One of Studio Ghibli’s most famous and beloved films, the Oscar-winning Spirited Away, is receiving a theatrical production in Japan. Japanese film company Toho Co., Ltd. is launching the production, and John Caird, the Tony and Olivier Award-winning director behind Les Misérables, will write and direct the stage adaptation.

“I feel so excited and privileged to be working on the first ever stage adaptation of Sen to Chihiro.  I have for many years now regarded Miyazaki Hayao as one of the pre-eminent geniuses of world cinema and the greatest ever proponent of the anime form,” said Caird in a statement. “I share a belief in all the most dominant themes of Miyazaki’s work, themes that are at the core of the Sen to Chihiro world – care for the environment, reverence for nature, a belief in the force of the good spirits within us and the empowerment of young women and men to change the world for the better.”

Main character Chihiro will be double-cast by Kanna Hashimoto and Mone Kamishiraishi. Kanna will be making her long-awaited stage debut and Mone is internationally known for voice acting in the film Your Name.

The theatrical production of Spirited Away will premiere at Toho’s Imperial Theatre, located at 3-1-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, from February through March, 2022. The theater will then tour to Osaka in April, Fukuoka in May, Sapporo in June, and Nagoya in June and July 2021.