★★ TAKIZAWA KABUKI: TENTH ANNIVERSARY ★★ (Part 1)
★ ★ TAKIZAWA KABUKI ★ ★
2015
Tenth Anniversary
Once upon a time, there was a pretty elf prince named Takki.
The pretty elf prince, urged by his company's president, created a musical blend of the modern and the traditional called Takizawa Kabuki.
Ten years later, the pretty elf prince decided to make his tenth anniversary production something exceedingly special.
And the pretty elf prince remained very, very pretty.
The end.
/shortversion
★
I'm hardcore in love with this year's Takizawa Kabuki, so I've written a very, very long account of the show. With love. [badumcha]
But first of all! Some
GENERAL IMPRESSIONS:
• Takki is amazing. I say that every time I see Kabuki/Enbujou, but sparkle my rainbows, this time is special. It's clear he's put an enormous amount of effort into the show. Everything from the red shrine gates framing the entrance to the stuff that falls from the ceiling really emphasizes how important this year is to him. On opening day, they ran through the show three times to make sure they had it down pat. The show's roughly two hours, so damn is all I have to say about that. It's also worth noting that there doesn't seem to be a single moment when Takki isn't focused on something. Even when he turns his back to the audience to walk upstage, if you're sitting close enough to the stage and off to the side you can see him glancing to the side and up into the rafters to make sure everything's working right. Usually between Takki and Tsubasa I think of Tsubasa as the perfectionist, but Takki doesn't let a single detail escape his notice in this show.
• Takki's recent jwebs have been giving insights into how the show works. For example, Yoshitsune's fight scene at the end is a fan favorite (and also Takki is half naked and covered in rain, which always makes for some pleasant viewing experiences), and it's a pretty rapidly-paced scene. According to Takki, the sword he's using sometimes breaks, and it's the Juniors' job to grab him a new one as fast as possible so the audience doesn't notice. Whoever does it quickest and most subtly gets named MVP. It's a testament to how well they're doing that that I've never noticed that happening. I love hearing details like that about how the production works.
• There's two bouts of English narration this time, which threw me way off balance when I heard it the first time. It's a guy with an English accent, so I'm assuming they hired someone to record prepared lines. They're all flawless in grammar, too, which is just...bizarre to hear in a Johnny's production. If I'm remembering right, the show has about four main points where they feature English: 1) the intro to the show, 2) the intro to taiko, 3) Kota and someone else (his partner Ikeda maybe?) introducing the Oshichi Yaoya scene (fire watch tower), and 4) Takki and Kitayama singing a brand new original song in English called "Believe Yourself," which keeps making me wince because I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be "Believe in Yourself" judging by the lyrics. The two pre-recorded bits (1+2) are flawless, but anything live is...slightly...well. I can understand Kitayama and Takki most of the time when they're singing, but I only caught a third of what Kota and Ikeda were saying. The problem is mostly with accent, plus someone tried to translate kabuki-style language into English and ended up with something vaguely Shakespearean. So you hear words like "selfsame." ...I hope they have a language coach work with them more before they go to Singapore. Ah, wait! There's also a fifth bit! During the shadow puppets part, there are two tiny Juniors singing an English song, and they are excellent. You can understand them the whole way through and their pronunciation is great.
• Tree remains awesome. I love Tree. On the 17th, Tree's mother came to the show and he was acting super amusing for her benefit. For example, when he stole the last line from Kitayama at the end of Be Free (as he always does), Kitayama was like, "The hell, bro?" and Tree was all, "My mom's here..." and that led into their usual push fight on roller skates that always ends with a felled Tree on the floor. After the "fight," they went into more roller skate dancing and Takki smacked Tree on the hip, giving him an amused grin and Tree grinning back sheepishly. It was all absurdly cute. I think Tree's probably benefiting a lot from being one of Takki's favorites (favorite, not The Favorite). He seems to be getting more confident (granted, I'm basing this on the, like, three things I remember seeing him in). Three years ago, I saw Snowman at Takki's solo concert and I was super underwhelmed by them. It was only when Takki gave Tree his own role in last year's production of Kabuki that I started paying attention to him, because he had the limelight long enough for me to see he had a great sense of humor. I should know better by now not to question Takki's taste in favorites.
