Boys (Japanese: 少年たち, Hepburn: Shōnentachi) is a musical theatre production featuring many performers from Johnny & Associates.

The theme of the show is friendship, peace, and dreams of future by boys in juvenile prison for various reasons.

[1] Since its premiere in 1969, Four Leaves played the lead roles until 1975, and since its restoration in 2010, many young members, mainly trainees affiliated with Johnny's, have appeared in the show.

[13][14] At the press conference held on August 3, 2010 to announce the production of the Tokyo performance, a video letter was delivered from members of Kansai trainees.

According to Hiromitsu Kitayama[17] and Taisuke Fujigaya,[18] Kitagawa initially planned to debut Kis-My-Ft2 with five members, excluding Yokoo and Nikaido.

[26] At the Nissay Theater performance, they sang two of his best-known songs, "Kaimono Boogie" and "Blue Mountains," accompanied by a piano by Blüthner, which was given to Kitagawa by the late Ryoichi Hattori.

[27][28] In August 2012 at the Osaka Shochikuza, Kansai trainees A new group "Naniwa Oji", formed by Ren Nagase, Daigo Nishihata, and Ryusei Onishi, was first unveiled.

[31] Since Ryoichi Tsukada injured his right leg ligament during rehearsals on August 21 and was diagnosed with a three-week recovery, he changed his appearances to focus on talking instead of doing acrobatics.

The conflict structure between the two teams in the prison remains the same, but a story is added in the middle of the play in which one of the boys, Jesse, is deported back to his home country, United States, and sent to the battlefield as a soldier.

[36][37][38] The role of the cruel prison officer chief, who had appeared in previous performances, was played by Teruhiko Aoi, using only his voice.

[36] In the second half of the first act, which depicts 12 young people imprisoned for different reasons clashing in prison,[39] the "tub dance" returned for the first time in four years.

[41] "Guys Snow Man" was choreographed and composed by Hikaru Iwamoto, and "Japonica Style" by SixTones incorporated "Japanese" in their costumes and lyrics.

[58] A donation box was placed in the lobby of the venue to raise funds for 2018 Hokkaido Eastern Iburi earthquake that occurred on September 6, the day before the first performance.

[62] Kitagawa, who is known for planning, composition, and general direction, passed away on July 9 before the performance started,[62] and the members were advised by Tadayoshi Okura to compose and direct the showtime by Shunsuke Michieda, costumes by Kento Nagao,[63] and hair clips for goods produced by Ryusei Onishi.

[75] Although the composition of the conflict between the members in the juvenile prison was retained,[76] the theme of war is gone from this performance, and the scene of a boy dying in a battlefield is also gone.

[77] Hideaki Takizawa, who was in charge of the production, said that this was because Kitagawa was on his sickbed and did not want to include death in the theme at a time when his mind was unstable.

[78][79] Fifty years later, the scene depicted their reunion at a hotel built on the site of a former prison, where they reminisce about the past.

[79][76] Although it is believed that Kitagawa was responsible for the planning, organization, and overall direction of the project, he has already passed away,[80] so the members wrote letters about themselves, which were then adopted by the scriptwriter for the script.

[84] The production was directed by Hideaki Takizawa, but the story itself, which depicted the boys' growth in a juvenile prison, remained the same.

[88] HiHi Jets and Bishonen star in this production, which staged at the Shinbashi Enbujo and Misono-za, Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture.

"[90] The main visual was released on August 19, 2022, because it showed the performers in casual costumes in front of a blue sky-like background, instead of wearing red and blue work clothes as they did last year,[91] their fans reacted to the poster as fresh and good, and it became "Boys" became a trending topic on Twitter.

[97] At the offer of Hideaki Takizawa, who directed the production,[90] Hiroki Uchi played the role of the prison officer chief, who did not appear last year, adding depth to the story.

[100] Since Hideaki Takizawa left the Johnny's at the end of October 2022,[101] this performance was composed and directed by Hikaru Iwamoto of Snow Man.

[107] Note that the "tub dance," which was an annual performance of this series, was cut in this production[108] in light of recent circumstances.