Live Report: Elisabeth (Hana 2014)

[rose_of_pain]

Elisabeth - Takarazuka Grand Theater - 9/11/14
- my very first live Takarazuka show

This was my very first show so I was totally in awe of everything and lets face it, the show could have been horrible and I'd still find it amazing because I'm pretty sure I would have been happy to see any zuka show live as my first show. But I did go in treating myself to my favorite show, with a seat I spent probably way too much money on but it was totally worth it. Like I said in my Day 2 report, my seat was pretty amazing. I was S-Seki row 11 and even though I was all the way to the left, I could see pretty much everything pretty damn well. Though I did totally forget to rent opera glasses and at first, I did regret that, seeing everyone around me pull out theirs to see close-ups on Mirio and Ran-chan especially when they were near the back of the stage but at the same time, glad I didn't because I think I would have spent too much time looking at just Mirio's costumes and would have missed a lot of the smaller things going on. After all I've seen all the official recordings of the previous versions of this show, except for a few shinkos, so I know what the main characters are going to do in all the scenes. I was more interested in seeing the stuff you DON'T get to see on the DVD. So with that in mind, I actually spent little time watching Mirio and Ran-chan (the leads of this particular show) and more on the sets and what everyone else was doing on stage and in the background. Because I can always watch the leads' expressions on the DVD when it comes out.

First thing my friend Carrie asked me when I came home was if this show was now my favorite Elisabeth. After all, seeing a show live can make a huge difference. Its special seeing it live and this particular version will indeed always be special to me for that reason but I'll admit, it's not my favorite. The other Hanagumi version from 2002 will always be my favorite and I'm sorry but nothing will ever top that performance in my eyes. But this one will probably get a pretty high ranking. Not sure where its on my scale yet. I might have to wait til I see the DVD recording to make my final opinion so I can in fact study Mirio's Tod a little better. But anyways, onto the show itself... I've read the reviews others have posted so far and I share some of the same opinions but I also thought very differently on other aspects, etc.

Let me start by saying that if you're reading this without any knowledge of the show itself, you'll probably get a bit lost. I'm not going to bother with a show summary for this because its a very well known musical and it seems silly to do so and I assume most people interested in reading this have already seen at least one version. But if you do want to know, you can read the detailed summary here on Taka-Wiki which also has the cast list, etc. I'll be using the actresses' nicknames just because that's what I'm used to referring to them by.

I'd also like to point out that 9/10 was the anniversary of the real Empress Elisabeth's assassination and as there was no show on that day, my day was the closest to it. XD I didn't even realize this until weeks after I bought the ticket. I dunno, I thought it was cool. I did see a camera but only one so I have a feeling it was probably only there to record the special curtain call we got at the end (which I'll talk about later).

Der Tod - Asumi Rio (Mirio) - Like I said, I don't think I can give a full opinion on Mirio's performance until I see the DVD since there were times when I couldn't really see her face so couldn't make out her expressions but my eyes still did tend to gear in her direction whenever she was on stage regardless. She definitely had the right powerful presence for the role. I know a lot of people weren't too thrilled about her Tod but I thought she did a great job! Yes Mirio is young but she's come into her own and I think will make a great top star. From what I could see, her expressions were pretty great. Definitely a lot more emotion than AsakoTod but not on the degree of MizuTod (lol lets be honest, nobody can pull off what Mizu did). She had some GREAT smirks going on too that I did manage to catch. Though I did find it interesting that almost all her outfits had the same paint design going on. Its kinda weird that they went with that this time around. It disappointed me slightly because it made all her outfits rather similar and I like how diverse Tod's wardrobe usually is. But at the same time, it made the outfits all clearly HERS. And there was one that I'm very tempted to make, lol.

Elisabeth - Ranno Hana (Ran-chan) - I see what others mentioned about how the fact that she's still pretty young actually came into her favor for this show. Because she did pull off young Elisabeth a lot better than some of the older actresses before her did. Though this made me unsure if she'd pull off older Elisabeth as well but she did a pretty good job in my opinion. There were some parts where she still sounded a bit young-ish in her voice but she still made it work. I loved her and think it was a good decision on her part to wait til this role to retire with. I'm also glad I got to see her live during what I think was her best role (though I haven't seen all her roles yet lol).