• And speaking of people I grew to like because of an extended time in the spotlight: Sakuma Daisuke. Snowman as a group still hasn't left much an impression on me, but I'm in firm support of Tree and Daisuke. I didn't realize the first time I watched it that he was one of the two guys competing against Takki in the food-eating-competition TakiCHAN episode, so I'd say he's still figuring out how to play his image. But on the 16th during the semi-interview section, he really wanted to be heard, so he kept screaming, "はい！！！はい！！！はーーーいぃーーー！” over and over, with this enormous :D smile. Takki, who rarely speaks during this part, leaned into his mic and commented, "Shush, you," but Daisuke just kept screaming, completely nonchalant (I'm pretty sure he learned the Ignore the Takki When He Chides You tactic from Tsubasa). He's fantastic. Go you, Small Ball of Noise.
• So there's this guy named Yamamoto Ryota. He's in They Budou with Eda Tsuyoshi and this other dude, and I'm pretty fond of Yamaryo and Eda thanks to Playzone and their various interactions with Tsubasa (Eda and Tsubasa fought each other in cat costumes, so Eda's memorable forever now, and Yamaryo is my favorite dancer in the agency apart from Tsubasa). Usually there're only two guys from They Budou in Kabuki, Eda and the one who isn't Yamaryo (Hayashi, Google reports). So here's the thing about Yamaryo: I didn't know much about his personality until the let's-do-makeup-together scene, where he's just brutally funny. I didn't even recognize him the first time I saw the show-I thought he was some other secret member of They Budou. I mean, I know what Yamaryo looks like, so you'd think I wouldn't have a problem recognizing him, but for the most part I've only seen him dance in Playzone, so I didn't know he's hilarious also. He has that knack of driving a joke so far into the ground it somehow eventually becomes funny again (also one of Tsubasa's many skills). So, wow, yeah. Yamaryo is fantastic, and now I like his personality as well as his dancing. While watching the opening flashbacks of the very first Kabuki performance, he sighs, "Ahh, this is so nostalgic!" Then, without breaking stride, he adds, "Not that I was there," with this massive beaming smile. Love this guy. \:D/
• I knew next to nothing about Kitayama before Takki cast him in this. With very few exceptions, I have no strong interest in any of the groups that debuted after KAT-TUN, nor in the vast majority of the Juniors (except 4U and some others I've grown fond of through PZ). But man, I'm glad Takki cast Kitayama in this because it turns out I really like the guy. Kitayama is a whole sparkling bag of adorable, and I've grown really fond of him over the span of promo and magazine articles and his jweb updates about rehearsals. In one such update he waxed poetic about how nice Takki smells, and I decided he is weird and wonderful and I very much like him now. So while I still have no interest in Kisumai as a group, I like Kitayama a lot (and Fujigaya likes pink, so he's cool too).
• Takki does smell really nice. ...I kind of just want to leave it at that without an explanation.
• Nah, I'll explain. I was sitting next to the hanamichi for one show and during his GOEMON scene Takki ran right by me and I got this cloud of cinnamon maple cookie scent thrown at me. I couldn't tell at first who it had been - him, Kitayama, or Yabu, since they were all together, but I suspected Takki. In a later scene, Kitayama ran past and there wasn't much discernable difference in the air. Then the same thing happened with Yabu. Finally Takki ran past again and indeed, he was the bearer of cookie smell. My running theory is that he's absorbed the aromas from his Midnight Baker drama. And hey, I now have one thing to talk about with Kitayama if I ever have the opportunity! Our entire discussion will be:
"You're right. Takki smells nice."
"Right?"
"Yep. I like your face, by the way."
"Thanks."
"Have a nice day."
"Thanks, you too. Bye."
"Bye!"
• YABU. Same deal as Kitayama. Before Kabuki, I knew five members of HSJ and that was 1) Kame's little brother from Nobuta (Yuto, I think), 2) Chinen, because his infamy is legend and I recoil at his presence, 3) Yamada, whose PV I enjoyed, 4) Hikaru, because he annoyed me for a little while and now I don't have any feelings at all about him, and 5) Inoo, because he interviewed Tsubasa once and he was small and terrified and he asked Toma to do it with him because he fanboyed Tsubasa to the point where he could barely talk to him without spontaneously bursting into stardust and so I really like Inoo. Therefore, when J&A announced the cast of Kabuki and I saw Yabu's name I just shrugged, because I had no idea who Yabu was. But then we got reports of Takki's birthday party, and Yabu had the special privilege of making fun of Takki in front of newscameras and keeping his job.
