Rumi Matsui (松井るみ, born in Osaka, Japan) is a Japanese set designer and scenographer based in Tokyo. She is the president of Centreline Associates.

Biography

In 1985 Rumi Matsui completed her BA in graphic design at

Tama Art University or is a private Art school, art university located in Tokyo, Japan. It is known as one of the top art schools in Japan. History The forerunner of Tamabi was Tama Imperial Art School (多摩帝国美術学校, Tama Teikoku Bijutsu Gakkō) fou ...

and joined

Shiki Theatre Company is one of Japan's best-known and largest theatre companies. Shiki Theatre Company employs around 1,400 actors and staff, and stages more than 3,000 performances to around 3 million audience members a year. It operates seven theaters for their ex ...

. This led her into further education in theatre design at

Central School of Art and Design The Central School of Art and Design was a school of fine and applied arts in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1896 by the London County Council as the Central School of Arts and Crafts. ...

in London. After her return to Japan in 1990, Matsui began her career as a set designer and scenographer establishing Centreline Associates Inc. in 1991. She has designed over four hundred theatrical productions and won numerous awards including Yomiuri Drama Grand Prix for the best set designer and the Kinokuniya Drama Award. In 2004, her Broadway debut

Pacific Overtures ''Pacific Overtures'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by John Weidman, with "additional material by" Hugh Wheeler. Set in nineteenth-century Japan, it tells the story of the country's westernization starting ...

Studio 54 Studio 54 is a Broadway theatre, Broadway theater and former nightclub at 254 West 54th Street (Manhattan), 54th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York, U.S. Opened as the Gallo Opera House in 1927, it served ...

was nominated for the

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

's Best Scenic Design of a Musical.

The Fantasticks ''The Fantasticks'' is a 1960 musical with music by Harvey Schmidt and book and lyrics by Tom Jones. It tells an allegorical story, loosely based on the 1894 play ''The Romancers'' (''Les Romanesques'') by Edmond Rostand, concerning two ne ...

was taken to London's West End in 2010. She has also designed a number of opera sets such as Junior Butterfly for the 52nd Puccini Festival at Torre del Lago Puccini in Italy and Tea: A Mirror of Soul at

Santa Fe Opera Santa Fe Opera (SFO) is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. After creating the ''Opera Association of New Mexico'' in 1956, its founding director, John Crosby (conductor), John Crosby, oversaw the building of the f ...

in New Mexico. In recent years, she has been expanding her practice to concert set design, notably including Japanese pop group

AKB48 AKB48 (pronounced ''A.K.B. Forty-Eight'') is a Japanese idol musical girl group named after the Akihabara area in Tokyo, where the group's theater is located. AKB48 has sold more records than any other female musical act in Japanese history. AK ...

at the National Athletic Stadium in 2014. Matsui also contributed the scenic design to Korin; a play inspired by ancient mythology about the origin of Japan, which was given as an offering to and performed at Kyoto's oldest Shinto shrine Kamigamo Jinja. Matsui was a member of the jurors for

Prague Quadrennial Held in Prague once every four years since 1967, the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space or Prague Quadrennial is the world's largest event in the field of scenography, consisting of a competitive presentation of contemporary work in ...

'07 and she was listed as one of the Honorable Scenographers by

OISTAT The International Organisation of Scenographers, Theatre Architects and Technicians (OISTAT) is a non-governmental organization (NGO) founded in 1968 in Prague, Czech Republic. According to its founding name, the organization is mainly a network ...

(International Organization of Scenographers, Theatre Architects and Technicians) in 2007. Matsui is currently a guest instructor of set design at

Tokyo University of the Arts or is a school of art and music in Japan. Located in Ueno Park, it also has facilities in Toride, Ibaraki, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Kitasenju and Adachi, Tokyo. The university has trained artists in the fields of painting, sculpture, crafts, inter ...

, and remains the president of Centreline Associates Inc., one of the major theatre set design companies in Japan.

Selected works

Musical

*''

Rainbow Prelude is a manga by Osamu Tezuka, and also the name of one of his books in Kodansha's line of "Osamu Tezuka Manga Complete Works" books, contains a collection of Tezuka's short stories. The stories included in the book are "Rainbow Prelude", "The ...