Franz Joseph - Hokushou Kairi (Micchan) - I admit I was mostly excited for seeing Micchan, out of the cast, since she's probably the one I know the most after Mirio. And boy did she impress me! I was a tiny bit dismayed at first that I'd be seeing her in a more serious role since I adore her in her comedy roles the best. Especially since Franz tends to be a character I don't have much sympathy for. But boy did she bring something different to the role! She's the only one to truly make me feel sorry for Franz! Even more so than Wao, who I must admit it was more so because it was Wao and I can't hate Wao no matter what her role. lol But Micchan played the role in a way that seemed that Franz truly regretted the bad decisions he made and her expressions just killed me with how much emotion was going on. She was, to be honest, probably the best actress in the whole cast here in terms of acting skills. But I'll go into that more when I get to the scene specific stuff.

Luigi Lucheni - Nozomi Fuuto (Daimon) - Well I've never had a Lucheni I did not love and Daimon definitely lived up to expectation. She did not go over the top crazy like Masao (thank god, lol I don't know if I could have handled that degree live, I love you Masao but that was almost too much) but still had quite a lot of crazy to her and I adored every second she was on stage. Especially since she tended to be on my side of the stage throughout most of the show. So I got to watch her more than the other leads. She was just plain fun to watch and it was hard to take my eyes off of her. Its going to be interesting to see how she will do over in Yukigumi. I'm semi dismayed she won't be Mirio's nibante but I know Carrie is excited her troupe gets her now. XD

Rudolf - Serika Toa (Kiki) - I still tend to think of Kiki as one of my Hoshi babies so I was glad I got one of her nights as Rudolf (the role was shared between her and Yuzuka Rei). Though this role, despite how important it is, really doesn't get much stage time if you think about it. XD But regardless, I did enjoy her Rudolf but this is another case where I'm going to have to use the DVD to give a final opinion. I think I was too distracted by the overwhelming feeling of watching Yami ga Higarou live to actually pay attention to their expressions during it because I'm totally drawing a blank on any details concerning her. ^^;; oops

Sophie - Sakura Ichika (Ichika) - Pretty much the only sienne still in Hanagumi from Osa's era that I knew. So glad I got to see her final role as well though it makes me sad to see her leave considering she's one of my favorite musumes, I knew it was about time. She's been around for quite some time and at least she's had a great career. It was a little weird for me seeing her as Sophie though since its so different than the roles I'm used to seeing her in but she did a great job. And thankfully they didn't go over the top with the eyebrows for her so she didn't look too ridiculous. lol Probably the only time I felt slightly sad to see Sophie's character die, just because it meant I wouldn't see Ichika on stage again til the finale. And I gotta admit, as much as I love Kano-chan, I would have liked if the etoile had gone to Ichika instead, as just a final little salute to her. Oh well.

Oh man, despite all my mental preparation, I was NOT prepared for the emotional onslaught I got from the opening number. *_* That was quite the nice intro to zuka live. lol Mirio's sword hit the top of the arch but I hear that's kinda a normal thing to happen in shows and I see why now, there's not much room up there. lol In general I loved being able to see how a lot of the staging was done from how up close I was. Also helped I knew exactly where to look and since I've been involved in backstage stuff before, it always fascinates me to see how its done. Like I could totally see Ran-chan walking behind the Elisabeth portrait as they brought it out from my angle. Things like that just really delighted me since of course the DVD uses angles so you can't see things like that. lol

Like I said, Ran-chan definitely pulled off young Elisabeth really well. Her voice sounded quite natural during the early songs and it made it more believable for me. Ai to Shi no Rondo was wonderful. I looooved watching Mirio's throne rise up through the floor and move across the stage with Mirio just sitting there like she totally owned the world. I never realized it moved so much during that scene. lol Though I'm not sure if it does that in every version since I think it just sliding forward in some of the older ones, not across the entire stage like that. In general it was also really nice being able to actually SEE the black angels during the whole show since so much of what they do is not visible on the DVD since of course it usually just focuses on Tod during those parts. Its also a little disorientating to really see the fact they all really have baby faces. I mean I always knew they used babies for those roles but it does seem a little funny that these characters that are meant to be a bit menacing actually have really cute faces. XD In other words, they aren't menacing-looking at all up close. Just really really adorable.