According to Yabu, "The moment [Takki] recognized Tsubasa, he went eeeehhh?" He illustrated this moment by lifting his voice super high, leaning back, and pinwheeling his arms. From that moment, I knew I liked this guy. Yabu is adorable, and his singing voice is among the best I've heard in the agency. It's so smooth when he transitions up into particularly high tenor notes, which I find impressive. And in general he seems to have a really sweet disposition. I like him. Good egg. ♡
• So here are the cast members I know by name and face and will be mentioning below: the pretty elf prince (Takki), Kitayama Hiromitsu, Yabu Kota, Matsumoto Kota, Eda Tsuyoshi, Tree (Fukusawa Tatsuya), Sakuma Daisuke, aaand that's it. Generally speaking, this is a Tsubasa/PZ situation: 90% of the time I'm focused on Takki. Usually only when he's offstage do I look around at other people. \:D/
One of the admirable things about Takki, though, is that although the production is named for him, he is committed to turning the spotlight as much as he can over to his juniors (juniors in this case, not the Juniors, since Yabu and Kitayama are debuted-you get it XD).
In fact, Yabu posted a story in his jweb during rehearsal time where he basically said Takki pulled them all aside and they could tell he was frustrated with them, so they were all pretty nervous. Takki said, "Whose production is this?" and they all murmured, "Takizawa-kun's," and he said, "No, it's not. It's not one person's show. Each of you has fans coming to see you, and that's why you need to give 100% to what you're doing at all times, because even if I'm center stage, there will be fans looking to you, not me."
This is something I've really admired about him for a while. He carries this attitude even into his work with T&T, which can admittedly be frustrating when, as a fan of T&T, you only want to see the two of them, but Takki insists on highlighting their supporting back dancers. And I think it's because when you look back to when T&T were fourteen~fifteen years old, V6 and KinKi and even SMAP were doing the same for them. V6 messed with T&T a lot (insert elephant dick and gossip terrorism stories), but it's clear they were also very fond of the two of them and tried to promote them as much as they could. And now T&T are carrying on the tradition doing the same for the Juniors under their charge.
Anyway, I wanted to add this because it's only during this year's production run of Kabuki that I've really started to appreciate how good Takki is at doing this. During the let's-put-on-makeup section, he rarely talks. Instead, he lets Snowman and They Budou talk. I'm generally bored by Snowman when they talk, but because of this corner, I discovered Tree is not the only member of Snowman I like. Now I'm super fond of Sakuma Daisuke, too. In December, I didn't even know his name, but I'll remember him from now on because he had the spotlight long enough to be loud and enthusiastic and memorable.
Takki's also a good egg. ♡
And now for the main report:
★
Normally, Takizawa Kabuki is half Things Takki Likes and half Yoshitsune Drama. This year's production cut most of the Yoshitsune part out. Act One is split up into four sections: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. Some of the scenes match pretty fluidly with the seasons they fall under, but for some of them you just kind of have to shrug and say, "Okay, sure. Well, it isn't not summertime-y, so yeah, okay." I'm pretty sure Act I is going to be the bulk of what they bring to Singapore.
Act Two is more Johnny's-centric, with large calligraphy, roller skating, and a mixed medley of HSJ, Kisumai, and T&T songs. To be honest, I don't really miss Yoshitsune. It's a lot of serious dialogue and the tone shift is always a little jarring after such an energetic Act One.
So anyway! The lights go down, and this English narration begins:
"The beauty of Japan and the Japanese comes from finding sadness inside great joy. We have followed the world of Japanese harmony for a decade, moving freely through traditions. We have made a world linking past and present. This is Takizawa Kabuki."
〈春〉Spring
1 TAKIZAWA KABUKI OVERTURE
Violinist is raised from a trap door in the hanamichi, everyone claps, music begins, and the happy baton-twirling acrobatic lady shows up to do some tricks and read a book and then disappear into the book...and then Takki appears. :D
2 オープニング Opening
Kitayama, Takki, and Yabu all standing together in the back of the stage. They're lifted into the air by wires, which cues the huge silken tapestries with the show's title to cascade over the stage.
And when they're finish, they unveil the stage completely packed with Juniors and the cart holding Takki.
「春の踊り」Spring Dance
He bursts out of the cart, singing as he flies around the audience for a while. Wearing the sparkly red costume. Lands on the stage, does a little dance, does a turn to face the back of the stage.
It's at this point that I saw him do something fascinating. For one show, I was in the front row, and so I had the sightline to see him looking around the stage and up into the rafters. It was really fascinating seeing him being all Leader-y without breaking his stride.
「いにしえ」Ancient Times
Platform he's standing on lifts up, revealing WELCOME TO TAKIZAWA KABUKI written in white on the front. He sings a little more, leaves the stage while the others dance, reappears in the balcony, jumps off the balcony, flies around some more, the end. :D
3 口上 Speech
Pretty typical. Just each group/individual introducing himself.