'' (2014), directed by Yukio Ueshima *''

The Addams Family The Addams Family is a fictional family created by American cartoonist Charles Addams. They originally appeared in a series of 150 standalone single-panel comics, about half of which were originally published in ''The New Yorker'' between 193 ...

'' (2014), directed by Akira Shirai *''

Anything Goes ''Anything Goes'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The original book was a collaborative effort by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse, revised considerably by the team of Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. The story concerns madc ...

'' (2013), directed by Kazuya Yamada *''

Mozart, l'opéra rock ''Mozart, l'opéra rock'' ("Mozart, the rock opera") is a French musical with music by Dove Attia, Jean-Pierre Pilot, Olivier Schultheis, William Rousseau, Nicolas Luciani, Rodrigue Janois and François Castello, lyrics by Vincent Baguian and ...

'' (2013), directed by Philip McKinley *''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

'' (2012), directed by Tamiya Kuriyama *''Gold –Camille and Rodin'' (2011), directed by Akira Shirai *'' Piaf'' (2011, 2013), directed by Akira Shirai *''

Dracula ''Dracula'' is an 1897 Gothic fiction, Gothic horror fiction, horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker. The narrative is Epistolary novel, related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist and opens ...

'' (2011), directed by Toru Kikkawa *''

Gone With the Wind Gone with the Wind most often refers to: * Gone with the Wind (novel), ''Gone with the Wind'' (novel), a 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell * Gone with the Wind (film), ''Gone with the Wind'' (film), the 1939 adaptation of the novel Gone with the Wind ...

'' (2011), directed by Kazuya Yamada *''Only Yesterday'' (2011), directed by Tamiya Kuriyama *''

'' (2010), directed by

Amon Miyamoto Amon Miyamoto (; born January 4, 1958, in Tokyo) is a theater director. He has directed numerous productions in Japan and worldwide, including musicals, straight plays, opera, kabuki, and other art genres. In 2004, he became the first Japanese d ...

*''

Jane Eyre ''Jane Eyre'' ( ; originally published as ''Jane Eyre: An Autobiography'') is a novel by the English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published under her pen name "Currer Bell" on 19 October 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. of London. The firs ...

'' (2009, 2012), directed by John Caird *'' Blood Brothers'' (2009, 2010), directed by Glen Walford *''Rudolf –the last kiss'' (2008), directed by Amon Miyamoto *''

Sweeney Todd Sweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as the villain of the penny dreadful serial '' The String of Pearls'' (1846–1847). The original tale became a feature of 19th-century melodrama and London legend. A barber from Fleet St ...

'' (2007, 2011, 2013), directed by Amon Miyamoto *''Here's Love'' (2004, 2005), directed by Toru Kikkawa *''

Urinetown ''Urinetown: The Musical'' is a satirical comedy musical that premiered in 2001, with music by Mark Hollmann, lyrics by Hollmann and Greg Kotis, and book by Kotis. It satirizes the legal system, capitalism, social irresponsibility, populism, bur ...

'' (2004), directed by Amon Miyamoto *''

The Witches of Eastwick ''The Witches of Eastwick'' is a 1984 novel by American writer John Updike. A sequel, '' The Widows of Eastwick'', was published in 2008. Plot The story, set in the fictional Rhode Island town of Eastwick in the early 1970s, follows the witc ...

'' (2003, 2005, 2008), directed by Kazuya Yamada *''

The Little Prince ''The Little Prince'' (, ) is a novella written and illustrated by French writer and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It was first published in English and French in the United States by Reynal & Hitchcock in April 1943 and was published po ...

'' (2003, 2005), directed by Akira Shirai *''

'' (2000, 2002, 2004), directed by Amon Miyamoto

Play

*'' Mercury Fur'' (2015), directed by Akira Shirai *''

Sanada Ten Braves The are a fictional group of ninja that assisted the warlord Sanada Yukimura during the Warring States era of Japan; that is, the late Sengoku period and its immediate aftermath, also known as the Azuchi–Momoyama and the early Edo periods. ...