And oh my god, Micchan's face during the first court scene. In pretty much every version I've seen before, Franz has a pretty stoic face during this scene. He might hesitate sentencing the woman's son to death for a few seconds but for the most part when Sophie convinces him otherwise, the sienne playing him tends to play Franz as actually cold here and doing whatever his mother tells him. Micchan, on the other hand, had real regret on her face. She really played Franz as a much more caring character who doesn't really want to do these things, but does them anyways. She looked seriously hurt to sentence the son to death during this scene and put her head in her hands afterwards in such extreme regret, it really got to me. Ichika, like the Sophies before her, was a brilliant iron fist in this scene.

The first meeting between Elisabeth and Franz made me smile a lot. Its really fun watching what all the other characters are doing in the background of this scene. There's a lot of characters in one place at once so you always miss something on the DVD. I also found my favorite scenes to watch live where the ones where a large amount of the cast was on stage. Just made it always very exciting. But it was the little things, like watching Lucheni fool around with everyone and then seeing Sissi throw the orange once she realizes Franz is coming towards her and the fact Max (her father) catches the orange. XD Though I'm not sure if that's just a thing they added in this version or if it was in all the others too. But I did notice a lot of little laughs in the audience when Max caught it. Micchan's got such an adorable and happy smile on her face during the whole proposal and marriage scenes that you can't help but be all "oh you poor delusional baby...". The wedding was gorgeous. So many beautiful set details. *_* Though it seemed a bit odd that Elisabeth's brothers were still in their little sailor suits during this and the following dance scene. XD You'd think even if they are kids, they'd be dressed a little nicer in such a formal setting. lol Especially when they also dance along withe everyone else in the bit leading up to Saigo no Dansu...

...which was amazing. The mirror thing is even cooler live. Cause you can still see the rest of the court standing frozen in time behind the mirrors for a bit, which I thought was a really cool effect. Loved seeing Saigo no Dansu live and Mirio did a good job. Though I did get to watch Osa perform the same song only 2 days later and sorry Mirio but you got nothing on Osa on that one. But still, I was quite content with Mirio's version. Ran-chan's Watashi wa Dake ni was also very impressive though likewise she doesn't have the voice Hana does, who is still my favorite Elisabeth even if my fav show is Osa's. Still sent chills down my spine regardless! Every song in that show is so much more intense live.

The Hungarian Revolutionists were all adorable though also reminded me how much I don't know current Hanagumi since I didn't know any of them by name. When we got to the first cafe scene, I made sure to keep my eyes on the corner so I could finally see how Tod comes into that scene cause on the DVD its like he's suddenly there. XD Turns out Mirio came through a hidden door on the side of the cafe set and just has the newspaper up the whole time to hide who it is. I had a hard time not laughing at that since she's basically a walking newspaper in the background for a bit. I also realized during the bedroom scene, that Mirio is stuck being behind Elisabeth's changing...board...thing (crap brain died, I forgot the name for that thing lol) for the entire time Franz and Elisabeth are talking, which also amused me for some reason. Once again Micchan's expressions really got me during this scene. Not as much "hand porn" in this scene as I would have liked though but Mirio's entrance was still pretty nice. I love the little bow. I didn't really get to see her face during the rejection very well though since she was turned away from my side at the time. Will have to look for it on the DVD since that is one of my favorite bits and its fun to compare the Tods in it.

Then onto my favorite part of the show, Milch, which did not disappoint me in the slightest. I'm so happy they do a lot of this song on the silver bridge in the more recent versions of the show. It was REALLY cool seeing them that much closer during this part. *_* I love this song and it was everything I wanted it to be live. And then of course the end of act 1 was beautiful and Ran-chan was so gorgeous that I almost forgot to look for when Tod comes on stage because I had been told about how Tod climbs out of the orchestra pit and wanted to see it for myself finally. XD Luckily remembered just in time to see Mirio prop herself up on the silver bridge. It is indeed pretty just as amusing to watch as everyone has said. And Mirio's final "Elisssaaaaabet!" gave me goosebumps. I really do love how they end act 1.

During the intermission I did in fact get into the restroom line with the actual intention of using it this time (if you haven't already read my day 2 report, I accidentally got into the restroom line trying to get into the theater XD). It amused me how they even had some of the usher girls with signs telling people where to get into line for it. lol As I learned from all the shows I saw, everyone uses the restrooms before show and during intermission. But it goes pretty quickly. It was also nice to stretch my legs for a bit because I did start to get a little cramped up in my seat and I had quite a few bags of stuff in my way. Did slightly panic when I realized I just left like $400 worth of merchandise unattended back at my seat but as I also learned, everyone just leaves their stuff like that and everyone just trusts each other. So different than over here in the US, that's for sure.

