Anime ‘Spirited Away’ moves to a live stage

Above : “Spirited Away: Live on Stage” will begin a limited run at select area theaters beginning Sunday. (Photo/Fathom Events)

It seems as if they’ll mount a stage play adapted from any source they can find.

The “they” in the case of “Spirited Away: Live on Stage,” which will start a limited run Sunday at select area theaters, is two-time Tony Award-winning director John Caird .

Caird won the Tony first in 1982 for his direction of “The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby” and second for his 1987 direction of “Les Misérables.”

“Spirited Away: Live on Stage” is based on the Oscar-winning 2001 anime written and directed by the great Hayao Miyazaki . Both the movie and the stage play follow the adventures of Chihiro, a young girl trapped in the spirit world struggling to save her parents from a bad spell.

The project came about when Caird approached Miyazaki and producer Toshio Suzuki with his ideas for how to transform the movie into a live stage production. After some initial negotiating, trio reached a deal and Caird then faced the prospect of actually creating something.

As Caird said in an interview , “And I thought, ‘Oh Lord, I’ve got to do it now.’ ”

With the collaboration of production designer Jon Bausor and puppeteer Toby Olié, and with the addition of songs written by Miyazaki and composer Joe Hisaishi, the play opened in February 2022 in Tokyo before playing in other Japanese cities.

Caird also oversaw the film version, which is what Fathom Events is presenting beginning Saturday as part of Studio Ghibli Fest 2023.

The film will screen at four area theaters: AMC River Park Square, and the Regal Cinemas at NorthTown Mall, Spokane Valley and Coeur d’Alene’s Riverstone Stadium.

The AMC showings will be 4 and 4:15 p.m. Saturday, 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Thursday and May 2. NorthTown’s showing will be 3 p.m. Sunday and 7 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday and May 2. And both Spokane Valley and Riverstone Stadium showings will be 4 p.m. Sunday and 7 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday and May 2.

Maybe you can take time to see Miyazaki’s film sometime before or after attending the live production. As Caird himself says, “It’s one of the best movies ever made.”