Endless Koichi Aggrandizement. I mean Endless Shock. 10th Feb 2020.
I’d had this ticket sitting on my shelf for a while now, but I wasn’t so excited. I’ve been so down recently, I jut don’t know. I haven’t been that impressed with the times I’ve seen Shock before. (Once live years ago back when I was living in Hokkaido, I came down to Tokyo for Shock and a bunch of other shows, and at least once on DVD back when livejournal was still fandom central).
It was pretty chilly today, so I wore a long coat to the theatre which was a good decision. Yurakucho is a bit of an odd place, lots of expensive designer shops mixed in with an assortment of restaurants. I went to a vegan place for a burger which was okay.
I got to Imperial Theatre at about twenty past five, spent about fifteen minutes in the upstairs goods queue, then took my seat on the ground floor. I’ve been to Imperial Theatre a few times over the years and this was the first time on the ground floor. I was in row W near the back, but it was a good enough seat. The stage wasn’t too deep and the angle, I was sitting on the right side of the theatre, didn’t feel too bad, the fact I wasn’t looking at the stage straight on never felt too noticeable.
Not going to lie, I was only here because Ueda Tatsuya was in it. And unfortunately, he was about fifth fiddle as Domoto Koichi was fiddles 1-4.
Note: This show has basically one character name, Ayaka is Rika here. Everyone else is called by their real name, or by their job, so just roll with that.
My memory is kind of fuzzy already less than three hours after, I’m working off notes and the little memorable bits my mush brain had held onto.
So Act 1 opens with the Koichi Aggrandizement Company The Shiny Happy People Theatre Company TM performing a show. Koichi is there, doing his thing. He dominates most of the opening section, the others did not open their mouths for the first few songs (I wasn’t sure if they even had mikes at this point). There was a little section where he went flying around on a wire over the audience, who acted like it was the first time he’d ever done it. He’s been doing it years.
It’s very clearly a show and Koichi is the lead, there’s a bit with a floating car, there’s the Off Broadway Theatre Owner (Beverly Maeda) who does this little ‘The show must go on’ emphasis. My eyes rolled immediately, then there was more dancing. Rika (Ayaka Umeda), the daughter of the owner, who is in love with Koichi, and there is Ueda who is the ‘rival’, not that it matters. There is singing and dancing.
There’s also a bunch of Johnnys’ in support roles, but only Matsuzaki matters (and marginally at that). He and his friends are there.
This is where I noticed something, Koichi has a very distinct outfit, in the grand tradition of theatre lead actors, of course he stands out with a different outfit, but Ueda, his outfits in a lot of these performance scenes, didn’t really stand out from the chorus line. In this section Koichi had this distinct sequinned suit on (red I think), but Ueda had a black suit, same as the chorus line people. The only thing that made his stand out was he had some sequins on his lapels. But if I hadn’t been looking, or if I hadn’t known Ueda was significant, I wouldn’t know it from this scene.
Ueda had a brief solo here, but the mikes were bad, in this section, he didn’t quite sound like himself. It was weird.
After the show, we go to a backroom and everyone parties and sings a happy song about being happy and having a successful season as this was the last show of it. Ueda tries to outdo Koichi at this point. Koichi climbed on a box so Tatsuya was on a ladder and such forth during all the singing.
The get onto the subject of their next show and Koichi is all ‘Shakespeare’ and Ueda is all ‘WTF, you think that’s a good idea? We’re the Shiny Happy People Theatre Company TM, not the Royal Shakespeare Company’. And Koichi is offended that Ueda would question him. This struck me as very weird. Koichi is very clearly the leading man, like there is zero ambiguity in this fact, but he’s also the director? The Writer? What? Koichi gets all offended that Ueda is not unreasonably asking why Koichi wants to do ye olde English theatre and then comes hijinks. I’m not skipping anything, I swear.
You see, Ueda is in love with Rika, the theatre owner’s daughter and has a ring and everything, despite her clearly being in love with Koichi and barely even noticing Ueda exists. None of this was communicated in the preceding scenes. Anyways, Ueda gets down on one knee, looking at the floor, Rika and the others run off, Ueda opens the box to Theatre Owner Mother.
There is a jumble, and we’re shown a bunch of people ballet exercising (I liked this part) on the ground while Koichi and Rika have a scene (she gives him a necklace) on the rooftop, in casual clothes. At some point a broadway producer comes and talks to Theatre Owner Mother on the lower level, Ueda and Matsuzaki and the others come to the rooftop. Ueda tries again, but Rika very clearly only has eyes for Koichi. There’s a duet in there somewhere. It’s weird, as I’m not entirely sure that Koichi recognises Rika’s affection for him.
Theatre Owner Mother tries to tell Koichi about the Broadway producer but doesn’t get it out before they all run off. She also tells Matsuzaki to stay with Ueda and keep supporting him.
