Datenshi no Namida review
Datenshi no Namida / Lucifer's Tears
Notable Roles:
Lucifer: Asami Hikaru
Lillith: Maikaze Rira ♥
Jean-Paul: Mizu Natsuki
Justine: Itsumine Aki ♥
Henri: Mirai Yuuki
Edmond: Sou Kozuho
Marcel: Ayana Oto
Sebastian: Otozuki Kei ♥
Yvette: Ootsuki Sayu ♥
Written by: Ueda Keiko
Composed by: Yoshida Yuuko
Choreographed by: Ishii Jun and Masaki Rino
Link to TakaWiki
Link to mizukusa's summary of the plot (and review of the show and revue)
Since Les Fleurs du Mal plays a big role in this musical and since Baudelaire is a personal favourite of mine, I will begin this review with a fragment of the poem Spleen (the two first stanzas and the last one).
Spleen
When the low heavy sky weighs like a lid
Upon the spirit aching for the light
And all the wide horizon's line is hid
By a black day sadder than any night;
When the changed earth is but a dungeon dank,
Where batlike Hope goes blindly fluttering
And, striking wall and roof and mouldered plank,
Bruises his tender head and timid wing;
And hearses, without drum or instrument,
File slowly through my soul; crushed, sorrowful,
Weeps Hope, and Grief, fierce and omnipotent,
Plants his black banner on my drooping skull.
Well, one might think; this is certainly a light note to strike - and yes, the sarcasm would be dripping notibly. Why then, do I begin on such gloomy notes. Because Datenshi no Namida honestly deserves not to be taken lightly. It's not a light, happy play. It doesn't deal with cute, pink themes. And exactly because of this, it is probably the single most beautiful thing I have ever watched. Not just in Takarazuka terms - it is the most touching and beautiful story I have ever witnessed. Full stop. The end. Why? Because Datenshi no Namida is a striking tribute to human nature and to conditio humana as they are. Without going over the top, without sugar-coating anything (although, I do think... was that a hint of cloud Lucifer was standing on at the end of the show, ready to ascend? ... It was, wasn't it?), Datenshi no Namida takes us through the messy lives of humans, the even messier feelings born from living such lives and in the end makes us recognise that in this chaos... yes, there's beauty. A striking beauty in the midst of tragedy. Because, do not be mistaken, Datenshi is tragedy in its purest form. Very few of the involved are given a conventionally happy ending.
Now, one might point to the script and conclude that it's due to a well-written script that this show works. I, myself, shall be the first to admit that I think Ueda Keiko did a marvelous job at this... yet, I think it has less to do with the scriptwright and more to do with Yukigumi. Yukigumi makes this show work from start to finish. They make of it a ”wholesome” play - all ends meet, all fluttering feelings are tied together at the end... Of course, without a great script, it would not have been half the play it has turned out to be, but it is the way Yukigumi poured its heart into these characters that really saved it. That pushed it beyond and made it go that extra mile. Because, to be perfectly honest, the pacing of the play - especially at first - seems a bit clunky, as if too many points have been shoved into a too-tight time-frame. Even so, it works - because the actresses are amazing. That simple. Every character in this is three-dimensional and left me with a never-quite-sated curiosity as to learn more, know more, find out what happened next... Even Lucifer - me being a theology scholar and knowing the story of the Fallen Angel to boredom - left me craving more. In the best of ways. The entire troupe, but especially the main cast mentioned at the beginning, added so much juice and flavour to these characters that if I knew enough Japanese to support my qualified guesses about them, I would write fanfiction and never stop. About every single one of them. Lucifer. Lillith, Jean-Paul and their mother. Yvette and Sebastian. Edmond and Marcel. Henri and his following of utterly-gay-Parisian creme-de-la-creme. Sister Agnes, Sister Theresa and the life at the little church that should come to change so much for so many. Every face up there had a story to offer and this, more than anything else, made me love this show to bits and pieces and from the moon and back.
