Osamu Tezuka's Jungle Emperor Leo Manga Gets Stage Musical on April 21

The official website of Akita Art Village announced on Monday that Osamu Tezuka's Jungle Emperor Leo (Jungle Taitei Leo or Kimba the White Lion) manga will inspire a musical stage play by Warabiza. The musical will run at the Akita Art Village Warabi Theater in Akita Prefecture from April 21 until November this year.

The Warabi Theater will celebrate its 50th anniversary with this stage musical. Chikae Takahashi (Shiki Theatre Company's The Boy and The Beast stage musical) is writing the script, and Takahashi's frequent collaborator Hiroshi Kuriki is directing the production. Shigure Yahata is composing the music, and Mochiaki Tsuchiya (Shiki Theatre Company's production of Cats musical) is credited with overseeing the art design.

Warabiza has previously adapted three of Tezuka's manga series into musical stage play: Hi no Tori: Ho-o-hen (Phoenix: Karma Chapter) in 2008, Atom (Mighty Atom) in 2010, and Buddha in 2013. This is the first new stage musical adaptation of a Tezuka work since Buddha.

Tezuka's original manga ran in Gakudosha's Manga Shonen magazine from 1950 until 1954. The manga tells the story of a white lion raised by humans, named Leo.

The manga's first television anime adaptation aired from 1965 to 1966, and its latest adaptation titled Jungle Emperor Leo: Hon-o-ji — one of many original animated short films screened at Tezuka Osamu World's Tezuka Osamu Animation Theater in Kyoto — premiered in 2000.