Takarazuka Revue

Japanese all-female theatre troupe Takarazuka Revue宝塚歌劇団Read western style, left-to-right, then top-to-bottomParisette, 1930Formation1913 (1913)TypeTheatre groupLocations Takarazuka Hyōgo Prefecture Japan Websitekageki.hankyu.co.jp The Takarazuka Revue (Japanese: 宝塚歌劇団, Hepburn: Takarazuka Kagekidan) is a Japanese all-female musical theatre troupe based in Takarazuka, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan that was formed in 1913. Women play all the roles in Broadway-style productions of musicals and stories adapted from films, novels, shōjo manga, and Japanese folktales. The Takarazuka Revue Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Hankyu Railway company. History Takarazuka Grand Theater (Hyōgo Prefecture) The Takarazuka Revue was founded by Ichizō Kobayashi, an industrialist-turned-politician and president of Hankyu Railways, in Takarazuka, Japan in 1913. The city was the terminus of a Hankyu line from Osaka and already a popular tourist destination because of its hot springs. Kobayashi believed that it was the ideal spot to open an attraction of some kind that would boost train ticket sales and draw more business to Takarazuka. Since Western song and dance shows wer