There’s a brief moment, then we open on daytime in New York. Everybody is meeting up to be happy and sing happy songs again, when Ueda comes in with a bunch of fakes roses, the ring box, and the brightest yellow suit you can possibly imagine. He looked awkward. This is the guy who always looks the odd one out in shuffle song line ups as he’s singing something cute and happy when he is not a cute, happy person. He is stoic TM. Matsuzaki is trying to help engineer the whole thing so Ueda can get a moment with Rika, but the scene jumbles into this extended number with some firefighters wrestling with a hose and some air hostesses with suitcases. Ueda is trying to give the flowers/ring to Rika, but everyone is dancing around. Matsuzaki tries to help, poorly. Ueda gets on one knee again but does it to Koichi who takes the flowers and ring, passes them off to a guy in drag who runs off followed by a police man with a whistle.
These people clearly have never been to New York. (I haven’t either).
Ueda never calls Koichi out for dicking with him in this segment as giving away the ring and flowers is just, seriously mean.
Then the scene shifts and they come to this drummer guy and there is break dancing. Koichi gets the ring back from the police man, Ueda takes off the eyesore of a jacket and rolls up his sleeves, finally looking somewhat comfortable and boogies down. He looked pretty decent here, maybe the breakdancing style suits him better.
Then newspapers appear and their show is on the front page giving them rave reviews. Theatre Owner Mother talks about the meeting she had, saying they’ve been offered a Broadway show. Ueda is all for it. He starts off with a mention of himself/his career but then backtracks when the others call him selfish for being concerned with himself. He says its a great opportunity for everyone. Koichi isn’t so sure as he only cares about singing and dancing and receiving adulation whatever next idea is in his mind.
But everyone decides, what the hell, we can share The Shiny Happy People Theatre Company TM, with more people, so let’s try it.
Six months later, they have the Broadway show. An English announcer tells us that the first half will have all sorts of dances, then the second half with have sword fights.
Koichi showboats around again, Ueda finally gets a proper solo, he does rapping which still isn’t his strong point despite being better, but it was a cool number with some nice moves and a very distinct mainly purple outfit with a neat hanging piece coming off the jacket. He moved well during this part.
Koichi then comes back with an Andulsia ni Akogarete style number featuring a lot of bright red gloves. There’s this bit where they stop and mention Ueda is supposed to be there, a little faff, then the song starts again. Ueda comes on, missing part of his outfit before getting dragged off stage by some of the others.
We get to back stage for the intermission and Ueda is furious because the stagehands messed up. I mean, based on what we see in the play, a way outsized reaction. Koichi, Theatre Owner Mother and some of the others tell him to calm down and that ‘the show must go on’ like its a cult mantra, but he is full on ‘I’ve had no coffee and someone has been taking my lunch to fuck with me’ angry. There’s a brief moment with a katana while they argue and yell a bit. Some of the performers of the Shiny Happy People Theatre Cult Company TM, are not happy possibly because of the pressures of being in a Broadway Show, including Koichi. Then the buzzer goes for the sword fight half of the show.
Rika comes on and does a Geisha style dance, then the scene shifts as samurai and bandits start fighting, capturing Rika. Ueda really shone in this part. You can easily see that Koichi has training with stage fighting, but he was very straightforward I would say, very samurai-esq, which was his role, but it paled next to Ueda, as the evil bandit with some tattoos on his chest who was waving a bow around, moving through bands of attackers, changing his sword grip, clearly adapting tactically to what was thrown at him. It was a very good character within a character moment, as you could see Koichi as the highly trained but rigid protector and Ueda as the skilled, scrappy outlaw. He even managed wrestling-esq twist around the opponent body dodge (hurricane-rana without the headscissors take down part? I don’t have a good name for it). Ueda definitely outclasses Koichi here.
This goes on for a bit as Koichi comes to lose (as part of the play within a play plot) and makes his way up the staircase to where Rika is being held by Ueda.
There is a little more fighting, when eventually Ueda ‘loses’ his sword. Koichi covers for him, another sword being brought out and the fight starts again, but Ueda stabs him and it turns out the sword is real. Blood appears, Koichi howls about continuing the show, then after a moment more, falls down the stairs in the moment this show is famous for. The curtain closes on the act.
Act 2 begins with Tatsuya walking on, being sad talking about it being a year since the incident, Koichi being in hospital, with the fade out beep, then Ueda goes into the dramatics. Ueda is acting his heart out here, but I wanted to shout, ‘Come onl, Koichi was a jerk and everyone seems to believe it was an accident, get over it’. We get a series of scenes of Koichi being on a cross, dying while Ueda sings and dances a bit. A bit where Koichi acts like the Phantom of the Opera, pulling off a mask. This section made me uncomfortable as Koichi performed a song/dance clearly in the same vein as Thriller. There’s a bunch of ghouls here and lots of drama.
A coffin is placed on the stage at some point as Ueda laments a lot. Rika is there in full funeral garb and is mean to Ueda about Koichi. Ueda pulls a short dagger and tries to get Rika to kill him. Then the coffin is opened to reveal a dead Koichi and more drama with swords happens. There is a duet bit here where Ueda was singing his heart out, but Koichi was counter singing with other lyrics and his mike was higher.
