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Bio: He was born October 12, 1950 as Kaga Katsuda (also known as Katsuta Shigekatsu) in Ishikawa, Japan. He sings baritone, is about 5'8" tall and prefers golf in his free time.
The MC of Kitchen Stadium: The premise behind Iron Chef is that a wealthy and eccentric gourmet (portrayed by Kaga Takeshi) lives in his castle with a battalion of fine chefs. He delights in staging food battles between his honored Iron Chefs and premiere chefs of the culinary world. It's that eccentric nature of Kaga's character that accounts for the sequined and Liberace-esque wardrobe that he sports. Kaga is actually the only actor on the show. Everyone else really is a chef or sportscaster or knowledgeable food specialist. Kaga's role was also titled "Emcee" instead of "Chairman" in some of the subtitled shows I watched. Stage History: Kaga was in the red cast of Japan's 1994 production of Les Miz as Jean Valjean (picture to the left). If you think you've seen him decked out in that costume before, it may have been in the PBS special (which seems to air annually) that shows the international casts of Les Miserables (available in DVD form as the "Les Miserables Dream Cast"). He was also the first Japanese Tony in West Side Story (1977) as well as the first Japanese Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar (1976). |
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