Which segues smoothly into:
4 「Feelin' Good」
I adore this song. It's a huge shame there's no soundtrack for Kabuki because I want this song. XD I've wanted this song since I heard it in 2013 (the year there was no DVD, naturally). AND NOW I WILL HAVE IT BECAUSE THERE WILL BE A DVD THIS TIME MWAHAHAHA.
Anyway, this song has a great beat and I like clapping with it.
Also, oh my, also. Takki dances on top of a taiko drum. It's the cutest thing I have ever seen in my entire existence upon this Earth.
He stomps on it, bounces with both feet, stomps some more, and every time I saw it I struggled not to grin too wide because SERIOUSLY TAKKI WHY ARE YOU SO PAINFULLY ADORABLE.
5 疾走！鼠小僧 The Dashing of the Dashing Nezumi /takeslibertieswithtranslation
GOLD!!!!!!
I love this part. A lot. A lot a lot a lot.
It's deeply amusing, and we get GOLD.
It's the same routine as last year: Nezumi rappels down from the ceiling onto the hanamichi, then runs over to the rooftop where a case of gold is waiting for him to steal it. He does so, nods to himself, and runs to make his escape, only to be stopped by Kitayama emerging from the hanamichi.
(Kitayama does evil voices really well, by the way.)
Chase scene ensues!
There're always two other guys in addition to Takki wearing the Nezumi costume, keeping up a relentless chase where, when one Nezumi runs off stage left, another appears at stage right. It's a clever way to keep the action tightly connected, and the facemask Nezumi wears means it's only apparent by looking at the eyes who's who.
Then there's a brief respite where Nezumi appears alone onstage, then scampers into the audience to ask for help.
ABC-Z's Kawai was the guest on the first day, since he'll be taking over for Yabu in August. And then, on the second day, Takki's favorite existence paid a visit.
That is the face of a man completely overcome with joy.
That is also the face of a man completely overcome with joy.
That is the face of a man who has seen two married men looking at each other, completely overcome with joy, and is reevaluating the wisdom of flirting with the husband of the one with a jealous streak and lot of free time on his hands.
On the day Tsubasa visited, Johnny was also there. Johnny's seat was in the very back of the theater (because of course) and Tsubasa was in row 6, seat 24. (Thank you, extremely detailed Twitter reports.)
Apparently when Tsubasa walked into the theater, there was a round of applause for him (which also happened when Takki came to see GOEMON on Tsubasa's birthday).
During the Nezumi scene, Takki went straight to Tsubasa's seat and tugged him to the front of the audience, as seen above in the photo with the giddy expression.
Takki asked him, "What's your name?"
Tsubasa said, "Takizawa Hideaki."
"You are not!" Takki laughed.
"I'm Takizawa's partner, Imai Tsubasa," Tsubasa said, smiling.
(パートナー has been Tsubasa's favorite way to refer to himself recently.)
Takki gave him the letter. "If anyone comes looking for me, please read this."
Tsubasa replied, "You made me do this in Fukuoka and now here too...”
Takki ran back to Tsubasa's seat for the letter reading bit and when the "authorities" arrived, Tsubasa opened the letter and read, "Dear Imai Tsubasa, I love you. Signed, Takizawa Hideaki." Then he looked up and said, "Hm? Is that wrong?"
Apparently the letter's Actual Contents were: "Who do you like more, Takki or Tsubasa?"
Kitayama: Tsubasa.
Yabu: I like when they're both together.
Tsubasa: Nope, wrong answer.
Yabu: ...Tsubasa? (laughs)
Correct. :D
Nezumi's always a great scene. :D
〈夏〉Summer
6 お化け～安珍清姫 Ghosts~Anchin and Kiyohime
Okay, this is new and I had no idea what was going on here, so I asked some friends and did some research after I saw the title in the pamphlet.
But first, the scene as it happens in the show:
Women with long scraggly black hair wearing white stumble down the aisles, accompanied by creepy music. They climb silks up to the ceiling and writhe around over the ceiling for a while. Then Juniors dressed as serpents crawl out onto the stage.
Then we have Takki dressed in creepy evil wizard's clothes.
Serpent eats a Junior. Takki the Wizard flies into the audience.
Takki does narration about spurned women consumed by evil.
The end.
Apparently, it's based on the legend of Anchin and Kiyohime. Which, had I known that, would have made a lot more sense, Takizawa. XD
7 MASK～変面 Mask Changing
「MASK映像」Mask Projection
The dialogue in this scene changes a little bit every year, but the theme is the same. This is one of my favorite parts of the show, even though it's very simple, because it's an interesting concept and it's a kind of an insight into how Takki sees humanity.
