My Neighbour Totoro, which had been scheduled to play its final performance January 10, 2027, at the Gillian Lynne Theatre, will now end its West End run a week earlier. The closing performance will now be January 3.
The production is adapted by Tom Morton-Smith (Oppenheimer) from Hayao Miyazaki’s 1988 animated Studio Ghibli film.
My Neighbour Totoro is directed by Improbable co-founder Phelim McDermott. It follows two young girls, Satsuki and Mei, whose father moves them to a rural village so they can be closer to their mother, who is ill at a nearby hospital. In the forest, the girls encounter a host of spirits, including the gentle, and giant, Totoro.
The multi-award winning show currently stars Victoria Chen in the role of Mei, Helen Chong as Mei’s older sister Satsuki, Dai Tabuchi as Tatsuo, Jacqueline Tate as Granny, and Ai Ninomiya as Kaze No Koe/Singer.
The show’s Kazego Puppetry Ensemble is made up of Karen Barredo, Melisa Camba, Rachel Clare Chan, Jeffrey Chekai, Chui Yen, Phyllis Ho as Yasuko, Victor Itang, Gabriel S. Janoras, Natsumi Kuroda as Tsukiko, Eero Chen Liu (Principal Puppeteer), Kumiko Mendl as Nurse Emiko, Yui Minari, Michelle Miners, Steven Nguyen as Kanta, Richard P. Peralta, Gun Suen (Principal Puppeteer/Puppetry Captain), Sango Tajima as Miss Hara/Principal Puppeteer, Bai Zhijin and Jamie Zubairi as Hiroshi. The swings include Ronnie Lee, Wenhsin Lee, Amber Lin, Sera Maehara, and Si Rawlinson (Movement Captain).
Totoro, the stage show, premiered in 2022, where it quickly sold out the Barbican box office. It returned to that theatre in 2023, where it ran until early 2024. It also won six Olivier Awards, including Best Entertainment or Comedy Play, and Best Director for McDermott.
My Neighbour Totoro features production design by Tom Pye, puppetry design and direction by Basil Twist, costume design by Kimie Nakano, lighting design by Jessica Hung Han Yun, and movement by You-Ri Yamanaka. The production also has music from Joe Hisaishi’s score in a new orchestration by Will Stuart, performed live with sound design by Tony Gayle. Video design is by Finn Ross and Andrea Scott, the dramaturg is Pippa Hill, the casting director is Hannah Miller, and the sound effects and soundscape designer is Nicola T Chang.
Artwork for the stage adaptation of My Neighbour Totoro includes a hand-drawn title by Toshio Suzuki, producer for Studio Ghibli and producer of the original animated film. The show is brought to the stage by executive producer Joe Hisaishi and the Royal Shakespeare Company, in collaboration with Nippon TV and Improbable.
Visit TotoroShow.com.