Ueda then wakes up, apparently he fell asleep outside in the rain. Matsuzaki is all ‘come on, we have work to do’.
We go to the backstage place of the Off Broadway theatre, a Nurse and Rika appear in the background, the nurse giving Rika the necklace back. She and Theatre Owner Mother lament some, Theatre Owner Mother placing a framed photo of Koichi on top of a piano by a lamp like he’s a deity, then turns out the lights. Koichi appears and after some joking around with the various members of the Shiny Happy People Theatre Company TM who all turn up, they decide ‘hey you’re back, and hey Ueda tried to carry on Broadway with Matsuzaki, but we all came back here but the Broadway show is closing, lets go see him’.
We see Ueda perform again, another nice, rock piece which suited him much more than some of the musical esq-stuff from earlier with a big chorus of people, seemingly having a good time. Then, as the performance finishes, different music starts up, Koichi starts dancing. First everyone is weirded out, then they all join in, dancing to Koichi’s song. Ueda is flabbergasted, standing there as everyone in his chorus starts dancing with Koichi, even Matsuzaki. Ueda sheds his jacket and slams it into someone’s stomach when they try to get him to join in.
Ueda comes off stage, feeling, very reasonably betrayed as Koichi waltzes in and takes what he worked for from him. Then the drama comes and Ueda has a breakdown and admits to swapping the stage sword for a real one, then in the stage fight, deliberately losing his sword so the sharp replacement was brought and stabbing Koichi because he wanted the show to stop.
Just. What.
His breakdown continues as he rails against the cult programming of the Shiny Happy People Theatre Company TM and tries to get Rika to kill him, for real this time. He also cries some on the stairs as we go to the theatre of the mind and see the real sharp sword stabbed into the floor lit ominously.
Then Rika reveals Koichi is a weird manifestation and is dead and cold. She stabs him to prove this, and he reveals he was uninjured. Some how this turns back Ueda’s breakdown as everyone gets into the idea of one final performance and rush off to prepare for it.
There was a lot of drumming here. Ueda did a section with a fan, it was a little stiff, but he clearly had worked at it. His outfits were mostly the same as the chorus except for his having a little section of gold tassels on the shoulder. Koichi had white. There was a lot of drumming. Ueda and Koichi had a nice section where they were surrounded by drums and moved around banging out the rhythm. It was neat. There was also a kata-esq sequence.
There was a bit where Koichi went flying around with ladders and some aerial dancers. We then got to the point where dancers in white appeared, a cherry blossom tree in the background. There was some more counter verse singing with Koichi drowning out everyone again. He walks towards the tree. Rika finds the necklace on the ground and he’s dead. Show done.
They all come for the bow and a lot of clapping. There was a short standing ovation. Koichi gave some thanks. Then the curtain came down.
Lord, that was bad. I’m thinking back to Dream Boys Jet a few years back, where I said I’m not expecting great story telling, but also don’t insult me with sloppy story telling.
How has this show come back every year for twenty years? I know the story has been tweaked over time, but there are massive, gaping flaws here and people still shell out for this year on year? I mean, I know I went this time but seriously?
So, first you expect me to believe that Koichi (the character), this magically talented cult leader Off Broadway star is not interested in full on Broadway? That he could put together these magical shows and star in them, but didn’t want a bigger audience? As much as he tried to seem charming and humble it came across as very fake, almost like he was deliberately antagonizing the others to get them to dance to his tune, or make them work to convince him when they shouldn’t have to. I mean when the Broadway offer comes in, he demurs, making the others convince him, but why wouldn’t he want it in the first place? His motivations come off as awkward at best and manipulative at worst. Koichi (the actor) is honestly the problem here. Were he younger and struggling for success, his performance may have had more truth to it, but here he’s showing twenty years of success and praise and he comes off as smarmy instead of charming. Manipulative instead of cautious. Had the story been meatier and the others had more chances to show their skills, he would have been a footnote in his own show.
It didn’t ring true at all that all those people, Rika, Ueda, Matsuzaki and the rest of the crew, would cut the life off their careers to stick with Koichi (the character). I mean, the Shiny Happy People Theatre Cult Company TM took issue with Ueda being happy about the Broadway offer, but why wouldn’t they also want to go? I could believe that some of them wanted to stay small, but all of them? Why did they get on his case about it, then do a 180 moments later? I mean, they full on told him he was selfish in an angry way, not a teasing way. Why was Ueda even sticking with the Shiny Happy People Theatre Cult Company in the first place? We aren’t shown anything that would make us think he had good reason to have a shot with Rika. He arguably doesn’t even seem to like the rest of the crew enough to stick around for their benefit, and he holds down the show for a year Koichi was in a coma, with only Matsuzaki sticking around out of the Shiny Happy Theatre Cult Company, and that was possibly only because Theatre Owner Mother asked him to.
