Tenimyu

Musical The Prince of Tennis
Tenimyu Logo
Director	Yukio Ueshima
Choreography	Yukio Ueshima Shinnosuke Motoyama
Music	Toshihiko Sahashi
Lyrics	Yuuji Mitsuya
Screenplay	Yuuji Mitsuya Hideki Mitsui
Original Work	Takeshi Konomi
Run Time	2003–2010 2011-20XX
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The Prince of Tennis Musical (ミュージカル・テニスの王子様, Myūjikaru Tenisu no Ōji-sama), also known as "TeniPuri Musical," "Tenimyu," or "GekiPuri" (Stage Prince), is a series of live action stage musicals directed by Yukio Ueshima based on manga series The Prince of Tennis created by Takeshi Konomi and serialized by Shueisha in Weekly Shōnen Jump.

The first musical premièred in the Golden Week of 2003,^[1][2] and the unexpected popularity, especially among girls,^[3] and requests for merchandise of the show encouraged Marvelous Entertainment to follow through with the series. Each new show covers an arc of the manga storyline, though adaptations to the original story were made to fit the format. Female characters were removed, and irrelevant scenes or minor arcs were cut to move the plot forward.^[2]

At the start of the production, tickets did not sell out and the type of production was merely an experiment. Manga-based musicals were not frequently seen, if at all.^[2] But, within 5 years the musical became popular enough to demand for double casting of characters to handle the amount of performances and to allow for overseas performances in Korea and Taiwan. In addition multiple shows were live streamed into theatres all around the country to make up for the lack of enough seats in the actual venue.^[2] Eventually the musical production launched the careers of many of the "hottest" idols in Japan, like Kimeru, Kazuki Kato, and Yuu Shirota. Even Europe got a taste of the production, when three of the actors (namely Ryousuke Katou, Shintarou Akiyama and Yuuichirou Hirata) hit Paris to attend the 10th edition of the Japan Expo in 2009 ^[4][5]

In May 2010, after 7 years, 22 musicals, 5 main casts and about 150 different actors had passed,^[1] the "first season" came to an end with the last performance of Dream Live 7th on the 23rd. Not too long after the end of the first season the start of a “second season” was announced.^[6] The upcoming shows feature a completely new cast and a new script, but cover the same arcs as the first season.^[1]

Story

Ryoma Echizen is a 12 year old tennis talent. After winning the American Junior Tournament for four times in a row, he goes back to Japan to live with his Father (a former pro-tennis player). He attends Seishun Gakuen(青春学園), or Seigaku(青学) for short, a school famous for his strong tennis club and talented players. Ryoma joins the tennis club. Soon he beats almost all his upperclassmen and secures himself a spot among the regulars, the team members that get to play during the tournaments between various schools in the country. The ultimate goal from their team is to reach the National Middle School Tennis Tournament en eventually become NO.1 of the country. On their road to glory they meet plenty of hardships, but also meet a lot of new friends and master complex tennis techniques. But who'll become the NO.1 of Japan?

Performances

The first season that started in 2003 and ended after 7 years in 2010, has a total of 22 different shows. Among these, two different types of shows can be distinguished.^{[citation needed]}

1. Plot musicals : these musicals follow the story line of the manga series.^[7] There have been fifteen plot musicals in total.
2. Live concerts (so-called Dream Live’s): these are alternative performances featuring songs from previous musicals and parody-skits.^[8] There have been seven live concerts in total.

In addition to those two types, some musicals are also classified as "re-run" (a re-run of a previous musical) or as a "graduation show" (see below). The first season had 3 re-runs (the first musical, the Fudomine arc and the first Hyoutei arc) and 5 graduation shows.^{[citation needed]}

The second season started in the begin of 2011. Until now dates of 2 plots musicals are announced.^[1]

Graduation Show

The aim of the musical production is to provide young talents with a chance to develop themselves and make themselves known by the people.^[9] This doesn't mean though that each and every actor is forced to leave the series during such a show. Due to personal circumstances and different contracts it's possible to stay longer or return later in the production.※ Compared to the normal performances, the graduation show leaves space for all graduating actors to give their final greetings to the audience, before they leave the production. During the first season, these graduations shows were held about every 1.5 years (after 4-5 musicals).

• ※1: Kotaro Yanagi was accidentally hit by a car less than two weeks before the première of "Remarkable Match Fudomine", so he got pulled out the musicals early. He rejoined the first Seigaku cast for their last show and finished up as the second cast's Echizen.^[10]
• ※2: Yuya Endo didn’t graduate together with the first cast members either, because he only joined the cast during "Dream Live 1st" as a replacement of Kotaro Yanagi. He shared the role with a recovered Yanagi for a couple shows. Endo graduated on his own during "Dream Live 2nd".
• ※3: Both Hiroki Aiba and Tomo Yanagishita didn't leave the series together, with respectively the Second cast and the Third Cast, to provide guidance to the new cast members.^[8] Aiba graduated alongside the Third cast members, and Yanagishita graduated on his own during "Dream Live 5th".
• ※4: Both Kousuke Kujirai and Hiroki Aiba returned to the production later, after they already graduated. Kujirai was asked to return for the performance of "Advancement Match Rokkaku" because the actor originally cast for the role (Takahiro Tasaki) withdrew from the show. Aiba returned for the performances of "The Imperial Presence Hyoutei" because it appeared impossible to find an actor to play the role of Shusuke Fuji alongside the Fifth cast in time.
• ※5: The majority members of the First cast returned for Dream Live 7th, to perform their roles once more alongside Fifth cast as an end to the first season of Tenimyu. Eiki Kitamura, who played Takashi Kawamura only in the "More Than Limit St. Rudolph Gakuen" show with the First cast, reprised the role.

List of Performances

First Season

Second Season

DVD releases

1st Season

Musical DVDs

Supporter DVDs

Extra

Second Season

Musical DVDs

Team Collection

Extra

Discography

Each musical, excluding the winter performance of "The Imperial Match Hyoutei" and the summer performance of "Musical The Prince of Tennis" had a CD released, featuring all songs sung during the musical. Besides that 4 singles and 13 "Best of Actor Series" have been released. The singles feature multiple versions of the same song, already performed in the musicals. The "Best of Actor Series" CDs feature multiple song sung by one or two actors of the production. Some of the songs on these CDs are new, but some of them have already been performed during the musicals (by the same or other actors). For both the Musical CDs and the "Best of Actor Series" CDs box sets have been released.

Due to double casts, multiple versions of "The Imperial Presence Hyoutei" CD, "The Treasure Match Shitenhouji" CD and the "Complete Box 3" have been released.

CDs of "The Imperial Match Hyoutei in Winter" and "The Best of Actor Series 013" are only available through buying the box sets.

First Season

Musical OST

Singles

Best of Actor Series

Complete Box Sets

Second Season

Musical OST

Single CD

Review

External links

• Official Prince of Tennis musicals website
• Official Nelke Entertainment website
• Official *pnish* website

Reference list