The American stage musical adaptation of Moyoco Anno’s Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen (Bikachō Shinshi Kaikoroku) manga will premiere for the general public in New York City off Broadway this fall. It will play at The Night Egg, a new theater in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood that is named after the French brothel in the manga.
Image via Moyoco Anno’s website
© Moyoco Anno
© Moyoco Anno, Shodensha
Cork publishes the manga in English, and it describes the manga:
Beginning of the 20th century. Colette works in a brothel and entertains clients with “perverted” desires. She is leading a life without prospects. Her only happiness consists of the secret meetings with gigolo Leon, whom she feels helplessly attracted to. Even though he is visiting other women… “Perverts are people who have explored and put a shape to their desires. Just like a blind man using both hands to carefully trace the contours of a vase of flowers…” Who are these perverts Moyoco Anno brings to life in Paris, the city of flowers? This is the first new series by Moyoco Anno in eight years! After “Sakuran” and “Buffalo 5 Girls” comes another story about the strong lives of prostitutes.
Anno’s website describes the stage production as the first English-language original musical based on a Japanese manga. (The Death Note manga received a stage musical from a Japanese/American team including Broadway veterans, although it first opened in Japan after being translated back into Japanese.)
Tony Award-winning stage director and choreographer Rob Ashford (Thoroughly Modern Millie, Curtains, Frozen) is directing and choreographing the Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen musical.
Singer and composer Duncan Sheik (“Barely Breathing,” Spring Awakening) is writing the music and lyrics. Leah Nanako Winkler is writing the script. Or Matias is handling the music direction, conducting, and vocal and incidental music arrangement. Antonio Marion is the executive producer, and Kenny Kurokawa (Team Rayman) is producing. Antonio Marion, Nobu Matsukura, Shin Yamada, Yu Anne Ando, Mika Furuya, Ryohei Otani, and Yumi are associate producers.
The original 2020 announcement credited Devin Keudell of Bespoke Theatricals as general manager and Izumi Takeuchi as producer, although the project now lists Celina Lam (WJP) as the general manager. The project already received a private invite and industry-only presentation at Gibney Dance in New York City in February 2025. The musical was also planned for a “worldwide release.”
Anno launched the manga in the magazine in 2013 in Shodensha’s Feel Young magazine, and ended it in March 2018. Shodensha released two volumes for the manga. Crunchyroll has also released the first 16 chapters of the series in English. The Japanese government’s Ministry of Cultural Affairs honored the manga in the 23rd Japan Media Arts Festival Awards in 2020.
Viz Media published Anno’s Flowers and Bees manga in North America, Del Rey published her Sugar Sugar Rune manga, and Vertical published her Sakuran manga. Anno also designed characters for her husband Hideaki Anno’s Cutie Honey live-action film adaptation, which Bandai Entertainment released on DVD.
Anno’s Sugar Sugar Rune manga inspired a 20th anniversary “Sugar Sugar Rune Les deux sorcières” anime short in July 2025, with a separate, full-fledged anime project using similar CG animation to follow.
Sources: Moyoco Anno’s website, Comic Natalie, Deadline (Greg Evans)