The scene's setup is pretty simple. There's a light mask and a dark mask.
The dark mask complains, "I'm so confused."
The light mask responds, "Can't you find truth?"
"I don't believe in that. Where do you find it?"
"You can't find truth?"
Something something. Cracks start to appear on the light mask.
"Search for truth. You'll be able to see it if you look through the darkness." More something. "Are you afraid?" Something something. Light mask is overcome with blinding white light.
Dark mask bellows, "IT'S TOO BRIGHT. I DON'T UNDERSTAND."
The light mask returns to its normal glow and responds calmly, "That's truth."
I missed a lot of the important details and I probably mistranslated it, so I'll make sure to add to this when the DVD comes out. XD
(Thank you for putting yourself at risk of nightmares to get me the screencap, lovespiral. ♡)
One of my Japanese friends described it like this, "The two masks represent two parts of one person. The lighter mask with the bright blue eyes is your true self, and the darker version with the red eyes is the flawed mask you wear in public. Throughout the scene, the true side is trying to shine through to the outside and coax the flawed mask to be more honest and sincere."
「MASK DANCE」
Zombie Pirates of the Caribbean dance.
「変面」Mask Changing
This is the cool part where Takki's dressed up as a prince and his mask changes every time he twitches his head to the side. Except this time he's joined by Yabu and Kitayama as well. It remains very cool.
8 太鼓 Taiko
「太鼓導入」Taiko Introduction
As they roll out the taiko drums, the English narration begins again:
"Taiko drums offer dynamic accompaniment to Japanese festivals and ceremonies. Their majestic sound is highly evocative for the Japanese. The soul-stirring role of the drums, generated by great physical effort and intense concentration, draws listeners into a world of the everlasting. Taiko."
「太鼓」Taiko
As you'd expect, taiko is about drums. Half-naked drumming. Because Takki knows his audience.
And he does his drumming upside-down thing again, which always makes me super nervous for him. Watching one of my favorite idols plummet headfirst ten feet onto the stage isn't among the things I'd request to see. Please don't fall on your head, Takki. x___x
9 DANCE
「いつか OVERTURE」Someday Overture
Immediately after he's finished taiko drumming upside down, distracting things happen while a stage guy towels the sweat off Takki and another staff guy helps him into a sparkly jacket. This is all while he's still onstage, because the show moves that fast.
「いつか」Someday
And then he does a dance number. Because Takki's a beast of a professional.
〈秋〉Autumn
10 滝沢一座 The Takizawa Troupe
「楽屋」Dressing Room
Yamaryo enters on his own and is super, painfully adorable while he says things. (Basically, "Yay the show's been on for a long time you're all awesome for giving us your money, thanks~!")
「舞台化粧」Theatrical Makeup
Recently, part of an interview with Takki was published in the Yomiuri Newspaper:
“Johnny-san believes the protagonist should never be offstage, even for a second,” Takizawa said. “But it takes time to get dressed as an onnagata. So he suggested that I show the process [of transforming into an onnagata] onstage. I thought I wasn’t supposed to show that to the audience, so such an innovative idea came as a great surprise to me.”
This has been one of my favorite parts of the show in the last few years I've gone to see it. It's fascinating to watch, and since he's been doing this for ten years now, hundreds of times, he's gotten very good at it.
Amusing side-note: recently, an angry pimple jutted out of his cheek. When it was pointed out to him, he said casually, "Ahh yeah, the stage makeup is pretty harsh on my skin. Thanks for pointing it out, though." I like when he's snarky. XD
In years past, Takki's been alone onstage, kneeling in front of a small mirror as he applies a wax base and the white facepaint kabuki is famous for. A handful of Juniors usually stand on the wing of the stage and narrate through past performances or otherwise entertain the audience while Takki's focused on putting his stage makeup on. This year, he decided to have Kitayama and Yabu on either side of him, along with Snowman. They Budou do the traditional walkthrough of the past ten years, with amazing commentary by Yamaryo.
Like I said up above, this is when I decided I really like Sakuma Daisuke. 1) He is loud, 2) he has great comedic timing. This is literally all it takes with me, sometimes. And this corner made me like Tree more. The other four Snowmen still do nothing for me, sadly. They all seem like nice guys, but they're too polite and demure to be memorable for me.