(I did some brief research here, according to the stats I found, an average, original Broadway show lasts for 331 performances, with Broadway shows putting on eight a week, which works out to about nine months, give or take. Ueda was doing fine, even with the show closing.
Sources: https://www.theproducersperspective.com/my_weblog/2014/05/some-startling-new-statistics-on-broadway-musical-adaptations-vs-original-shows.html
http://www.playbill.com/article/weekly-schedule-of-current-broadway-shows-com-142774 )
The ‘Love Triangle’ was also a mess. We get no reason to see why Ueda is trying to propose to Rika. I mean, she barely seems to register him except as a somewhat outspoken and over-bearing co-star. He tries a couple of times, but she brushes him off with irritation. In story, why did no one take him aside and say ‘Hey, dude, she’s not into you, don’t give your heart to her.’? There was nothing there to suggest he had reason to think she would give him the time of day. And Koichi barely seemed to acknowledge that Rika was into him, he acts like she was being a good friend, but how could he not know? Again, it almost seemed like he was being oblivious to make her work for it, when he had no intention of letting it go anywhere.
The revelation that Ueda tried to kill Koichi was also odd. He has a full on breakdown, including asking Rika to kill him (twice, no less) as he revealed his plan to get rid of Koichi. But seriously? I mean, why go through that trouble? You want it to stop? Leave. As with the other things, it could be argued that Ueda felt like the only way to leave was to kill Koichi as otherwise the Shiny Happy Theatre Cult Company wouldn’t let him go? How did he pull himself back together immediately after baring his soul to everyone in the second act? Just what is this? I may be over-analysing things here, but what are they trying to communicate here? I mean musicals have story issues- Cats, Starlight Express are a little flimsy, story wise but there is some over-arching theme that holds them together. There is nothing here, unless the theme they have in mind is ALL GLORY TO KOICHI.
The show doesn’t even really resolve this point at the end. The show ends with Koichi’s ghost being at peace, I think. Ueda being a murderer is just left hanging there. I have so many questions. Do they call the police? What happens to the rest of the cast? They heard the truth, did they report it? Does Theatre Owner Mother keep the photo of Koichi above the piano? Does she expand it into a shrine and perpetuate the Koichi gospel? What about Rika? Does she become the high priestess? Does Ueda leave the Shiny Happy People Theatre Cult? What happened to the company next? Was Shakespeare a reference to anything? (Macbeth, maybe. Feels like a reach) Did anybody have questions about the Koichi ghost performing that one time? It’s like a fever dream.
I was biased coming into this show. I was not there for anyone but Ueda, but I was there to enjoy myself. As I was coming up to the theatre, all decked out in Shock posters, but they were all of Koichi. Inside, the posters all showed Koichi. I was worried that it would be the Koichi Power Three Hours when I stood in line for the goods and when I took my seat and I wasn’t proven wrong in the slightest.
I know Ueda isn’t on the same level of fame, but he’s a star in his own right, in a way that some of the previous ‘rivals’ haven’t been (not a knock on them, entirely, but you cast an actual debuted person rather than a theatre lifer like Yara or Uchi? Why bother? Did they refuse to do it because it was Koichi Time All the Time?). But for Ueda, where’s his big poster? He was barely out of the chorus line half the time. Why bother with him in the first place when there’s theatre specialists who would jump at the chance? (Unless something else is going on. I’m starting to wonder).
This is very much Koichi’s show. It really stands out, in a bad way, as he dominates the stage, the songs, the performances. Don’t get me wrong, he works hard, even after twenty years, but would it have been so bad for Ueda to have had a moment on the high wire? It’s not like it would be far out of his skill set, he’s been climbing ropes and hanging on wires elsewhere. And it’s not like the theatre is unequipped for it either.
Would it have been so bad for Koichi to lose a couple of solos so they could have more scenes to establish the characters? For Koichi to be called out for being a jerk to Ueda (the moment where he appears after Ueda’s performance and poaches his entire chorus in the second act strikes me as particularly egregious)? For some explanation of why Koichi is considered a theatre savant? For Ueda to face the consequences of committing murder? For the love triangle to take actual shape rather than be told it exists? They make some mention of their childhood with Theatre Owner Mother and learning to dance and stuff, but no history of the Off Broadway place they perform in or why that place matters so much to Koichi?
Just. Urgh.
Ueda wasn’t exactly a revelation here, his dancing has really improved over the past few years, but he’s clearly not a natural at it, without steps to do, he seems to fall out of the rhythm in some places and his hand shaping was weak (my old dance teacher would tell him to keep his fingers together). He very clearly has his comfort zone when it comes to dancing and it wasn’t always what he was doing here. His fight scenes though, those were an advertisement for midnight drama execs sitting on trashy fighting scripts. That’s 13 episodes and a movie just waiting to be made. He can even do his own stunts. His acting was good as well, he really gets the emotion into is voice, and it was worth a listen even with Koichi voluming all over him and everyone else.
