"Peter"

[Jean W. Williams]

On Thu, 17 Sep 1998 syegul at winmag.com wrote:

> the actor who plays Kiyoami, the Fool character, is actually a she
> -- a male impersonator called "Peter". Anyone on the list know what s/he's
> also done?
> 

I don't remember from the film -- but have you not got it the other way
round?  The Peter I know is a female impersonator/singer popular on
Japanese TV.  That Peter, BTW is the real life son of National Living
Treasure jiuta mai dancer Yoshimura Yuki who is the head of the Yoshimura
school of dance.  The Peter to whom I'm referring has chosen a pop career
but is thoroughly trained in classical Japanese dance, but in terms of
choosing a successor to head the dance school (a few years ago Yoshimura
Yuki had a bout with cancer), the pop career was a bit of a stumbling
block.

Yoshimura Yuki excels in onnagata dancing, but has always done it su gata
-- in other words, "as is", or not relying on makeup and costuming to
create the effect -- which is the antithesis of Peter's career.

Now I will have to check the film again to see whether this is the same
Peter or not -- but it's not exactly a common name for performers in
Japan! :-)

Jean Williams
Dept. of Performance Studies
Tisch School of the Arts
New York University
jqw3827 at is2.nyu.edu