Daimon's Lucheni ablib at the beginning of act 2 was a lot longer than I remember any of the DVD adlibs being, I think only the raku ones tend to be that long. Not sure if that was because this was technically a sorta special performance or if she just talked that long every night. Either way, wish I knew what she said because the audience was dying from laughter from it. I also was thinking right before it, if any of the Luchenis have ever selected a guy in the audience as the "beauty" just for laughs and I thought I heard Daimon say "ah boya!" thinking maybe she did exactly that, which could explain the laughs, but I might have heard wrong and thought I did just because I was thinking about it only seconds before. lol Probably will never know unless she does a similar adlib on the DVD recording. Kitch was a lot of fun, as I didn't realize the audience gets to clap along to that part, which was nice finally getting to do a little more participation to a show that you otherwise have to be pretty silent during.

Oh my goodness, Ran-chan's coronation dress...was GORGEOUS! They definitely blinged her version out and as Mirio and Ran-chan did this part on the silver bridge, I got to see it up close as Ran-chan was closer to my side than Mirio and she exited off on my side at the end. *_* Photos do not do that thing justice! And as this is another favorite song of mine (though I always forget the title of it lol), I was also pretty excited during it and it was another one that gave me total chills to hear live.

Ichika's elderly Sophie was great and I loved watching the expressions on all the characters in her little "circle". They were all pretty hysterical. And I love how Lucheni acts like he's composing them like an orchestra during one of the songs though I forget when exactly in the show that happens. Madame Wolf's Collection was fun and a nice sudden explosion of colors on stage...and legs. Lots and lots of legs. Maitii's legs in particular were quite nice. lol I actually really liked her as Madeline even if it did seem like an odd choice at first. Micchan's expressions during the whole scene were hilarious too. She looked so incredibly uncomfortable at first. XD Mirio's Doctor Zabel outfit once again had the little bit of detail on the inside of the coat, like Mizu's did (I forget if Asako's also had that or not) which I do still really like even if Mirio threw it off faster than Mizu so didn't get to look at it very well. It also made me giggle a little how it looked like Mirio was practically giving Ran-chan a mini striptease there for a second.

I was a little dismayed Ran-chan didn't give the crazy girl her fan in exchange for the broken one during the asylum bit but I know they only did that in a few versions (or maybe its only in one, I forget, I tend to get these things mixed up after a while lol). But it was something I always thought was a nice touch to the scene. But then I got to see Yami ga Higarou up close and everything was wonderful and perfect and ugh they were so close. *_* A good chunk of the song was done on my side, which made me very happy! Kiki and Mirio worked well together, I think. I also had noooo idea there was such an elaborate set in the background of that scene since! Its way in the back but its this really pretty fountain and pillars and I wonder why they have it so far back like that and only for that one scene. And Kiki broke my heart a little during the scene where Elisabeth rejects Rudolf. Mayerling Waltz was beautiful and tragic and considering this scene always gives me chills just watching it on the DVDs, seeing it live was even better! (I know I say that a lot but it was a bit overwhelming for me to see my favorite scenes lol) Though Mirio's kiss of death wasn't all that convincing to me. Oh well, can't have everything perfect. XD

Oh man, the funeral scene though. You could see Micchan's hands shake as she approached Rudolf's coffin and it broke my heart even more. God Micchan stop making me LIKE Franz. x_x And I loved how casually Mirio is just lounging there on the coffin, like its a normal every day thing (well I guess for Death it is XD). Anyone got a spare coffin hanging around I can borrow to do that pose with (preferably empty please)? lol And dang she used quite a bit of force when she threw Ran-chan to the side. Dang girl be easy on her. XD I kinda started zoning out during Elisabeth and Franz' duet though. Its the slowest part of the show and its such a sad and bittersweet scene but I was getting really tired and it didn't help that the stage is pretty dark for the whole show so my brain was starting to feel a little jet-laggy. But it woke up as soon as the scene changed to the Tod vs Franz bit! I also have no idea how I never noticed that the black angels are hoisting Der Tod up during this scene. I don't know, I guess I just assumed she stands on a box or something during this part. XD And then all I could think of is if any of them have ever accidentally dropped their top star during this bit in the past. lol Got to be a pretty nerve wrecking job, to be the two that have to hold her up during that part.