Ayaka Umeda (Rika) was also very good, I was shocked to see she was ex AKB.
There isn’t exactly a success issue here, but I hope all involved get some good opportunities out of it, and if they do it again next year, they maybe give the story a re-edit so they can have the spotlight they deserve.
It was pretty chilly today, so I wore a long coat to the theatre which was a good decision. Yurakucho is a bit of an odd place, lots of expensive designer shops mixed in with an assortment of restaurants. I went to a vegan place for a burger which was okay.
I got to Imperial Theatre at about twenty past five, spent about fifteen minutes in the upstairs goods queue, then took my seat on the ground floor. I’ve been to Imperial Theatre a few times over the years and this was the first time on the ground floor. I was in row W near the back, but it was a good enough seat. The stage wasn’t too deep and the angle, I was sitting on the right side of the theatre, didn’t feel too bad, the fact I wasn’t looking at the stage straight on never felt too noticeable.
Not going to lie, I was only here because Ueda Tatsuya was in it. And unfortunately, he was about fifth fiddle as Domoto Koichi was fiddles 1-4.
Note: This show has basically one character name, Ayaka is Rika here. Everyone else is called by their real name, or by their job, so just roll with that.
My memory is kind of fuzzy already less than three hours after, I’m working off notes and the little memorable bits my mush brain had held onto.
So Act 1 opens with the Koichi Aggrandizement Company The Shiny Happy People Theatre Company TM performing a show. Koichi is there, doing his thing. He dominates most of the opening section, the others did not open their mouths for the first few songs (I wasn’t sure if they even had mikes at this point). There was a little section where he went flying around on a wire over the audience, who acted like it was the first time he’d ever done it. He’s been doing it years.
It’s very clearly a show and Koichi is the lead, there’s a bit with a floating car, there’s the Off Broadway Theatre Owner (Beverly Maeda) who does this little ‘The show must go on’ emphasis. My eyes rolled immediately, then there was more dancing. Rika (Ayaka Umeda), the daughter of the owner, who is in love with Koichi, and there is Ueda who is the ‘rival’, not that it matters. There is singing and dancing.
There’s also a bunch of Johnnys’ in support roles, but only Matsuzaki matters (and marginally at that). He and his friends are there.
This is where I noticed something, Koichi has a very distinct outfit, in the grand tradition of theatre lead actors, of course he stands out with a different outfit, but Ueda, his outfits in a lot of these performance scenes, didn’t really stand out from the chorus line. In this section Koichi had this distinct sequinned suit on (red I think), but Ueda had a black suit, same as the chorus line people. The only thing that made his stand out was he had some sequins on his lapels. But if I hadn’t been looking, or if I hadn’t known Ueda was significant, I wouldn’t know it from this scene.
Ueda had a brief solo here, but the mikes were bad, in this section, he didn’t quite sound like himself. It was weird.
After the show, we go to a backroom and everyone parties and sings a happy song about being happy and having a successful season as this was the last show of it. Ueda tries to outdo Koichi at this point. Koichi climbed on a box so Tatsuya was on a ladder and such forth during all the singing.
The get onto the subject of their next show and Koichi is all ‘Shakespeare’ and Ueda is all ‘WTF, you think that’s a good idea? We’re the Shiny Happy People Theatre Company TM, not the Royal Shakespeare Company’. And Koichi is offended that Ueda would question him. This struck me as very weird. Koichi is very clearly the leading man, like there is zero ambiguity in this fact, but he’s also the director? The Writer? What? Koichi gets all offended that Ueda is not unreasonably asking why Koichi wants to do ye olde English theatre and then comes hijinks. I’m not skipping anything, I swear.
You see, Ueda is in love with Rika, the theatre owner’s daughter and has a ring and everything, despite her clearly being in love with Koichi and barely even noticing Ueda exists. None of this was communicated in the preceding scenes. Anyways, Ueda gets down on one knee, looking at the floor, Rika and the others run off, Ueda opens the box to Theatre Owner Mother.
There is a jumble, and we’re shown a bunch of people ballet exercising (I liked this part) on the ground while Koichi and Rika have a scene (she gives him a necklace) on the rooftop, in casual clothes. At some point a broadway producer comes and talks to Theatre Owner Mother on the lower level, Ueda and Matsuzaki and the others come to the rooftop. Ueda tries again, but Rika very clearly only has eyes for Koichi. There’s a duet in there somewhere. It’s weird, as I’m not entirely sure that Koichi recognises Rika’s affection for him.
Theatre Owner Mother tries to tell Koichi about the Broadway producer but doesn’t get it out before they all run off. She also tells Matsuzaki to stay with Ueda and keep supporting him.
