Ocean's 11 Talk Deluxe (Graph 02/2012)
Graph Talk Deluxe: Yuzuki Reon, Suzumi Shio, Yumeno Seika, Kurenai Yuzuru (February 2012)
Yuzuki: With this show, even after its premiere, the days of being nervous continued for a while.
Suzumi: Yes, it felt as if half of the days were already over when it started to become enjoyable.
Yuzuki: Yes, but the part on the ginkyou at the beginning of the play still makes me nervous even now. Junko-san (Ema Naoki), who is performing this part with me, also said that even though we’ve experienced it before, it still makes her nervous when the curtain opens so abruptly…
Yumeno, Kurenai: Yes.
Suzumi: You climb up the ladder from the orchestra pit onto the ginkyou, right?
Yuzuki: Yes, and the moment I arrive on the ginkyou, the light goes on and the show starts. I can feel everyone in the audience looking at me. The feeling of tension is extreme! It’s very enlightening. And after that I have to pull off my costume…. Today I got cheering from students who were on a school trip! That doesn’t happen often…
Suzumi: But everyone is feeling it I think.
Yuzuki: You mean in reality they all think “Ohh!”, but control themselves? (laugh)
Kurenai: Yes, yes, yes!
Suzumi: They really want to do it, but… (laugh) When standing on stage, it often feels like being trained by the audience. The audience’s response can change a show…
Kurenai: For me too, in the “PARADISO” scene, I get a feeling as if the entire audience is part of “PARADISO”. I am acting while feeling I am crossing over from the stage into the empty space between the many people in the audience.
Yumeno: It’s not only about the stage set, the lights, and the costumes, but also about going with your feelings. This time we had movie clips, so we tried to expand our image.
Yuzuki: As for the stage sets, Koike-sensei told me about them beforehand, but it’s been amazing so far. As expected, Koike-sensei is great. (laugh)
***
Yuzuki: Because this show is based on a movie, it has several parts that feel very stylish… For example, the part when Danny (Yuzuki Reon) asks Rusty (Suzumi Shio) if he knows when Danny’s birthday is. When Rusty answers “Tell me next time”, his only reaction is “hm”, he doesn’t dig deeper and asks “How can you not know my birthday?” … (laugh)
Suzumi: Yes, that conversation is certainly stylish… (laugh)
Yuzuki: It feels very much like an American movie and I would like to convey this to the audience. Furthermore, it was very interesting for us to both strike the same strong poses as Danny and Rusty in the movie.
Suzumi: That had great effects!
Yuzuki: I know! Two people who are so close, shouldn’t they always look good when laughing together? I want to achieve such a performance.
Suzumi: I also often performed while feeling Danny’s presence. It was really interesting!
Yuzuki: Lately, even outside of performances, we probe each other out with “What are you thinking right now?” (laugh) We also stand still at the same time. (laugh)
Suzumi: It’s like we can feel each other’s feelings. It’s a marvel to be this similar to Chie. It’s not a bad thing. (laugh)
Yuzuki, Yumeno, Kurenai: (laugh)
Yuzuki: I also feel a lot during the “Jump” scene.
Suzumi: Yes! When I encourage Linus (Makaze Suzuho) in “Jump” and speak warmly, it always feels as if I could see Chie.
Yuzuki: Me too, for example when I wasn’t skillful in telling something to an underclassman, Toyoko-san calls out to me in a kind voice: “So, you mean something like this…” While my manner of doing things is still wrong, I also get a feeling of having a “right hand”.
Yumeno: It’s really interesting to watch you two during “Jump”. It gives me strong emotions when I see you high-five before the line dance towards the end.
Yuzuki: Everyone’s expressions while singing are really good. Each one seems to say that it may be impossible, but we won’t give up!
Suzumi: Even though it’s tough, everyone is cheerful.
Yuzuki: Yes! When I look at everyone, I feel so touched because I can see everyone’s view of life.
Yumeno: I love that feeling of “All together, let’s do it!”
Suzumi: (to Kurenai) Would you like to join? (laugh)
Kurenai: Yes… I always go watch this scene, but after I hear you talk about committing crimes, I don’t have the courage to do so. They really seem an evil bunch of people, I say. (laugh) When you say “Benedict doesn’t have blood nor tears!”, I oppose from the wings: “I have at least some blood…” (laugh)
Yuzuki: That’s what you say? (laugh)
Suzumi: You retort to each one separately? (laugh)
Kurenai: Yes. (laugh) Because there is no way I could join your group…
Yumeno: But if Benedict will encounter any more difficult times, he might join us. We could use him to intercept and read people’s policies or something like that.
Yuzuki, Suzumi, Kurenai: Ah…
Kurenai: Would you hire me?
Yuzuki: Maybe.
Kurenai: That doesn’t sound as if you are opening your heart to me… So you’re telling me it will be okay if I don’t abide by the rules. (laugh)
Suzumi: First of all, you can’t be in our team if you’re not cheerful.
Kurenai: I don’t get to sing “Jump”, because I am not cheerful. (laugh)
Yuzuki: Yes. (laugh) So, how is it, being all alone?
Kurenai: I relish in it… (laugh) Because there is the warm feeling of having my underlings… Although they built their characters more along the lines of if we defy Benedict we will end up buried in the desert, so let’s follow him…
Yuzuki: I see. (laugh) I like Benedict’s song “First I was a door boy…”. Your relationship with your underlings is too cute!
Kurenai: “Will you understand!”, I say strongly.
Yuzuki: Everyone around you is so flustered! That is so cute!
Yumeno: They do even the smallest things… (laughs)
Yuzuki: Whatever you make them do, everyone does it.
