Off-Broadway
7 March 2026
Katsura Sunshine’s Rakugo mixes education, storytelling, comedy, and tradition to bring the over 400 years old art form of Rakugo to life. Written, directed, and starring Katsura Sunshine himself, who apprenticed under Master Katsura Bunshi VI (a three year apprenticeship is necessary to become a Rakugo storyteller), is only the second Master of the art form who is not Japanese, and currently the only Western Master performing Rakugo professionally, this show is simply fun.
In an incredibly self-aware show that fully acknowledges and understands that a large portion of the audience has likely never seen or perhaps even heard of Rakugo before. Due to this, we are given a Rakugo 101 crash course — the storyteller begins with a gratitude filled greeting, the audience must applaud at the appropriate time (tradition and culture dictate it), the performance begins with a few opening jokes, then a story is told. The storyteller performs as every character and signifies a character change by turning their head. Additionally the story must end in a punchline. Lastly, we learn that a Rakugo storyteller traditionally wears a kimono, sits in an…uncomfortable position, and the only props used are a folding fan and a handmade hand towel.
Admittedly, I had some concern before I saw this show. My first thought upon seeing Katsura Sunshine’s poster and realising this is performed by someone who is not Japanese was, “Oh no, please don’t be cultural appropriation”. I was very pleasantly surprised to find the entire show to be more of a love letter to the culture, the art, and nothing but respectful. How much Katsura Sunshine loves the culture and his passion to bring Rakugo across the globe is evident.
As is traditional for Apprentices, three out of four of Katsura Sunshine’s performed as well. Katsura Sunflower was the first to take the stage. She’s also an opera singer and incorporated her singing ability into her story. Katsura Moonlight then took her turn and told a silly story about being young, in love, and getting some help from relatives. In‑between two of Katsura Sunshine’s stories, Katsura Sunny took the stage to tell a story of miso beans – one of the oldest stories to be passed down from Master to Apprentice.
In what I can only describe as a treat, Katsura Sunshine chose to retell Katsura Sunny’s story, but he offers to do it in neither English nor Japanese. The audience is polled to determine if the language should be Chinese or Italian. With at least one audience member saying they speak Chinese, another who speaks Italian, and a crowd split down the middle, Katsura Sunshine performed one character in Chinese and the other in Italian. And it was brilliant. I found myself even more impressed when he interjected the story to explain the onomatopoeia/sound effect he was making was neither Chinese nor Italian, but a Japanese one used to indicate scooping something.
The entire performance is filled with improvisation, self‑awareness, and funny anecdotes of the cultural differences between Japan and North America. My favourite example of this happened when the audience did not react the way Katsura Sunshine anticipated. The audience was informed of the response the line usually gets, but he blamed himself as the performer, asked if he could try again, reset, delivered the line again, but in a more over‑the‑top, emotional way. When the audience responded with the correct answer, but matching his over‑enthusiasm, we were promptly called out for it.
Katsura Sunshine’s Rakugo mixes education, storytelling, comedy, and tradition to bring the over 400 years old art form of Rakugo to life. With a comedic style similar to Suzy Eddie Izzard, an impressive multilingual story (four languages!), traditional specific phrases or actions by both the performer and the audience, a high level of improvisation, and self‑awareness, this show manages to be nothing but a fun.
Katsura Sunshine’s Rakugo is performed once per month at New World Stages. This show is one that should not be missed.