There’s a brief moment, then we open on daytime in New York. Everybody is meeting up to be happy and sing happy songs again, when Ueda comes in with a bunch of fakes roses, the ring box, and the brightest yellow suit you can possibly imagine. He looked awkward. This is the guy who always looks the odd one out in shuffle song line ups as he’s singing something cute and happy when he is not a cute, happy person. He is stoic TM. Matsuzaki is trying to help engineer the whole thing so Ueda can get a moment with Rika, but the scene jumbles into this extended number with some firefighters wrestling with a hose and some air hostesses with suitcases. Ueda is trying to give the flowers/ring to Rika, but everyone is dancing around. Matsuzaki tries to help, poorly. Ueda gets on one knee again but does it to Koichi who takes the flowers and ring, passes them off to a guy in drag who runs off followed by a police man with a whistle.
These people clearly have never been to New York. (I haven’t either).
Ueda never calls Koichi out for dicking with him in this segment as giving away the ring and flowers is just, seriously mean.
Then the scene shifts and they come to this drummer guy and there is break dancing. Koichi gets the ring back from the police man, Ueda takes off the eyesore of a jacket and rolls up his sleeves, finally looking somewhat comfortable and boogies down. He looked pretty decent here, maybe the breakdancing style suits him better.
Then newspapers appear and their show is on the front page giving them rave reviews. Theatre Owner Mother talks about the meeting she had, saying they’ve been offered a Broadway show. Ueda is all for it. He starts off with a mention of himself/his career but then backtracks when the others call him selfish for being concerned with himself. He says its a great opportunity for everyone. Koichi isn’t so sure as he only cares about singing and dancing and receiving adulation whatever next idea is in his mind.
But everyone decides, what the hell, we can share The Shiny Happy People Theatre Company TM, with more people, so let’s try it.
Six months later, they have the Broadway show. An English announcer tells us that the first half will have all sorts of dances, then the second half with have sword fights.
Koichi showboats around again, Ueda finally gets a proper solo, he does rapping which still isn’t his strong point despite being better, but it was a cool number with some nice moves and a very distinct mainly purple outfit with a neat hanging piece coming off the jacket. He moved well during this part.
Koichi then comes back with an Andulsia ni Akogarete style number featuring a lot of bright red gloves. There’s this bit where they stop and mention Ueda is supposed to be there, a little faff, then the song starts again. Ueda comes on, missing part of his outfit before getting dragged off stage by some of the others.
We get to back stage for the intermission and Ueda is furious because the stagehands messed up. I mean, based on what we see in the play, a way outsized reaction. Koichi, Theatre Owner Mother and some of the others tell him to calm down and that ‘the show must go on’ like its a cult mantra, but he is full on ‘I’ve had no coffee and someone has been taking my lunch to fuck with me’ angry. There’s a brief moment with a katana while they argue and yell a bit. Some of the performers of the Shiny Happy People Theatre Cult Company TM, are not happy possibly because of the pressures of being in a Broadway Show, including Koichi. Then the buzzer goes for the sword fight half of the show.
Rika comes on and does a Geisha style dance, then the scene shifts as samurai and bandits start fighting, capturing Rika. Ueda really shone in this part. You can easily see that Koichi has training with stage fighting, but he was very straightforward I would say, very samurai-esq, which was his role, but it paled next to Ueda, as the evil bandit with some tattoos on his chest who was waving a bow around, moving through bands of attackers, changing his sword grip, clearly adapting tactically to what was thrown at him. It was a very good character within a character moment, as you could see Koichi as the highly trained but rigid protector and Ueda as the skilled, scrappy outlaw. He even managed wrestling-esq twist around the opponent body dodge (hurricane-rana without the headscissors take down part? I don’t have a good name for it). Ueda definitely outclasses Koichi here.
This goes on for a bit as Koichi comes to lose (as part of the play within a play plot) and makes his way up the staircase to where Rika is being held by Ueda.
There is a little more fighting, when eventually Ueda ‘loses’ his sword. Koichi covers for him, another sword being brought out and the fight starts again, but Ueda stabs him and it turns out the sword is real. Blood appears, Koichi howls about continuing the show, then after a moment more, falls down the stairs in the moment this show is famous for. The curtain closes on the act.
Act 2 begins with Tatsuya walking on, being sad talking about it being a year since the incident, Koichi being in hospital, with the fade out beep, then Ueda goes into the dramatics. Ueda is acting his heart out here, but I wanted to shout, ‘Come onl, Koichi was a jerk and everyone seems to believe it was an accident, get over it’. We get a series of scenes of Koichi being on a cross, dying while Ueda sings and dances a bit. A bit where Koichi acts like the Phantom of the Opera, pulling off a mask. This section made me uncomfortable as Koichi performed a song/dance clearly in the same vein as Thriller. There’s a bunch of ghouls here and lots of drama.
A coffin is placed on the stage at some point as Ueda laments a lot. Rika is there in full funeral garb and is mean to Ueda about Koichi. Ueda pulls a short dagger and tries to get Rika to kill him. Then the coffin is opened to reveal a dead Koichi and more drama with swords happens. There is a duet bit here where Ueda was singing his heart out, but Koichi was counter singing with other lyrics and his mike was higher.
Ueda then wakes up, apparently he fell asleep outside in the rain. Matsuzaki is all ‘come on, we have work to do’.
