Play to be debut production at new Theater Milano-za in Tokyo’s Kabukicho Tower
The official website for the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise announced on Wednesday that the franchise will have a stage play adaptation tentatively titled Evangelion Beyond that will begin running on April 28, 2023 in Tokyo’s Kabukicho Tower,. The play will be the debut stage production for that building’s new Theater Milano-za performing arts venue. Business conglomerate Tokyu and its Tokyu Recreation Co., Ltd. subsidiary are producing the play, which is expected to run until May.
The building stands on the former site of Shinjuku Milano-za, a theater that screened the Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth recompilation film. Footage of theatergoers was famously used as part of a climactic scene in the following Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion film.
Belgian stage performer and director Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui is directing and choreographing the stage play.
Evangelion: 3.0+1.01: Thrice Upon A Time (Shin Evangelion Gekijō-ban :||), the final film of Hideaki Anno‘s Rebuild of Evangelion tetralogy, opened in Japan on March 8, 2021, and ranked #1 in its opening weekend. The film surpassed 10 billion yen (about US$74 million) in the Japanese box office. The film’s new Evangelion: 3.0+1.01 version began playing in June 2021 for the film’s “last run.” The new version contains “minor revisions” to some animation sequences, but does not change the film’s story. The film debuted on the Amazon Prime Video service worldwide in August 2021.
GKIDS and Fathom Events will screen the film in Japanese with English subtitles in U.S. theaters on December 6, 8, and 11, but will also begin screening the film on IMAX on November 30, ahead of its December event screening. GKIDS will release the film on home video at a later date.
