Out of the cross-dressed history of Japanese Kabuki and Noh theater comes Takarazuka Revue, a butch/femme drag show of mammoth proportions. The 86-year-old revue renders Western musicals in an all-girl extravaganza of romance and chivalry.
In 1914 Ichizo Kobayashi, a Hankyu railway magnate, founded
Stephen Sondheim earned his musical stripes alongside the best in the business: his first foray into creating a musical was as lyricist to Leonard Bernstein's composer for "West Side Story" (1957). After a second lyrical outing with Jules Styne's music for "Gypsy" (1959), Sondheim was ready to brave