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Kabuki actor, producer, and director Nakamura Kanzaburö XVIII passed away on 5 December 2012, at age fifty-seven, of acute respiratory failure following a half-year battle with throat cancer.
Kanzaburö was not just another kabuki star, he was the soul of the art for a huge number of fans, and the hope for kabuki mov- ing in new directions in the future. The "XVIII" indicates that he was the eighteenth-generation actor to bear this name, and his branch of the Nakamura family has owned theaters, managed companies, and directed plays since the early seventeenth century, as well as occasion- ally providing star actors for the stage.
Our Kanzaburö was more, and did more, than all of the above. At the same time that he assiduously studied the work of his illustri- ous father and other actors of the preceding generation, Kanzaburö's dedication to kabuki's heritage as a commoners' art and his sense that kabuki needed to move in new directions in order to thrive led him to make three big innovations that proved to be immensely successful, both commercially and critically.
The foundation of Kanzaburö's success was his charisma on stage. He was a master of every sort of role-he played intense samurai avengers, lovesick shopkeepers, and women of every sort, including the horrific avenging ghost of a brutally murdered wife. Small in physical stature, he avoided playing stripe-faced martial superheroes (aragoto roles), but no one on the kabuki stage could rival Kanzaburö as a mas- ter of kabuki comedy. He brought his charisma and warm personality to these roles-every member of the audience felt that Kanzaburö was acting "just for me," and this gave him a fan base greater than any other performer. While other leading actors feel most comfortable in fancy restaurants in the company of wealthy patrons and the artistic elite, Kanzaburö rubbed elbows with fans on the street, hung out with lowbrow television comedians, and avidly followed popular trends in music and contemporary theater.
No kabuki actor had a truer compass bearing on what...