We go to the backstage place of the Off Broadway theatre, a Nurse and Rika appear in the background, the nurse giving Rika the necklace back. She and Theatre Owner Mother lament some, Theatre Owner Mother placing a framed photo of Koichi on top of a piano by a lamp like he’s a deity, then turns out the lights. Koichi appears and after some joking around with the various members of the Shiny Happy People Theatre Company TM who all turn up, they decide ‘hey you’re back, and hey Ueda tried to carry on Broadway with Matsuzaki, but we all came back here but the Broadway show is closing, lets go see him’.
We see Ueda perform again, another nice, rock piece which suited him much more than some of the musical esq-stuff from earlier with a big chorus of people, seemingly having a good time. Then, as the performance finishes, different music starts up, Koichi starts dancing. First everyone is weirded out, then they all join in, dancing to Koichi’s song. Ueda is flabbergasted, standing there as everyone in his chorus starts dancing with Koichi, even Matsuzaki. Ueda sheds his jacket and slams it into someone’s stomach when they try to get him to join in.
Ueda comes off stage, feeling, very reasonably betrayed as Koichi waltzes in and takes what he worked for from him. Then the drama comes and Ueda has a breakdown and admits to swapping the stage sword for a real one, then in the stage fight, deliberately losing his sword so the sharp replacement was brought and stabbing Koichi because he wanted the show to stop.
Just. What.
His breakdown continues as he rails against the cult programming of the Shiny Happy People Theatre Company TM and tries to get Rika to kill him, for real this time. He also cries some on the stairs as we go to the theatre of the mind and see the real sharp sword stabbed into the floor lit ominously.
Then Rika reveals Koichi is a weird manifestation and is dead and cold. She stabs him to prove this, and he reveals he was uninjured. Some how this turns back Ueda’s breakdown as everyone gets into the idea of one final performance and rush off to prepare for it.
There was a lot of drumming here. Ueda did a section with a fan, it was a little stiff, but he clearly had worked at it. His outfits were mostly the same as the chorus except for his having a little section of gold tassels on the shoulder. Koichi had white. There was a lot of drumming. Ueda and Koichi had a nice section where they were surrounded by drums and moved around banging out the rhythm. It was neat. There was also a kata-esq sequence.
There was a bit where Koichi went flying around with ladders and some aerial dancers. We then got to the point where dancers in white appeared, a cherry blossom tree in the background. There was some more counter verse singing with Koichi drowning out everyone again. He walks towards the tree. Rika finds the necklace on the ground and he’s dead. Show done.
They all come for the bow and a lot of clapping. There was a short standing ovation. Koichi gave some thanks. Then the curtain came down.
Lord, that was bad. I’m thinking back to Dream Boys Jet a few years back, where I said I’m not expecting great story telling, but also don’t insult me with sloppy story telling.
How has this show come back every year for twenty years? I know the story has been tweaked over time, but there are massive, gaping flaws here and people still shell out for this year on year? I mean, I know I went this time but seriously?
So, first you expect me to believe that Koichi (the character), this magically talented cult leader Off Broadway star is not interested in full on Broadway? That he could put together these magical shows and star in them, but didn’t want a bigger audience? As much as he tried to seem charming and humble it came across as very fake, almost like he was deliberately antagonizing the others to get them to dance to his tune, or make them work to convince him when they shouldn’t have to. I mean when the Broadway offer comes in, he demurs, making the others convince him, but why wouldn’t he want it in the first place? His motivations come off as awkward at best and manipulative at worst. Koichi (the actor) is honestly the problem here. Were he younger and struggling for success, his performance may have had more truth to it, but here he’s showing twenty years of success and praise and he comes off as smarmy instead of charming. Manipulative instead of cautious. Had the story been meatier and the others had more chances to show their skills, he would have been a footnote in his own show.
It didn’t ring true at all that all those people, Rika, Ueda, Matsuzaki and the rest of the crew, would cut the life off their careers to stick with Koichi (the character). I mean, the Shiny Happy People Theatre Cult Company TM took issue with Ueda being happy about the Broadway offer, but why wouldn’t they also want to go? I could believe that some of them wanted to stay small, but all of them? Why did they get on his case about it, then do a 180 moments later? I mean, they full on told him he was selfish in an angry way, not a teasing way. Why was Ueda even sticking with the Shiny Happy People Theatre Cult Company in the first place? We aren’t shown anything that would make us think he had good reason to have a shot with Rika. He arguably doesn’t even seem to like the rest of the crew enough to stick around for their benefit, and he holds down the show for a year Koichi was in a coma, with only Matsuzaki sticking around out of the Shiny Happy Theatre Cult Company, and that was possibly only because Theatre Owner Mother asked him to.
(I did some brief research here, according to the stats I found, an average, original Broadway show lasts for 331 performances, with Broadway shows putting on eight a week, which works out to about nine months, give or take. Ueda was doing fine, even with the show closing.
