This summer, Shinobu Ohtaka’s fantasy action-adventure manga Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic gets a stage musical treatment. Some of the stars have already been shown in full costume, but now there are seven more photos reveal the amazing transformations these actors and actresses undergo to become the beloved anime characters of the series.
Sayaka Asai, who wrote the script for the Touken Ranbu musical, will write the script for Magi. Kotaro Yoshitani, who directed Revolutionary Girl Utena, and BANANA FISH will direct the musical.
On June 3, 2022, the Musical Magi Dungeon Suite will open at the Tennozu Galaxy Theater in Tokyo and will run until June 12, 2022. The musical will be shown at the Morinomiya Piloti Hall in Osaka from June 18-19.
A special video offers a behind-the-scenes look at the preparations for the musical production. The 10-minute documentary features the play’s three main protagonists: Yugo Miyajima (of the Japanese-Korean dance-singing group ORBIT) as Aladdin, Hiroki Ino (known for his role as Tenya Iida in the My Hero Academia plays) as Alibaba, and AKB48 member Nana Okada as Morigana. Their transformations from “normal person” into anime characters are incredible to watch!
Yugo Miyajima said towards the end of the documentary, “I hope fans will see a new side of me in the Magi Dungeon Suite musical. I’m also excited that Magi fans who don’t know my band will see me as Aladdin for the first time.” I will do my best to portray Aladdin and make it a beautiful, heartwarming production.”
The Magi manga was serialized in Shogakukan’s Weekly Shonen Sunday from 2009 to 2017. The anime series aired from 2012 to 2014 and had a whopping 50 episodes! This is the first musical arrangement Magi has received.
Here’s a look at the main cast:
- Aladdin: Yugo Miyajima (JOB)
- Alibaba: Hiroki Ino
- Morgiana: Nana Okada (AKB48)
- Budel: Mitsuhiro Nagatomo (Hibiki)
- Baba-sama: Miho Sugimoto
- Goltas: Shogo Onozuka
- Hakuei Ren: Shina Tanaka
- Judal: Akito Tejima (SOLIDEMO)
- Kasim: Daisuke Hirose
- Jamil: Yuji Kawakubo’
- Ugo: Toshiyuki Morikawa (who plays Ugo in the anime series)
The story of Magi revolves around a young man named Alibaba Saluja whose goal is to conquer a dungeon named Amon to gain his riches. To do that, however, he needs a new ally. When Alibaba encounters a young boy with a powerful Djinn named Ugo in his flute, Alibaba decides to lead Aladdin to the dungeon. Despite Alibaba befriending Aladdin in the beginning with ulterior motives they eventually become TRUE friends and even conquer the dungeon Amon together. Alibaba and Aladdin aren’t the only ones interested in these dungeons, and they end up going up against a man named Jamil and his two slaves – Morgiana and Goltas.
Alibaba and Aladdin befriend Morgiana after fighting her and managing to break the mental shackles that held her to Jamil. When Alibaba claimed the dungeon, the Djinn Amon appeared and declared that Alibaba is a “King Candidate” while Aladdin is a Magi.
Unfortunately, an outside force tries to seal off the dungeon and chaos ensues. Goltas changes his mind, breaks Morgiana’s chains and decides to stay behind and die with Jamil to atone for his sins. The trio is separated and Aladdin finds himself in a distant land where he discovers he is a magician. Alibaba uses the treasure to free all the slaves in the city, including Morgiana, and returns to his homeland of Balbadd. The adventures of Alibaba, Aladdin and Morgiana continue when they are reunited in Balbadd.
