Sorrowful Córdoba / La Esmeralda National Tour (Snow 2015)
Last weekend I saw the last two stops of the National Tour in Kawaguchi (Saitama) and Sagamihara (Kanagawa). Reunited after a long two months.
Sorrowful Córdoba:
Disappointingly, "Sorrowful Córdoba" was a flat show. It was essentially just the playing-out of a story on surface level -- nothing deeper: guy reunites with former romantic interest despite both already being in relationships with other people, love is rekindled, guy and girl find out they are related, guy dies. Therefore, most of the characters themselves, including Chigi's, Miyu's, and Daimon's, were very straightforward and not complex at all. Nobody really stood out. The lack of depth was probably more dramatic for me since the previous show, "Hoshiai Hitoyo" was very intricate and subtle. However, the show allowed some of the upperclassmen and wakate to shine. Saki had a nice duet with Chigi (their characters were best friends) and her voice is getting quite good. This might be why she is pushing ahead of Shou, who is equally talented but lacking in the singing department. On a side note, she also has this pre-millenium otokoyaku feel (may have something to do with her eyebrows and stage makeup) which is kinda neat. And then there was Hitoko who had a good amount of stagetime. As Romero's (Daimon's) nephew, she was often going back and forth between he and Elio (Chigi). She also had a nice duet with Chigi (which she was probably freaking out about inside but did wonderfully). You go Hitoko. Hoshino Anri who played Elio's fiance, Anfelita, was also precious. She was portrayed as the "good girl" with blue costume motifs and paler skin compared to the seductive reds of Miyu. She had a nice solo.
Onto the Tridente: As mentioned before, Chigi's character was very straightforward and I didn't really get a sense of any character development or inward turmoil beyond his rekindled love for his former girlfriend. Her dancing was fantastic, and she and Miyu also shared a very hot kiss but I cringed immediately after, remembering el incesto.
Miyu: What a lady! It was nice to see a seductive Miyu, specfically during the "El Amore" sequence, although her "flustered" moments as Eva were a little too Miyu-ish and out of character. To my dismay, Daimon was not given a lot of stagetime but it was delightful when she was present, especially if it involved song. Since the venues and equipment were smaller scale, you could hear a little bit more of the "real" voice, if you will. Anyway I was having a good time hearing her vocal embellishments during the duets and harmonies. I suppose the dance at the beginning and interlude made up for the her lacking of stagetime throughout. Romero was a very stern character and the voice she used was reminiscent most recently of elder Genta ("Hoshiai Hitoyo") or perhaps Benedict from "Ocean's 11."
Being a National Tour, the sets weren't so exciting and I was amused how each managed to incorporate a variety of columns. The show itself was quite dark with several spolight-only moments, and while my excitement at seeing everyone kept me stoked throughout the entire Kawaguchi show, I was admittedly getting sleepy every time the lights were dimmed in Sagamihara. The hour-long trainride and early-ish iri probably also played a role haha.
La Esmeralda:
"La Esmeralda" was SO much better paired with this show in addition to being a good National Tour revue. Since the entire revue is essentially chuuzume, it was perfecto for kyakusekiori. Since it was only half of the troupe, new singing roles were assigned. I was happy to see Hitoko and Paisen singing more. Seshi got a cute new wig for the race car scene. I knew it was coming due to Sky Stage coverage but Daimon was absolutely on fire during the "Paris" scene. For the senshuuraku, she stuck lip prints on the inside of her coat and wore her hair extra floofy.
The part when the song concludes and the curtain goes down always kills me because she, Dai, and Kingu always do something different. In Kawaguchi they had a flash-off with their coats and in Sagamihara, they grab her arms and legs, no doubt to later shower her with kisses themselves. They gave the "Siren" prelude to Manaharu who is so adorable and deserving -- good for her! There was no King Trident (who else could be him but Junko lol) and a disembodied voice sang (if I remember, I think it was Paisen?) as Chigi came back to life. The troupe was also more confident with their Spanish and pronunciation was a lot better. This revue has really grown on me after seeing it twelve times haha...ha (eye twitching). Thanks Saitou-sensei.
Tridente: Midway through the revue, the three get a chance to talk about something relevant to wherever they're performing. I was particularly delighted because the format involves Chigi asking Daimon what the respective area is famous for. I'm sure Daimon prepared ahead of time but I know for some of the earlier places they had visited, Chigi caught her off-guard with different comments and questions. I can see her having both shows down pat but majime-ly going over in her head what she will say only to be trolled by Chigi. I'm not as sold on the Tridente as a lot of people are but it was cute to "dance" with them haha.
Eritan joined us for the Sagamihara performance which made for amusing kyakusekiori (i.e. everyone went out of their way to give her a high-five). That day was also kumisouken so it felt extra special having a former top star there; and even though Daimon is only a year into Yuki, her and Eritan go way back into the Hanagumi days. Daimon was so freaking stoked to be there in Kanagawa -- she looked both ecstatic and like she was going to cry during aisatsu. "Kanagawa, you are mine!!" she exclaimed. "Don Juan" (which will be in her hometown, Yokohama) can't come soon enough!
Overall I had fun but I would take the Sky Stage raku recording of 「ラ」 over buying the DVD.