This corner has a lot to talk about (I've been keeping up with reports for shows I haven't seen, too) so I'll divide it into bulletpoints:
• SELF-INTRODUCTION
So there are three tables: the main one with 北, 滝, and 薮 emblazoned on the front labeling where Kitayama, Takki, and Yabu sit. On either side of the main one, there's a table for the members of Snowman. If I remember correctly, it went: (They Budou standing on stage right) Snowman #1, Snowman #2, Snowman #3, Kitayama, Takki, Yabu, Tree, Snowman #4, and Daisuke. At the start of the corner, they all had to introduce themselves.
Here are some of the ones I liked best from Takki so far:
4/8: "I'm eternally seventeen. Takizawa Hideaki."
4/9: "I'm eternally an idol. Takizawa Hideaki."
4/10: "I'M TAKKI-!"
4/11 (afternoon): "I'm eternally seventeen~"
4/11 (evening): "I am everyone's Takki~" (みんなのタッキー)
4/12 (afternoon): "I stopped growing ten years ago. Takizawa Hideaki."
4/12 (evening): "I stopped growing fifteen years ago. Takizawa Hideaki." (...Fans can probably actually pinpoint when you stopped growing if you want us to, Takki. XD)
4/14: "At handshake events, everyone's grip is so strong."
4/15: "I am eternally seventeen. Takizawa Hideaki." (Someone LOVED being seventeen.)
4/16: "I take forever to recover my strength. Takizawa Hideaki."
4/17: "I ate strawberries for breakfast. Takizawa Hideaki."
4/23 (afternoon): "I'm eternally ^#&@kdn@IOB..." (garbled words)
4/23 (evening): "I had ramen for lunch. Takizawa Hideaki." (The 23rd was the 20th anniversary of his and Tsubasa's audition day-the day they met-and Tsubasa said later that night on his radio show that he had ramen for lunch, so I'll assume they ate together. :Dv)
4/29 (afternoon): "The person I respect most is Koichi."
5/3 (afternoon): "My favorite words are 'no performance day.' Takizawa Hideaki."
• YAMARYO
Sparkle my rainbows, I fucking love Yamaryo.
An ongoing game in this corner over the years seems to be Make Takki React. He's always so focused on his makeup and on giving this corner to the others as an opportunity to shine, so Takki doesn't talk very often. Getting him to even smile as a reaction is an accomplishment, from what I've seen. So I think the Juniors enjoy trying to get a reaction out of him.
This year, Yamaryo's thoroughly, amazingly amusing. And I didn't know he was this funny. I had no idea. He hasn't done Kabuki in three years, which is when I started going to see it, so my only frame of reference for Yamaryo is Playzone-which I started going to see after they stopped doing the acting portion because Tsubasa killed it dead the year he became warrior dance chief (leader is so much less glamorous a title). So for the last three or four years, I've just really liked Yamaryo because he's an amazing dancer. I had no idea he's also really fucking funny. I'm so much more of a fan now. Just-hell yes, Yamaryo. Go you. ♡
So yes, while they're going through the flashbacks to previous productions, Yamaryo will keep up a steady commentary in between comments by Eda and Not Eda, such as:
*Hayashi introduces 2007 footage. Yamaryo: "I WAS FIFTEEN THEN." \:D/
*2007 onnagata Takki's sleeves are dramatically flared out * "BZZZAHHHH. Omigahd, Takki, you're so cool."
*While watching 2011 Takki action scene, Yamaryo beams and sighs, "Ahh, this is so nostalgic! Not that I was there." Turns to audience, still beaming, baring teeth.
*During Nezumi scene onscreen, Yamaryo pulls out gold from his vest, says, "Thank you!" like Nezumi and throws it over his own head joyfully.
YAMARYO. ♡
• "HIDEAKI"
In one show, Yabu and Kitayama asked, "What does your family call you?"
Takki seemed surprised by the question. "Um. Hideaki, I guess."
They gave a mild noise of interest, apparently with a bit of question in the sound, so Takki said flatly, "You're not allowed to call me that."
The audience apparently responded, "Eehhh."
...Meanwhile, Tsubasa calls him Hi-kun, Hide-kun, and Ugly Pug. Marriage is great, kids. ♡
• THE BATTLE OF SAKUMA DAISUKE AND THE TREE
Part of this scene is a Q&A, and the question has changed several times over the course of the production. So Snowman #3 will say something like, "What has a senpai done for you recently that you appreciated?" and then the other Snowpeople and occasionally Yamaryo will put their hands up to answer.
More than once, this led to Tree and Daisuke facing each other and screaming, "HAI! HAI! HAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIII! HAI HAI HAAAAAIIIIIII!" and having small seizures over the makeup table waving their arms to be chosen before the other one.
