In order to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the serialization of Tomoko Ninomiya’s Nodame Cantabile, the series will be getting a live action stage musical adaptation in the fall of 2023.

The musical will be performed at Tokyo’s Theater Creation. This is the first time that Nodame Cantabile will be made into a musical.

Additional information about the performance will be revealed at a later date.

Previously, a live performance, titled “Nodame Classic Concert”, was announced to be held at Suntory Hall in Tokyo on Oct 28 this year, as part of the 20th anniversary celebration. A planned series of exhibitions, which will be held across Tokyo and Osaka showcasing Ninomiya’s original scripts and storyboards for the manga, was also announced earlier.

The manga also got a special edition last year as part of its 20th anniversary.

Nodame Cantabile is a manga written and illustrated by Tomoko Ninomiya. It was serialized in Japan by Kodansha in the josei manga magazine Kiss from July 2001 to October 2009 and collected in 23 tankobon volumes. A two-volume sequel, called Nodame Cantabile: Encore Opera Chapter, which began serialization in the December 2009 issue of Kiss, was released in 2010.

It is the best selling josei manga in history with over 37 million copies in circulation.

Nodame Cantabile has been adapted as four different television series: as an award-winning Japanese live-action drama that aired in 2006 followed by a sequel television special that aired in January 2008, as an anime series spanning three seasons with the first broadcast in 2007, the second in 2008 and the third in 2010.

Two live-action movie sequels to the Japanese television drama, with the same actors, were produced with release dates of 18 December 2009 and April 2010.

A South Korean drama live action adaptation aired on the KBS network in 2014.

MAL describes the plot of the series as follows:

Shinichi Chiaki, the perfectionist son of a famous pianist, is in his fourth year at Momogaoka College of Music, hoping to achieve his secret dream of being a conductor. His admiration for his father led him to pursue a career in music. As much as he wants to return to Europe, his phobia of flying traps him in Japan where he now lives.

One night, he passes out, and ends up being taken in by Megumi “Nodame” Noda. Upon first glance, Nodame is a talented pianist, but she is also slobbish and eccentric. What’s even worse is that she is his neighbor and he ends up forced to work with her. Though it sounds like a recipe for disaster, Chiaki is drawn to this girl who makes him remember the love for music he once held. Just what does the future hold for this musical duo?

Source: Comic Natalie