The Earth Charter inspired musical “Our Blue Planet Will it Survive Till Tomorrow?”, created by the Japan Classic Live for the United Nations group, was performed in New York at Hunter College Kay Playhouse Theatre on 1st November and at Stony Brook Southampton’s Avram Theater on 3rd November 2009, followed by two other performances in Washington DC at the Japan Information & Culture Center on 4th November and at the Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery on 5th November.
Presented in five acts, “Our Blue Planet” is featuring Jupiter melody of Gustav Holt’s “Planets Suites” as the main chorus. The performance employs not only clasicc music but also rock music. It’s fascinating stage were composed of dance, play and scenes of international conference (and over 50 performers plus 5 promintnent artists). “Our Blue Planet – Will It Survive Until Tomorrow?” is an eclectic theater piece with messages about environmental disaster that can be generated should we not take precautions today. It envisions in the year 2100 the people of Earth, living in the devastating aftermath of climate change, will look back and wonder how, when and where it all went wrong. This thought provoking production asks if the countries of the world can and will come together now to protect our planet and our future.
Produced and directed by Ms. Masayo Koike, Chair of the Japan Classic Live for the United Nations and by Professor Emeritus of Seikei University Ryokichi Hirono, this theatrical performance features violinist Kiyomitsu Obana, actor/choreographer Toshijiro Zenki, actor/singer Tekkan, and actor Hiroyuki Watanabe. Senator Wakako Hironaka, Chair of the Japan Earth Charter Committee, and Professor Ryokichi Hirono, the Vice-chair of the Japan Earth Charter Committee, played a major instrumental role on producing the play based on the Earth Charter. The play starts with an introduction to the Earth Charter, for these performances undertaken in early November in the USA it had the participation of Steven C. Rockefeller, Rick Clugston, and Peter Blaze Corcoran. In the play, the Earth Charter’s key message of poverty reduction, human rights protection including gender and child rights, nonviolence to achieve world peace and global environment conservation and protection including global warming prevention are repeatedly conveyed to the audiences and the public and the United Nations are encouragedto join the actors to explore the way forward for realizing the goals and objectives of the Earth Charter .
UNCL is a non-profit organization based in Japan. This year’s performance was co-sponsored by various government agences including the Prime Minister’s office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Environment and JICA. Activities of UNCL has been supported by national NGOs in addition to funding support from the government and and private foundations. Since its establishment 18 years ago, Classic Live has performend on the theme of environment throughout Japan, as well as Asia, Europe and the US, which include performances at the UN Headquarters in 2005 and in Geneva in 2007.
The next performance will take place (in Japanese language) on 12 December 2009 at Tokyo Women’s Plaza Hall in Tokyo, Japan (adjacent to the United Nations House in Shibuya). If time permits, Ms. Wakako Hironaka, member of the International Earth Charter Council and Chair, Japan Earth Charter Committee and Ms Miyuki Hatoyama, the First Lady of Japan, will be one of the performers on the stage, as they have often done on this Environmental Musical in the past.
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