

The new play is titled �gShi-Shi-O�h — �gThe Adventures of the Mythical Lion�h — and will have seven performances over five days from May 3 to 7 at the David Copperfield Theater at the MGM Grand for about $200 per seat, Abiko said.

It marks the first time audiences will pay to watch kabuki in Las Vegas following free preview performances last year.

The move is also part of Shochiku�fs strategy to attract inbound tourism that is expected to increase with Tokyo�fs hosting of the Olympic Summer Games in 2020, company officials said.

Since the first performance abroad in 1928 in Russia, kabuki has been seen numerous times in other countries but repertoires were usually works from the classical canon, Abiko said.

Ichikawa Somegoro VII, who is set to be the featured performer in Las Vegas, also starred in the preview last year.

He said he wants to use the performance to demonstrate traditional techniques such as flying across the stage and quick costume changes that are mainstays of kabuki.

But he also aims to utilize nontraditional techniques such as video as well as fire and water.

�gI have set a goal this time of kabuki taking root in Las Vegas as an entertainment form,�h he told reporters.

^ Tickets now on sale:http://www.kabuki-bito.jp/japankabuki/en/

Somegoro's son (or if you prefer, Takako Matsu's nephew) will become a full time kabuki actor in January at the ripe old age of 12, taking on the name Kintaro Matsumoto IV. Then Somegoro's name will be changed to Hakuo Matsumoto II. Confused? More details here: https://kabuki21.com/kintaro4.php