Kurenai: They absolutely obey me. They are so earnest about picking up my money… Their frantic behavior is terribly cute. (laugh)
***
Yuzuki: The scene with the doctor is intense!
Kurenai: One time, Doctor Johnson’s (Suzumi Shio) glasses came lose, when that happened I couldn’t control myself anymore… Because all it needed was someone in the orchestra to laugh behind their hands, this scene was such a struggle for me. (laugh) Occasionally, Maya-san (Misa Noeru) would laugh too…
Suzumi: She opened her eyes and laughed, right? (laugh)
Yumeno: She opened her eyes?!!
Kurenai: I couldn’t control myself anymore when that happened.
Yuzuki: That’s so interesting!!
Kurenai: She opened her eyes and chuckled, looking into our direction!
Suzumi: That was really strange. (laugh)
Kurenai: When Toyoko-san had those eyebrows stuck on, even Maya-san had a hard time not laughing.
Suzumi: One day Chie will show up in this scene too.
Kurenai: What!
Yuzuki: As a nurse…
Yumeno: As a nurse?!!
Kurenai: What! No good, no good! (burst of laughter)
Suzumi: (laugh) (to Kurenai) Ah, it’s nothing.
Yuzuki: Yes, it’s nothing.
Kurenai: But I’ve heard it…
Suzumi: Oops…
Yuzuki: (laugh) I watch this scene every day from the wings. (laugh)
Yumeno: Sitting right between the ranks of the stage staff, there is Chie-san… (laugh)
Suzumi: Chie doing stand-by with her knapsack on her back is so cute.
Yuzuki: When I see everyone’s reactions, I burst out laughing at all of them.
Suzumi: From the scene on where Frank (Yumeno Seika) calls Linus (Makaze Suzuho) a “foolish cucumber”, we keep hearing excessive laughter from Chie. (laugh)
Yumeno: Yes. (laugh)
Yuzuki: And then I lecture the people around me that this is how reactions should be done. (laugh)
Suzumi: This time you can watch the stage much more than usual, right Chie?
Yuzuki: Yes.
Suzumi: Even while communicating with every troupe member.
Yuzuki: I am having so much fun. (laugh) Especially after singing “The days of our love were not lies”. (laugh)
Yumeno: Yes. (laugh) Together with me and Reuben-san (Mishiro Ren), Yen (Tsurumi Mayuu) and Livingston (Miya Rurika) …
Suzumi: I hear your side show is formidable! It is charming how you all bring along paper bags with entertainment goods for Chie.
Yuzuki: True… Everyone does such interesting things. For example, on the day of the shinjinkouen it was Radames’s headgear… That was so terrific! (laugh)
Yumeno: The head ornaments were cut and fashioned from the paper bags, but… (laugh) Whenever we go watch a shinjinkouen, I try to recreate the image of “A Song for Kingdoms” in order to not forget what it was like to be wet behind the ears.
Yuzuki: Remember being wet behind the ears, you say. (laugh)
Yumeno: Accompanied with a card of constructive criticism…
Yuzuki: That’s a link to my style back then… (laugh) On the day of the buyoukai, Tomomin accidentally saw me being sent off by fans wearing towels twisted into headbands…
Yumeno: So we all made headbands out of towels. (laugh)
Suzumi: Cute!
Kurenai: I want to be in this too…
Yuzuki: (laugh) It made me so happy that I became teary every time. I am so blissfully happy, I said.
Yumeno: Nowadays this has become my purpose in life. (laugh) But I love the last song of the first act, “Jackpot”… That bloodcurdling feeling is so great!
Yuzuki: I understand! From the singing rehearsals on, I thought everyone’s intensity was so amazing, but it’s really fitting to this scene.
Yumeno: Yes! When I looked around the stage there were so many actresses about and I got a feeling of the extravagance of Las Vegas.
Suzumi: At the very end of the first act, when Chie alone turns around, I am next to her and I always think: “I want to look too.” (laugh)Because we absolutely cannot look.
Yumeno: I know!
Yuzuki: On senshuuraku, should we all turn around? (laugh)
Suzumi: No no no! This is why Danny is so cool! It must be a good feeling to do it?
Yuzuki: Yes. (laugh) But because it’s just at the moment when the curtain falls… So I always end up thinking if only it were a bit longer. But maybe it’s better this way. (laugh)
Kurenai: Maybe I will try and watch you too…
Yuzuki: You are behind us?
Suzumi: Not right behind us. And you can’t see us from the front.
Kurenai: That’s true…
Yumeno: Well, we will all have to wait until the DVD comes out then. (laugh)
***
Kurenai: Because there are a lot of things that have become apparent during the Daigekijou run, and also a lot of things that I want to understand more deeply, I want to explore many things every day, my feelings for Tess (Yumesaki Nene) and my thoughts about work, I want to be able to clearly present these things in my acting.
Yumeno: I would like to present the aura of someone who works as a dealer in a casino in Las Vegas. I want to continue showing Frank’s goodness, and give my best being lively on the stage in Tokyo.
Suzumi: This time we’re doing a “suits show”, with a strong and grown-up feeling to it. I enjoy this growth, and I also enjoy playing a role where I can be such good friends with Chie. As “the right hand” I want to enjoy acting together with all the Eleven members.
Yuzuki: Yes, I was mostly thinking of enjoying myself too. As in “Yuzuki Reon and her 77 friends”, I want to have a happy performance with everyone!
It's a very sloppy translation, because I was too lazy to put in more effort. But it seemed a rather funny talk to me, so I wanted to share. XD