'' (2014), directed by

Yukihiko Tsutsumi is a Japanese television and film director. He began directing commercials and music promotion videos as an employee of Nippon Television. After spending time abroad, he returned and started his own production company, ''Office Crescendo'', from ...

*'' Pygmalion'' (2013), directed by Keiko Miyata *''

Lost in Yonkers ''Lost in Yonkers'' is a play by Neil Simon. The play won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Production The play premiered at The Center for the Performing Arts in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on December 31, 1990, then moved to Broadway at ...

'' (2013), directed by

Kōki Mitani is a Japanese playwright, screenwriter, actor and film director and was previously married to Japanese actress Satomi Kobayashi. He was named after ''Taihō Kōki'', the youngest Rikishi, sumo wrestler to become yokozuna. He studied dramatics ...

*'' True West'' (2013), directed by Scott Elliott *''Bun to Fun'' (2013), directed by Tamiya Kuriyama *''Headache, Stiff Neck, Ichiyo Higuchi'' (2013), directed byTamiya Kuriyama *''

The Dresser ''The Dresser'' is a 1980 West End and Broadway play by Ronald Harwood, which tells the story of an aging actor's personal assistant, who struggles to keep his charge's life together. Plot Harwood based the play on his experiences as dress ...

'' (2013), directed by Kōki Mitani *''Soldiers in the Tree'' (2013), directed by Tamiya Kuriyama *''Sonan,'' (2012), directed by

Yukiko Motoya is a Japanese novelist, playwright, theatre director, and former voice actress. She has won numerous Japanese literary and dramatic awards, including the Akutagawa Prize, the Noma Literary New Face Prize, the Mishima Yukio Prize, the Kenzaburo ...

*''

The King's Speech ''The King's Speech'' is a 2010 historical drama film directed by Tom Hooper and written by David Seidler. Colin Firth plays the future King George VI who, to cope with a stammer, sees Lionel Logue, an Australian speech and language ther ...

'' (2012), directed by Yumi Suzuki *''Yabuhara, the Blind Master Minstrel'' (2012), directed by Tamiya Kuriyama *''

The Cherry Orchard ''The Cherry Orchard'' () is the last play by Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. Written in 1903, it was first published by '' Znaniye'' (Book Two, 1904), and came out as a separate edition later that year in Saint Petersburg, via A.F. Marks Pu ...

'' (2012), directed by Kōki Mitani *''The Sister'' (2011), directed by Masahiko Kawahara *''Crazy Honey'' (2011), directed by Yukiko Motoya *''Rain'' (2011), directed by Tamiya Kuriyama *''

Top Girls ''Top Girls'' is a 1982 play by Caryl Churchill. It centres on Marlene, a career-driven woman who is heavily invested in women's success in business. The play examines the roles available to women in old society, and what it means or takes for a ...

'' (2011), directed by Yumi Suzuki *''Jeanne d'Ark'' (2010), directed by Akira Shirai *''

Harper Regan ''Harper Regan'' is a two-act stage play, play by Simon Stephens that premiered at the Royal National Theatre, National Theatre in 2008. Setting Set in UK, Autumn of 2006 : from Uxbridge to Stockport to Manchester and back. Synopsis One woman' ...

'' (2010), directed by Keishi Nagatsuka *''

Macbeth ''The Tragedy of Macbeth'', often shortened to ''Macbeth'' (), is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambiti ...

'' (2010, 2013), directed by

Mansai Nomura Nomura Mansai II (二世野村萬斎, ''Nisei Nomura Mansai''; born Takeshi Nomura (野村武司); April 5, 1966) is a Japanese ''kyōgen'' and film actor. He played Abe no Seimei in '' Onmyoji'' and '' Onmyoji 2'', an original work by Baku Y ...

*'' The Seafarer'' (2009), directed by Tamiya Kuriyama *''Sakurahime'' (2009), Kazuyoshi Kushida *''Henry IV'' (2009), directed by Akira Shirai *''Shun-kin'' (2008, 2009, 2010, 2013), directed by

Simon McBurney Simon Montagu McBurney (born 25 August 1957) is an English actor, playwright, and theatre and opera director. He is the founder and artistic director of the Complicité, Théâtre de Complicité, London. He has had roles in the films ''The Manch ...