The ending was beautiful and somehow I managed not to cry at least though I did clap my hands off with a goofy smile throughout the entire finale. Luckily everyone else around me was doing the same. You know, when I first got into zuka, there was a time where I would sometimes skip the mini-revue finale part, as I didn't really understand it and thought it to be weird and boring. Now its come to be one of my favorite parts of any show. lol I was pretty giddy during it, since as much as I love Elisabeth, it was nice to be a little happier in tone. All the dances were amazing though I'm not a fan of the gold jacket on Mirio during the otoko dance. It worked fine one everyone else but gold is just not a color that works on Der Tod. It just clashes too much with her wig. But that's just me. Ran-chan slipped a little during the pair dance and I heard the ladies in front of me gasp at that (I almost gasped aloud too) because it was a bit terrifying, we all thought she was going to fall for a second there. Luckily Mirio managed to catch her and upright her just in time and they kept going as if nothing ever happened. Just makes you fully realize that during these dances, the musume really has to put full trust in her partner not to let her fall, etc. Cause if she had slipped, she would have gone right into the pit. It would have been a bad fall with the direction she was going. So there was kinda a mutual sigh of relief in the audience at that point. As much as I laugh about the story of Mizu accidentally throwing Teru into the pit, it looks so painful considering how deep it is. That and you'd most likely land on a poor orchestra member. ^^;;

My favorite part of the finale was of course getting to see them all walk down that giant sparkly staircase! Wai! So even though I was sad to see the show come to an end, I had such a big grin plastered on my face at getting to finally see them do this part. At the very end though, I decided instead of watching the leads in the center, like pretty much everyone else was doing, that I should instead look at the babies directly in front of me since I was only a few feet from them. I saw at least one of them do a double take at that (though she recovered quickly to make it look like she never did that lol) cause I could tell they were surprised I was looking at them instead and the fact that I was a foreigner. lol I made eye contact with a few of them and got some REALLY big grins out of them as a result. Squee! I'm determined to try to figure out who they were but probably won't be able to do that til the DVD comes out so I can try to screenshot and point out where they're standing so people who know Hanagumi better can tell me who they are as I'd like to try to follow them. I've never had babies catch my attention before so I'm kinda excited to finally have some. Especially that little black angel that caught my attention. Soooo cute! But I don't remember her face well enough to figure out which one she was as I've already looked over the cast in the program a few times to see if I can remember. I suck at remembering faces. x_x So I'll have to rely on their positions in the curtain call.

So then the curtain goes down...and surprises us all when it comes back up! And they all assume their positions they usually take when there's a talk at the end but this wasn't shonichi or raku (the first and last shows) where they do that so I could hear the confusion in the audience. And hell I was even more confused since I couldn't understand what the kumichou was saying. XD But heard a lot of delighted gasps from the audience. Especially when they brought a fan on stage and Mirio handed her free tickets to the Tokyo raku performance (the single hardest show in any run to get tickets for), pretty sure it was SS-Seki even. That part I at least understood even though I had no idea why she was getting them. lol There was a banner over top of the stage that came down too and later in the lobby there was a sign everyone was stopping to take photos of that wasn't there before. They also said something about a gift and I thought maybe they were doing a raffle or something until we walked out and the ushers handed us all a free postcard set. ^.^



Took a photo too mainly in hopes someone could translate it for me. Showed it to Chibi on Line when I got back to the hotel and she told me it says something to do with 2 million tickets sold? Guessing for all the Elisabeth performances from the start? Since that seems like too many for just this run, lol. I'm guessing our performance marked the 2 million point and the girl must have been the one with that ticket number. Lucky girl! She seemed to take it pretty calmly though. I don't think I would have been able to do the same if I had been in her shoes. Being up there with the whole cast and all. So pretty sure this is why I saw that camera earlier on because I doubt they were recording for the DVD since I only saw one. Probably just wanted to get this part on film for prosperity. But maybe it'll be an extra or show up on sky stage at some point. Who knows.

I had so many emotions running through my head as I left the theater. I was pretty much in the clouds at that point. I saw Elisabeth live and nothing could be better...or so I thought. I still had a lot of amazing experiences coming up though, as it turned out. Though Elisabeth was definitely one of the best.

~Lyn