A Colossal story comes to NYC in ATTACK on TITAN: THE MUSICAL

ATTACK on TITAN: The musical has arrived in New York City. The musical is based on the popular Manga by Hajima Isayama and published by Kodansha. It is directed by Go Ueki, a UK Breakdancing champion who appeared on shows such as Grease, Footloose, and High school Musical as a stage actor, and whose past directorial works include BREAK FREE.

Eren (played by Kurumo Okamiya), looks up at Instructor Kieth, His father, and Mother.

From October 11th to the 13th, there will be live performances at the New York City Center at 131 W.55th Street. On October 10th, I’ve had the honor to be invited to a press event to experience the performance excerpts followed by photo and interview opportunities. As a huge ATTACK on TITAN fan since the first season released, and with Isayama stating that “A musical was the perfect medium to express the story of ATTACK on TITAN.” I had to see this for myself and write down my impressions on the musical.

At the press event, those in attendance would get to see live performances of 5 musical numbers from the musical as a taste of what is in store for the full performance. The first  musical number was the cadets during training under head instructor Kieth Shadis, the following scene was of Levi Ackerman during the battle of Trost, the third scene was Eren Jaegar‘s confrontation with the Colossal Titan atop wall rose with the trainees from the 104th training corps, a break-dancing segment to a remix of Guren no Yumiya, and the final excerpt of Eren singing before being joined by his friends and members of the Survey Corps as Kieth, his father Grisha Jeagar, and his late mother Carla Jaegar, watch him from above.

The main cast of ATTACK on TITAN: The Musical present during the final excerpt.

It is interesting to see a story I am so familiar with adapted to the stage as a musical over a dramatic stage play. The musical uses simple sets combined with technical effects such as projections and large puppets to bring the titan shifters to life which always impressed me as the last Broadway musical I have seen be able to pull this off was King Kong on Broadway, showcasing a massive 2,000 pound, two-story-tall King Kong marionette manned by a crew of 14 people. There is also lots of wire work to sell the illusion of our characters using the ODM gear as they fly across the stage against the set or against a projection. Another thing to note is since the production is entirely in Japanese, there are two large screens on either side of the theater which will have the English subtitles for audiences to read, which helps for those who do not understand Japanese or for those who are unfamiliar with the words to the original songs from the musical.

The 104th trainees do battle against the Colossal Titan atop Wall Rose.

What does peak my interest is the decision as to why the production is a musical, with the tone of Attack on Titan’s story and how the story plays out, seeing it as a musical is an odd choice. It gave off an unintentional comedic effect if you’re a fan of the series to see characters such as Eren, Armin, and Mikasa singing, dancing, and sometimes even breakdancing in some moments. I was fighting back a chuckle seeing that as it felt out of character, but what matters more is you can just see the cast and crew honestly having a good time and making the best out of their performance. There is a sense of passion and excitement from the director and the cast involved who are excited to bring this production to New York City for the first time for audiences and Attack on Titan fans to enjoy.

Levi ( played by Ryo Matsuda), stands ready against a regular titan within the Trost district.

ATTACK on TITAN: The Musical is a fun and different way to experience the iconic series. I came out of this having way more fun than I had expected and that comes down to the energy given off by the production team, cast, and crew involved. As of writing tickets are on sale for the performances from October 11th to the 13th. There is no news if it will return to New York City or if there will be performances in the other states, so if you wish to experience this, I would suggest getting tickets as soon as you can.