''Review: 'Shun-kin' knows the art of seduction''
Charles McNulty, ''

The LA Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper in the U.S. and the larges ...

'', Los Angeles, 28 Sep 2013. Retrieved 15 September 2015. *''Kuni Nusubito'' (2007, 2009), directed by Mansai Nomura *''Hysteria'' (2007), directed by Akira Shirai *'' The Fastest Clock in the Universe'' (2003), directed by Akira Shirai *''Pitchfork Disney'' (2002), directed by Akira Shirai *''

The Elephant Man Joseph Carey Merrick (5 August 1862 – 11 April 1890) was an English man known for his severe physical deformities. He was first exhibited at a freak show under the stage name "The Elephant Man", and then went to live at the London Hospital, ...

'' (2002), directed by Keiko Miyata

Opera

*''

Die tote Stadt (German for ''The Dead City''), Opus number, Op. 12, is an opera in three acts by Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897–1957) set to a libretto by Paul Schott, a collective pseudonym for the composer and his father, Julius Korngold. It premiered in ...

'' (2014), directed by Tamiya Kuriyama *'' Lear'' (2013), directed by Tamiya Kuriyama *''

Die Fledermaus ' (, ''The Bat'', sometimes called ''The Revenge of the Bat'') is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée, which premiered in 1874. Background The original literary source for ' was ...

'' (2013), directed by Akira Shirai *''

La Damnation de Faust ''La Damnation de Faust'' (English: ''The Damnation of Faust''), Op. 24 is a French musical composition for four solo voices, full seven-part chorus, large children's chorus and orchestra by the French composer Hector Berlioz. He called it a ' ...

'' (2010), directed by Sakiko Oshima *''

Otello ''Otello'' () is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on William Shakespeare, Shakespeare's play ''Othello''. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, first performed at the La Scala, Teatro alla Scala, M ...

'' (2010), directed by Akira Shirai *'' La Traviata'' (2009), directed by Amon Miyamoto *''

Turandot ''Turandot'' ( ; see #Origin and pronunciation of the name, below) is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni. Puccini left the opera unfinished at the time of his death in 1924; it ...

'' (2008), directed by Amon Miyamoto *'' Tea: A Mirror of Soul'' (2007, 2010, 2013), directed byAmon Miyamoto *''

Daphne Daphne (; ; , , ), a figure in Greek mythology, is a naiad, a variety of female nymph associated with fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of freshwater. There are several versions of the myth in which she appears, but t ...

'' (2007), directed by Sakiko Oshima *''White Nights'' (2006, 2009), directed by Akira Shirai *''Junior Butterfly'' (2006, 2014), directed by

Masahiko Shimada is a Japanese writer. He has won the Noma Literary New Face Prize, the Izumi Kyōka Prize for Literature, the Itō Sei Literature Prize, and the Mainichi Publishing Culture Award. His work has been translated into English. Biography While st ...

Takarazuka Revue The is a Japanese all-female musical theatre troupe based in Takarazuka, Hyōgo, Takarazuka, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. Women play all roles in lavish, Broadway theatre, Broadway-style productions of musicals and stories adapted from films, nov ...

*Star Troupe: ''South Pacific'' (2013), directed by Ryo Harada *Flower Troupe: ''Poetry of Love and Revolution - Andrea Chénier-'' (2013), directed by Keiko Ueda *Snow Troupe: ''Spring Lightning'' (2013), directed by Ryo Harada

Concert

: Spring Concerts (2014) * AKB48: Summer Tour (2013)

Awards

*38th Kazuo Kikuta Drama Award (2013) *19th Yomiuri Grand Drama Award for Best Designer (2012) *15th Yomiuri Grand Drama Award for Best Designer (2008) *59th

Nominee for the Best Scenic Design of a Musical (2005) *Yomiuri Grand Drama Award for the Grand Prix of Best Designer (2002) *Kinokuniya Drama Award (2002) *Novi Sad International Theatre Festival Special Jury's Award (2001) *8th Yomiuri Grand Drama Award for Best Designer (2000) *Kisaku Ito Award for newcomers (1997)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Matsui, Rumi Living people Japanese artists Japanese scenic designers Broadway scenic designers Year of birth missing (living people)