Sanyutei Aro performs an unusual form of rakugo accompanied by Greg Robic on the accordion.

They may have come from different corners of the world, but one thing Greg Robic and Sanyutei Aro have in common is a desire to create a genre of unprecedented, freewheeling entertainment.

Two years ago, Robic went to see rakugo comic Aro perform at a local temple in Kanagawa Prefecture. What fascinated the Canadian playwright-composer was not the entertainer's ludicrous monologues but his artistic background.

During the performance the professional comic announced to the audience that he'd landed a role in the Japanese production of the mega-hit musical ``Les Miserables,'' based on Victor Hugo's 1862 epic novel of the same title, which ran from July to September in 2003 at Tokyo's Imperial Theater.

``It was puzzling for me why a rakugo comic would tread the boards of musical theater,'' Toronto native Robic said, speaking fluent Japanese throughout the interview.

So, as soon as the show was over, he chased after Aro and learned that the storyteller used to be a member of the Shiki Theater Company, one of Japan's prominent theatrical companies famed for its musical productions.

Robic began his theatrical career in Canada with 1994's ``Clouds,'' a musical adaptation of an ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes. When he arrived in Japan in 1999, he had no idea how to revive his artistic activities here.

Aro was also in a struggling phase.

``Almost six years have passed since I dived into the world of rakugo storytellers in 1997, but people often said I still had a lingering attachment to the days when I was a stage actor. So I was exploring a way to put myself in a new perspective,'' says the 42-year-old rakugo comic.

Together, the Japanese and the Canadian came up with an idea to incorporate elements of musical theater, an art form at which both are adept, into rakugo.

Robic and Aro formed Allegro in 2003, a duo that crafts what they call ``musical rakugo,'' along with comic songs and short monologues performed to the accompaniment of Robic's accordion.

``It may seem like a fusing of a Western genre with a Japanese one, but I think it's actually a very natural match that strikes at the universality of theater,'' says Robic, 34.

He says that rakugo has an underlying structure of makura introduction, hanashi or main story, and ochi punch lines, as the musical theater starts with an overture, leading to a main story and a finale.

``I also really feel that rakugo is an inherently musical genre. I can hear music in the intensity of expressions of storytellers. When Sanyutei Enjo, Aro's master and mentor, begins his story, he starts at just above a whisper and you have to really strain to hear him. But when his story reaches its climactic ending, his voice becomes a crescendo--he engulfs you like a symphony orchestra,'' Robic explains.

Last year, they co-created their first original story ``Master Thenardier.''

With music by Robic and story by Aro, the tale, mostly told through singing, recounts the earlier life of Thenardier, a rascally innkeeper, who Aro played in the musical production of ``Les Miserables.''

``For Thenardier, money is everything. In the process of having my own take on my character, I wondered how he grew up and became such a man who buys his inn with the valuables he strips from the corpses on a battlefield. That inspired me to write the story,'' says Aro.

``I also integrated some parodies of such classical rakugo stories as `Unagiya' (The eel shop) and `Dobutsuen' (The zoo) into the story,'' adds Aro.

Accompanied by pianist Reiko Torii, Aro kneels on a cushion and showcases his vocal dexterity through the series of hilarious vignettes, while switching back and forth seamlessly between several characters himself--from a sweet-voiced little Thenardier to a gruff aunt who horribly abuses Thenardier.

Last August, Robic, Aro and Torii brought ``Master Thenardier'' to the Japanese Canadian Cultural Center in Toronto and performed it in English to a packed house.

The two-day performance was well received by the local audience, who had never watched a Japanese sit-down comedy-a performance in which a single comic, clad in kimono and seated on a cushion, plays multiple characters with minimal props such as a fan and a hand towel.

``Since it was my very first time to deliver rakugo in English, I got really nervous. But I felt enormous pleasure when I heard roars of laughter from the audience,'' recalls Aro.

``I was able to catch the word `amazing' from the spectators even though I didn't understand what it meant,'' says Aro with a chuckle.

This year, they are scheduled to perform again in Canada at the Summerworks Theater Festival and they will introduce their musical rakugo in Adelaide, Australia, next year.

``We are now developing our repertoire, thinking about spoofs of such musical masterpieces as `Cats,' `West Side Story,' and `The Phantom of the Opera,''' says Aro.

Known to his family as Kosaku Kijitori, Aro was born in 1963 in Kagawa Prefecture, and joined the Shiki Theater Company in 1988.

His credits include such stage productions as ``Hamlet,'' ``Crazy for You,'' and ``Jesus Christ Superstar,'' to name just a few, but his life began to take an unexpected turn at 34 when he decided to take off his tap shoes to become a professional rakugo comic under masters Shunputei Koasa at first and then Sanyutei Enjo since 2001.

``Even if you are a zenza novice performer, you are allotted 15 minutes onstage to create and express everything by yourself. I was fascinated by such a world,'' he says.

``Besides, I thought rakugo is the ultimate one-man theatrical play,'' adds Aro, who was promoted to the second-highest rank of futatsume in November 2002.

Robic grew up with music all around him since his childhood, especially influenced by his Slovenian grandparents. He was born in 1970 in Toronto and studied ancient Greek theater at the University of Toronto. Although he learned some jazz theory, he is basically self-taught as a composer.

``At some point, I read about similarities between such Japanese traditional performing arts as Noh and Kabuki and ancient Greek theater, so I decided to visit Japan for six months in 1999 and have now stayed for six years,'' says Robic, who taught English and drama at the Kawamura Gakuen Woman's University and Seisen University until last month.

Now, Robic is excited about going back to school as a student on a scholarship from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology after nearly 10 years since he graduated from university in his home country.

From April to August, he will study Japanese at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, in preparation for his academic research on rakugo from September at the graduate school at Bunkyo Gakuin University under the direction of Kimie Oshima, a researcher specializing in cross-cultural communication and sociolinguistics, who produces English-language rakugo performances.

Together with Aro, Robic is eager to explore more dramatic and friendlier styles of rakugo performance ``because it is a performing art with infinite possibilities'' he says.

Gaining confidence in himself after his performances in English, Aro is not timid about taking rakugo storytelling abroad.

``As long as Aro has his kimono, fan and hand towel and I have my accordion, we can create an imaginative world of comic monologue for anyone, anywhere, immediately,'' says Robic.

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Greg Robic and Sanyutei Aro will appear on March 5 (2 p.m.) and May 21 (2 p.m.) at Yokohama Nigiwaiza Theater, a 3-minute walk from JR Sakuragicho Station in Kanagawa Prefecture. Advance tickets are 2,000 yen for adults and 1,000 yen for students. Call Company Allegro at 045-900-4767 or visit < www.geocities.jp/allegrocompany >.(IHT/Asahi: February 26,2005)