Berubara 2008 Star - Bernard
Woke up to the postman delivering a wonderful package to me. 13 performance pictures of Maachan (1 of which was a gift and a whole bunch of them I've never seen before!) ♥ - scanning today. Oh, and two stills with very, very young Maachan. I was so enamoured.
But the greatly awaited part of the package was Hoshigumi's Rose of Versailles - Bernard from 2008. Not only had I been looking forward to see another take on Rosalie (and Toono Asuka no less, whom I'd first made acquaintances with as a cute little nibante musumeyaku in In the Amber-Hued Rain), but I shall happily admit that I had looked very much forward to listening to Touko sing, though I had no real idea of what was in store for me with Berubara.
The gaiden performances have met lots of critique. I think I understand big parts of it. Overall the show was a bit... clunky? Yes, I think clunky is the right word. There were really good scenes in it and the music was amazing (some of the best music I've heard yet, the main theme is so much love), but they were strewn in between a lot of less well-executed scenes. Especially the middle part with the battle at the Bastille seemed very poorly executed, not only was the dancing less than impressive (then again, I'm moving directly from Komugumi's Datenshi, so perhaps I'm not the right judge in this), but the shift from scene to scene was sometimes not very well defined. I think my favourite part of the musical was the beginning, while Bernard was still held captive in the Jarjayes house. Right up till Bernard's and Rosalie's declaration of love, I was quite smitten. Then, from their leave till... probably the last scene where Bernard thinks Rosalie has betrayed him and she reveals that she's carrying their child... I found myself grow a bit bored. As I said, the music was great and Hoshigumi has an amazing ensemble in this, but the motion from scene to scene and the sudden jump forward in time... It all made it a bit difficult to get fully engaged in the story.
Not that Touko didn't pull off the role well all way through. Oh my, she did. I've always been a closet Touko fangirl, one of my first performances after Elisabeth was Singin' in the Rain with her as Don and I loved her. Bernard is a role I admire very much and Touko was perfect for it. She actually did what I had hoped to see in any of the Oscar versions I've been exposed to... Taking Bernard's fire, passion and rude straight-forwardness, combining it with a human, almost gentle care. For Rosalie. For France. For justice. As Bernard, Touko had it and I bought it all the way through. There was no time where I thought "Ah, slipping a bit there" and in this production, that is saying something.
Now, to the part I had really been looking forward to... Rosalie. Let me get this out of the way immediately. I've never been a big Toono Asuka fan. Her acting style doesn't do much for me and her singing only moves me in specific contexts. Plus, she had Maachan to live up to here, so of course all of this is part of why I wasn't floored. Because I wasn't. Don't get me wrong, I actually thought Asuka was a very sweet and all-over quite decent Rosalie. Again, especially in the first half of the show when they're still living with Oscar. That first half hour I often found myself liking her Rosalie; gentle and cute and kind of awkward. However, from the moment when Oscar announced that she would want her to move with Bernard to Paris, something happened to Asuka's portrayal of her... there was a blank expression on her face and it got stuck there throughout most of the rest of the show. I think this was my greatest disappointment with Asuka's Rosalie, actually. There were no big emotions to detect in her. Of course it's difficult to live up to Maachan's emotionally exposed Rosalie, but even in comparison to the manga... Rosalie feels so much. Haters call her a crybaby, but I like to think of her as a person who embraces her own emotions to their fullest. She cries and laughs, hates, loves and gets scared - every emotion felt in every ounce of her being. Unfortunately Asuka's protrayal of her didn't include this. She was very demure and never really moved out of the box of "sweet, timid girl", perhaps until the very end. I did very much like her in the last scene, though. Very much. She pulled it off very well.
I can't blame Asuka for the lack of Oscar in this version, of course, but I'll point it out anyway. Until Oscar sends the two love birds off, I really liked the chemistry between Touko and Asuka, because - as in the manga - it's not an overwhelming love story, but a bond between two people who have experienced the worst of what a life as a Parisian commoner can bring. As such, their relationship builds more on understanding and respect than on the deep admiration and love that Rosalie feels for Oscar (in my interpretation, at least, but I'm a shipper, so don't mind me). After they were sent off, though, it seemed as if Asuka didn't quite know what to do with Rosalie's relationship to Bernard. I can't hold it against her, because in the manga it was just suddenly added to write the girl out of the story, but... I think other musumeyaku could have added something extra that Asuka left out. Be it quiet sorrow at being away from Oscar or growing fondness as she sees what Bernard is really about in the revolution. I didn't really see either or anything in Asuka's Rosalie and it left me wanting.
However, the other main roles in this play were so well done that I had something else to focus on most of the time. Both Shii's André and Alain were phenomenal - especially her André was quite amazing and probably ranking up with Eritan in my favourite portrayal of the character. Warm and tender, but also somewhat of a goof-ball who doesn't always fit into the ranks of nobility that he has been brought up to serve. Toyoko's Oscar... Oh, my, did I love Toyoko's Oscar. In looks she reminded me of Mizu's (which is a good thing), but in acting style she was very different and I adored her portrayal of Oscar. Always shifting between being feminine and masculine - a caring, devoted person with a great sense of justice. Her solo when Rosalie left (after having uttered the line about "goodbye my spring breeze") made my Oscar/Rosalie shipping heart almost forgive the otherwise lacking ship-potential of this Berubara performance.
If I had to grade it, it would get 4/6, only just making it up there because of the music and because of Touko and Toyoko. ♥ Without them, it would have been a somewhat flat and unsteady performance, but because they were in it to add energy and life to everyone else around them, I actually think Hoshigumi managed to perform a Berubara above average.
Aw. Berubara. ♥