For those on my flist who know my obsession with certain actresses, it will probably come as no surprise that Lillith (♥ Maachan) is my favourite aspect of this show. Having studied theology, of course left me with a certain intellectual interest in the themes touched upon (albeit I shall quickly admit that when I first read about this play, I was weary - I have seen Japanese media hit and miss when it comes to Christian themes too often to count). Even so, I was surprised at how well I took to the story and how quickly it went. There were so many unbelievably fine points in there... moments that made my heart race and ache. Moments that made my eyes water (every time Maachan cried, I cried with her). The entire story of Justine and Lillith (of both her children, really) was so moving that words can't describe it. Itsumine Aki's acting - how well she portrayed a mother's error and guilt... I was floored. When Lillith finally breathed her last breath and had Jean-Paul deliver her final words to their mother... Justine's scream broke my heart more than anything has ever done before. Just thinking about it now makes me want to cry. The feelings of a mother who had to give up everything and hated having to do so... and then makes a horrible mistake that she will have to live with for the rest of her life... the guilt of it... Yet, the gentle understanding and forgiveness between Lillith and Justine... this scene alone makes the entire show worth getting your hands on.
Besides the very heartfelt and heart-breaking bond between Justine and Lillith, the story of Sebastian and Yvette also touched me at several points. Honest, genuine, devout Sebastian who wants nothing more than Yvette. Only to see her slip further and further away from him in her hunger for pretty dresses and a star-shine career. I'm so glad these two got as much room in the plotline as they did, because they deserved it and both Otozuki Kei and Ootsuki Sayu carried their roles with so much feeling and depth. ♥ It was to die for.
Was there none of the characters I didn't care for, then? Yes. Now that you mention it. I think Mizu did an amazing job at Jean-Paul - portraying his struggle with creativity, something that just hurts so much when you're an artist. Yet, as a character he just didn't do a whole lot for me. Perhaps because I thought he was so outshined by his sister. Or maybe I'm getting tired of Mizu playing grumpy men? XD The same goes for Edmond and Marcel, his God-gifted pupil. It was insanely tragic in the moment the gun went off, but it was just an emotional peak (I shall not let the word thrill come over my lips, it would be so very unfitting) amongst a lot of much more, to me, moving emotional heights in the bunch. It just didn't... quite deliver?
However, to make up for this there was an entire line of details that did deliver and delivered in spades. Probably went far beyond delivering. Little things like... Like most of the stage setting, everything from the garden of blue roses to the angel always hanging above Lucifer's head when he was doing his emo rants. Ohashi Yasuhiro went beyond everything I've seen in Takarazuka with this stage. So thrilling to watch. Asami Hikaru's first costume + wig. The costumes of everyone in the opening scene. So striking and fulfilling and just... fantastique.
Speaking of opening sequences... Lucifer's dance. And his song. And the entire thing with the apples... I loved the apple metaphor. How it was made so obvious that humans have almost been created to sin, it's in their nature and Lucifer doesn't get how God can love such weaklings. They keep turning from him. They keep doing the same mistakes over and over. I will get back to this later, but for now, let me just say that I shall second mizukusa on this one and beg that no one else gets to play this role ever again. Komu did it so perfectly. Anyone else taking on the challenge would drown in her shadow. Per-fect-ly.
Perfectly. As with the ballet and general dancing in this play. I'm a ballet fangirl, something that comes from growing up in the hometown of Peter Schaufuss and everything in this was so ballet-centric. Not only did Komu and Maachan pull off their choreography with the exquisite elegance that is their trademark, but they added such a classic, pure feeling to all their dancing sequences. Plus, I must admit I found Mizu's French ballet terms utterly cute. Battement, battement, rond de jambe~. Cuuuute.
Other little things I found endearing. Oh, yes, the gay guy. Unfortunately I can't for the life of me recall the name of the 'sienne who plays him, but one look at her loose wrists and the earring in her left ear (yes, I notice these things, I can't help loving when they put so much effort into the little details) and I was impressed. Indeed, I've seen women play effeminate men before - it's an entire genre in the drag subculture, but this is Takarazuka and it was just so amazing to see how it was obvious that here was a woman playing a man playing a woman. Well, not exactly, of course, but the fine line between the gender performance of one sex and then carried over in the gender performance of the other. There was nothing feminine about those loose wrists. But they were effeminate as hell. So much control of her masculinity. I was so impressed. ♥
Now, those of you who know me are probably scratching your heads and asking one of two things (if not both): 1) Why has she not yet squeed about Maachan, was there nothing to squee about? Or 2) For a play called Datenshi no Namida, Lucifer has got very little mention, hasn't he? To answer these two questions, let me just say that I always save the best parts for last. And Komu and especially Maachan really were the best parts of this show. Let me tell you why.