Sources: https://www.theproducersperspective.com/my_weblog/2014/05/some-startling-new-statistics-on-broadway-musical-adaptations-vs-original-shows.html
http://www.playbill.com/article/weekly-schedule-of-current-broadway-shows-com-142774 )
The ‘Love Triangle’ was also a mess. We get no reason to see why Ueda is trying to propose to Rika. I mean, she barely seems to register him except as a somewhat outspoken and over-bearing co-star. He tries a couple of times, but she brushes him off with irritation. In story, why did no one take him aside and say ‘Hey, dude, she’s not into you, don’t give your heart to her.’? There was nothing there to suggest he had reason to think she would give him the time of day. And Koichi barely seemed to acknowledge that Rika was into him, he acts like she was being a good friend, but how could he not know? Again, it almost seemed like he was being oblivious to make her work for it, when he had no intention of letting it go anywhere.
The revelation that Ueda tried to kill Koichi was also odd. He has a full on breakdown, including asking Rika to kill him (twice, no less) as he revealed his plan to get rid of Koichi. But seriously? I mean, why go through that trouble? You want it to stop? Leave. As with the other things, it could be argued that Ueda felt like the only way to leave was to kill Koichi as otherwise the Shiny Happy Theatre Cult Company wouldn’t let him go? How did he pull himself back together immediately after baring his soul to everyone in the second act? Just what is this? I may be over-analysing things here, but what are they trying to communicate here? I mean musicals have story issues- Cats, Starlight Express are a little flimsy, story wise but there is some over-arching theme that holds them together. There is nothing here, unless the theme they have in mind is ALL GLORY TO KOICHI.
The show doesn’t even really resolve this point at the end. The show ends with Koichi’s ghost being at peace, I think. Ueda being a murderer is just left hanging there. I have so many questions. Do they call the police? What happens to the rest of the cast? They heard the truth, did they report it? Does Theatre Owner Mother keep the photo of Koichi above the piano? Does she expand it into a shrine and perpetuate the Koichi gospel? What about Rika? Does she become the high priestess? Does Ueda leave the Shiny Happy People Theatre Cult? What happened to the company next? Was Shakespeare a reference to anything? (Macbeth, maybe. Feels like a reach) Did anybody have questions about the Koichi ghost performing that one time? It’s like a fever dream.
I was biased coming into this show. I was not there for anyone but Ueda, but I was there to enjoy myself. As I was coming up to the theatre, all decked out in Shock posters, but they were all of Koichi. Inside, the posters all showed Koichi. I was worried that it would be the Koichi Power Three Hours when I stood in line for the goods and when I took my seat and I wasn’t proven wrong in the slightest.
I know Ueda isn’t on the same level of fame, but he’s a star in his own right, in a way that some of the previous ‘rivals’ haven’t been (not a knock on them, entirely, but you cast an actual debuted person rather than a theatre lifer like Yara or Uchi? Why bother? Did they refuse to do it because it was Koichi Time All the Time?). But for Ueda, where’s his big poster? He was barely out of the chorus line half the time. Why bother with him in the first place when there’s theatre specialists who would jump at the chance? (Unless something else is going on. I’m starting to wonder).
This is very much Koichi’s show. It really stands out, in a bad way, as he dominates the stage, the songs, the performances. Don’t get me wrong, he works hard, even after twenty years, but would it have been so bad for Ueda to have had a moment on the high wire? It’s not like it would be far out of his skill set, he’s been climbing ropes and hanging on wires elsewhere. And it’s not like the theatre is unequipped for it either.
Would it have been so bad for Koichi to lose a couple of solos so they could have more scenes to establish the characters? For Koichi to be called out for being a jerk to Ueda (the moment where he appears after Ueda’s performance and poaches his entire chorus in the second act strikes me as particularly egregious)? For some explanation of why Koichi is considered a theatre savant? For Ueda to face the consequences of committing murder? For the love triangle to take actual shape rather than be told it exists? They make some mention of their childhood with Theatre Owner Mother and learning to dance and stuff, but no history of the Off Broadway place they perform in or why that place matters so much to Koichi?
Just. Urgh.
Ueda wasn’t exactly a revelation here, his dancing has really improved over the past few years, but he’s clearly not a natural at it, without steps to do, he seems to fall out of the rhythm in some places and his hand shaping was weak (my old dance teacher would tell him to keep his fingers together). He very clearly has his comfort zone when it comes to dancing and it wasn’t always what he was doing here. His fight scenes though, those were an advertisement for midnight drama execs sitting on trashy fighting scripts. That’s 13 episodes and a movie just waiting to be made. He can even do his own stunts. His acting was good as well, he really gets the emotion into is voice, and it was worth a listen even with Koichi voluming all over him and everyone else.
Ayaka Umeda (Rika) was also very good, I was shocked to see she was ex AKB.
There isn’t exactly a success issue here, but I hope all involved get some good opportunities out of it, and if they do it again next year, they maybe give the story a re-edit so they can have the spotlight they deserve.