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Evangelion Kabuki Project Unveils Main Cast, Staff

Flag Pictures announced on Tuesday the main cast, staff, and the Kabuki Kōkyōkyoku Dai Kyū-ban Evangelion (Kabuki Symphony No. 9 Evangelion) title for the collaboration project between Khara and Shochiku for the  festival marking the Evangelion franchise's 30th anniversary. The Kabuki performance will be held at the Stage Area of  the "EVANGELION:30+; 30th ANNIVERSARY OF EVANGELION" festival on its third and final day on February 23. Flag Pictures also revealed the key visual:

Kabuki actors Kichitarō Kamimura (Kabuki Final Fantasy X and Touken Ranbu) and Sakon Onoe will star as Shinji Ikari and Kaworu Nagisa, respectively.

Kazuhisa Tobe is directing and writing the script for the Kabuki performance. Kanjurō Fujima is in charge of choreography, and Gagaku musician Fumihiko Yamada is composing the music. 

The "EVANGELION:30+; 30th ANNIVERSARY OF EVANGELION" festival celebrates the franchise's 30th anniversary. It will be held at the Yokohama Arena in Kanagawa Prefecture on February 21 to 23. The event will feature an exhibition area featuring works from Khara creators, and a separate stage area for stage events.

Netflix began streaming the 1995 television anime in June 2019, and it describes the story:

A.D. 2015. Tokyo 3 is under attack by powerful creatures known as the Angels. The protagonist, Shinji Ikari, is chosen to pilot the Humanoid Decisive Weapon Evangelion -- the only way for humanity to fight against the Angels. The battle for the fate of humanity starts now. What exactly are the Angels? What fate awaits the young pilots and humanity itself?

Evangelion: Death (True)2 is the updated 1998 edition of the 1997 compilation of the television series with some updated footage. The End of Evangelion film provided a new ending to the story in 1997.

Shout! Factory and GKIDS launched the Collector's Edition of the Neon Genesis Evangelion television anime and the films Evangelion: Death (True)2 and The End of Evangelion in December 2021 and the Standard Edition Blu-ray Disc set in November 2021. The company began selling digital downloads for the series and films in November 2021.

The franchise has inspired numerous spinoffs, merchandise, and collaborations. Hideaki Anno, the director of the anime, founded Studio Khara in 2006. He and the studio began producing a new tetralogy of films titled Rebuild of Evangelion, which reinterprets the events in the series. The tetralogy began with Evangelion: 1.0 You Are [Not] Alone in 2007, followed by Evangelion: 2.0 You Can [Not] Advance and Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo in 2009 and 2012, respectively. Evangelion: 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon A Time, the final Evangelion film, opened in Japan on March 2021 and ranked #1 in its first weekend. Evangelion: 3.0+1.01: Thrice Upon A Time (Shin Evangelion Gekijō-ban :||), the new version of the final Evangelion film, opened in Japan in June 2021.

The Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth anime film began playing in 90 theaters in Japan again on October 10 as part of the Evangelion franchise's 30th anniversary celebration. It sold 72,653 tickets for 118,838,800 yen (about US$786,000) over the long October 10-13 long weekend. (Monday, October 13 was the Sports Day holiday in Japan.) The film ranked #10 for the October 10-12 weekend in Japan, in terms of the raw amount of yen earned. (It ranked #11 that same weekend in Japan, in terms of the raw number of tickets sold.)

The franchise already inspired an Evangelion Beyond stage play in April 2023. 

Source: Press release