Like I said: this corner made me really, really like these two. XD
11 滝沢歌舞伎 Takizawa Kabuki
「口上」Speech
The familiar orange, black, and green kabuki curtain is drawn across the stage.
The four younger boys without a group name walk out onto the stage spinning paper umbrellas with TAKIZAWA KABUKI emblazoned on the tops. They give their own self-introductions with kabuki-style poses.
The first boy I don't remember. The second one was my favorite. He had a boatload of confidence when he was speaking. Basically he said, "I entered Johnny's seven years ago. My first play was Takizawa Kabuki. I learned how to play the shamisen." Something Shonosuke.
The third one annoyed me. He spoke with this intentionally babyish voice and said, "I can't wake up in the mornings on my own. Mom, thank you!" with this huge wave at the audience. The rest of the audience usually liked it, but that kind of babylike image isn't endearing to me. I prefer the funny and clever ones over the babyish cute ones.
But the last kid was awesome. "I can't study. I can't exercise. And I have no friends. BUT no one can defeat me in HEART." He just said it all with such conviction, I was really amused. Well done.
「秋の舞」Autumn Dance
This was Snowman and probably MAD and maybe MADE? I usually only recognized Tree and Daisuke. Anyway, they dance with the female dancers. The guys are in autumn costume, brown and orange, and the women are in spring/summer? costume. The guys hold branches of autumn leaves, and the women hold sa...kura branches? I think? I can't remember. Ah well. I was doing well until now. XD
「滝沢五右衛門」Takizawa Goemon
Another familiar scene. Goemon's a very popular figure, and since I saw GOEMON in November with Tsubasa, I have a newfound appreciation for the story. Basically, if you've seen Goemon in the past, it hasn't changed, as far as I saw.
〈冬〉WINTER
「お七」Oshichi
This is a very famous story. The true story is along these lines: back in the Edo period, there was a girl named Yaoya Oshichi. She was the daughter of a grocer. One night, there was a fire in the city, and her family took refuge in a local temple. There, she fell in love with one of the monk apprentices, but they were separated once the fire was extinguished. A year later, still pining for him, Oshichi decided to recreate the circumstances that led to their first meeting. She rang the fire warning bell, but she was captured and arrested for the false alarm. When she was put before the judge, he tried to have mercy on her and try her as a minor. He asked her, "You're so young, you must only be fifteen," but she didn't understand his intention and said, "No, sir, I'm sixteen." He tried one more time to correct her, but she gave him another honest answer, and he had no choice but to sentence her as an adult. She was burned for her crime.
However, that's not the story in Takizawa Kabuki.
There are many theatrical versions of this story, one of which is a huge shift in tone away from the true story. The one Takki seems to be basing his adaptation on is this one:
伊達娘恋緋鹿子, or "The Red-Hot Love of the Greengrocer's Daughter." In this bunraku version of the story, Oshichi is more of a hero. Her lover, Saemon, is trapped outside the city walls, and his only chance of surviving the frigid winter night is if he can get back inside the city. Oshichi decides to risk the punishment of death by ringing the bell in the hope that the gates will be opened to evacuate the city and her lover will be able to return inside.
Takki's scene begins with two members manipulating a small puppet version of Oshichi wearing her famous red kimono while the two members of MAD recite an explanation of the story in English. Unfortunately, the explanation doesn't explain much. I managed to write some of it down, but the intonation and accent were difficult to catch, so I didn't get all of it:
"Alas, soon ___ midnight
Even thus, with sword outdrawn
If I fail to sing unto
[Name]?
This selfsame night
He must be die
But his own heart
Ah, that I had but wings
O wings
To fly my love to him and tell him all
Suddenly, she notices the fire tower
Ah, there is a way!
[Name] saves striking of the fire bell
Must be the signal that a fire is raised
___ town must be unloaded
If I make haste with all my might
I can yet save
[Name]'s life!"
I'm still not sure what they were going for with that explanation. I'm assuming they'll use something different for Singapore, because even if you know the story of Oshichi, not many know the bunraku play adaption. The first time I saw Takizawa Kabuki this year, I only knew the true story, so I was very confused by the whole life saving angle. Also, "he must be die" always makes me cringe.
This was a pretty unusual choice. I assume they're trying things out for Singapore, but this explanation would only confuse an English-speaking audience member, and the majority of the Japanese audience can't understand it even if they speak English because the syntax is so outdated.