I'll start with Komu and Lucifer... God, this will probably be a rant of OMGSOMUCHLOVE! Forgive me, I don't quite know where to start, but I'll give it a go anyway. Lucifer is the kind of role that could very easily have been given too much air of Tod, had he been played by the wrong person. Because just like Tod, there's just something Lucifer isn't getting. Here the similarities end, however. Abruptly. Whereas Tod doesn't get people, doesn't get how they can choose life when they can have him, this is the one thing Lucifer gets more than anything. He understands people. He understands humans. He is Lucifer, after all. Perhaps because he understands humans so well, he has a wee bit of a hard time understanding the God-human relationship. On one hand, he doesn't get how God can love something as weak as this - on the other hand, he doesn't get why humans do not hate God for everything they have to go through, all the suffering of human living. You can just tell from looking at Asami Hikaru's face that her Lucifer is thinking this same word over and over again. Why?
This word leads him on quite a journey - helped along by Jean-Paul and Lillith. Because once Lucifer meets Lillith, there's no going back. He has to know. This girl, this devil woman who has suffered everything. Who has lost everything. How can she still love God? This devil woman who has been living as a prostitute, who has tried to kill herself... how can God still love her? But as always, Lucifer is asking the completely wrong question here. It's not a question of how Lillith can still love God or God still love her... it's merely a question of having faith in this bond. And Lillith does. Gently, acceptingly, unquestioningly - Lillith has embraced her fate and leaves everything in the hands of her Lord. She has accepted the form that God's love for her has taken, even if it seems painful, if it seems unfair... because a woman such as her, the common prostitute... God loves her too. (I loved the parallels that were drawn between Lillith and Mary Magdalene here - and thus also between Lucifer and Christ, except the roles are in reverse. Christ embraced Mary, the sinner - here the sinner, Lillith, embraces him; Lucifer, the root of all evil). And this is where Maachan really goes beyond everything I have ever seen any actress do. With so little stage time, with so little to do except lying there and die, Maachan turns this fragile woman into pure strength. I have no words. I have no words.
My favourite scene in this play has to be where Lillith asks Lucifer to read to her from the Bible. The quiet gentleness with which she listens, takes in, accepts. I was crying my heart out when she quoted Christ by heart. This is musumeyaku power at its peak. What more can I say?
Actually, from the moment Lillith entered the story, her and Lucifer's heart-wrenching relationship - not quite a romance, but just as heart-felt was all I really had eye for. It's not an intense - and doomed - romance like Carmen and Jose or Christine and Erik (or, being me, Rosalie and Oscar XD). I don't even know if it can be called a real romance, yet these two characters, probably because of the actresses who play them, were just (if not more) hurtfully perfect together. Not to mention the pair dance... Oh, sweet Lord. So much ballet. Maachan's beautiful ballet. Her and Komu's amazing chemistry. Lillith getting her sight back, Lucifer overwhelmed by her words and kissing her hands - I have to admit, this kiss is the most intense thing I have ever seen in Zuka, never mind any of the steamy stage kissing I've seen carried out by these actresses... this simple kiss to Maachan's hands... Wow. I wanted to turn this entire scene - everything about it, Komu's face at Lucifer's realisation, Maachan's elegant movements when she starts dancing Jean-Paul's dance, the atmosphere... I wanted to turn it all into one gigantic moving icon. Seriously. Yes, I'm in love. Sue me.
When the low heavy sky weighs like a lid
Upon the spirit aching for the light
Weeps Hope, and Grief, fierce and omnipotent,
Plants his black banner on my drooping skull.
This was basically how my review started out as well and this is where it should end too. Because in these four lines, Baudelaire describes everything I found breath-taking about Datenshi no Namida. It's a play about the sorrows of human life - of how much suffering human error can cause and how, with every error that colours our souls black, we stray further away from the light. Falling with the Morning Star, so to speak. Yes, this point, the play doesn't miss. Luckily. It is very precise about making this human condition as clear as possible - a vivid, undeniable point. At the same time, however - as Lillith and Maachan's portrayal of this forgiving, accepting woman is the perfect evidence of... It is also in the human condition to hope. Just turn your thoughts back to Greek mythology, to Pandora who almost ruined existence by being curious, by erroring, yet was given the gift of hope. For herself and for human kind. This is the very same conclusion that Datenshi no Namida draws, although of course in much more Takarazuka-ish terms.
With all that humans suffer, the greatest gift they have been given - the gift of life and faith - grants them wings with which to fly. Like angels.