MAD is doing their best with what they've been given, but I can't imagine they understand what they're saying, which in turn makes understanding them harder. I don't think they need to Kabuki-fy the English syntax-the scene is already historical, we don't need to have a Shakespeare-style monologue. I think it'd be easier if they did something like this:
"Alas, as midnight draws near
On this cold winter night
Two lovers stand separated by the city's gate
On the inside, the young girl Oshichi
On the outside, her love Saemon
Unless the gate is opened
He will die
Desperate to save him,
Oshichi lifts her gaze
To the fire tower
'If I sound the alarm
They will open the gate
And I will see my love returned to me'
The fire tower
Her love's only hope"
I'm really interested to see what they'll do for Singapore. Some fans have said it might be easiest if they use English subtitles on a screen, but I think Takki's set on having his performers speaking English. In which case, I think they should stick to a simpler sentence structure and smaller words they can understand the meaning of more easily. They can memorize and recite anything, but if they don't understand what they're saying, they're going to lose a lot of impact.
So in Takki's version, there's a bit of poetic insinuation at the end that my friend caught. Throughout the scene, there are Juniors waving red fabric to symbolize fire. But there is no fire in the story, so I was confused. Was it meant to be a flashback to the previous year? Was it only in her head? Was this a version where she hallucinates fires happening?
My friend pointed out something I hadn't connected. At the end, as Oshichi pounds on the bell with a hammer, she yells, "I give my soul for his!" (Actually, it's something more like 'substitute my soul for his' but that sounds odd in English.) And the scrim (semi-see-through screen) lowers in front of her, wreathing the stage in fire. My friend said, "I think that's supposed to symbolize her burning at the stake after they arrest her." I think she's right! Good catch on her part. :)
I really like this scene. When Takki climbs the fire tower and the red kimono unfurls behind him, it's such a dramatic and gorgeous image.
「鶴の舞」Crane Dance
This part is hands down my favorite scene in the whole production. In any of his productions. In any Johnny's production ever.
Have I oversold it enough yet? I feel like I could still do more. I love this scene so much.
So it starts out with Yamaryo and Eda entering the stage dressed in archer's clothes carrying bows. They do a dance, then they're joined by Yabu and someone else, and the four of them dance while drawing the bowstrings. At the end of the dance, they stalk offstage in single-file to hunt.
The scrim (slightly-see-through screen) lights up with snow falling on a forest landscape. Through the scrim, the audience can see a number of figures with their backs turned to the audience. All but two of the figures are wearing variations on blue and pink, with long flowing wings spread out across their arms.
In the center of the stage, a figure kneeling in pink, and a standing figure in purple. Both wear elaborate headdresses that imply royalty.
As the music continues, cinematic and winsome, some of the figures surrounding them lift a wing slowly in time to the music, then lower it.
The rattling of the hanamichi chain curtain announces Kitayama's arrival.
He walks up the hanamichi to the front stage. The scrim lifts, and Crane King (Takki) turns around to greet him.
Kitayama offers the Crane King a branch with ice leaves, and the king lifts it approvingly. The figure in pink, still with his back to the audience, takes the ice branch and lifts it appreciatively. Crane Consort (definitely a guy, but I don't know who) tugs on Crane King's sleeve, leading them around the giant tree upstage. They circle two times, never showing their faces to the audience, and on the third pass, Crane Consort turns around. Voila, costume changed Crane Consort Takki!
Crane Consort dances with the ice branch for a few moments, and then looks up into the balcony and startles. The cranes around her gather close to protect her, but Yabu lets an arrow fly and it pierces Crane Consort's chest. A massive cascade of blood falls from the ceiling, to the point where nothing is visible through it for an instant. (Red confetti blood souvenir, yay!)
The cranes surround the body, lifting their wings to shield her from the audience.
When they back away, Takki is back in King Consort costume.
He lifts handfuls of blood in rage, looking up at the balcony where Yabu was.
The cranes carry Crane Consort's body in a solemn procession offstage.
Kitayama runs off down the hanamichi.
Crane King returns behind the tree, walking slowly.
When he emerges, he's dressed very differently. He's fueled by rage, his hair white and his costume with thick winged sleeves. He and the cranes go into a dance, picking up red confetti and hurling them into the air, creating a gorgeous stark contrast between the soft pastel of their costumes and the angry color of the blood. The music also shifts from soft and gentle to fast-paced and brutal.
Kitayama returns holding the ice branch and gives it to Crane King. Heavy drums blare, and Crane King lifts the ice branch toward the sky as, behind him, a giant white, red, and black crane unfurls its wings and expands to fill most of the stage.
It's a gorgeous scene. With all the wings and the blue everywhere, it reminded me of Tsubasa. ♡
It's apparently an original scene, too. I'm ridiculously proud, Takki, 'cos this is just brutally gorgeous. Well done indeed. :}
ACT 2