2011/03/25 Pink Spider musical - Tokyo Globe Theater; Tokyo, JP
Originally, we were supposed to go see this on 3/12, but... yeah. So we rescheduled for the 3/25 show, which I thought would end up with different cast, but turned out to be the ones we'd wanted to see anyway (based on the terribly well-researched factor of which actor/actress for each of the 2 main characters looked cooler. >_<;)
So yeah- neither of us were familiar with anyone involved in the project, except the obvious J, although the fact that it was a hide musical (and thus chock full of hide songs) pretty much guaranteed it a win anyway. The story itself was kinda odd- about a bored salaryman who talks to a sort of telephone call-girl (seriously- her job is to talk to lonely guys on the phone), who wants to "fly" (a reference to Pink Spider's lyrics, although the girl then asks "What, like w/ strange mushrooms?"), and said he used to be in a band when he was younger, but he's too busy/serious/l4m3 now to play again. He ends up running into her in real life (much to the dismay of her protective friend, who assumes he's a stalker), and then some devilish guy gives him a "psychommunity" badge/button, which totally changes his behavior when he pins it on... the girl gets one, too, and then they go to a "concert" & pretend to eat each other (which maya thinks is a reference to the Pink Spider PV (NSFW- boobies!), which I apparently haven't seen enough times), the devil-guy and his crew steal back the badges, and then the 2 talk about how weird that just was, but it was good since they got to meet each other, and they "flew, and came safely back to the ground," and they'll have to "fly" on their own from now (i.e. without the magic butterfly pins). Oh, and the guy decides to start a band. Ummm, yeah- no idea. I'm probably missing at least a little bit from the language barrier, but I'm assuming it was pretty abstract anyway. But hey- lots of hide songs. And even a zilch one.
So, now onto J. We'd heard he'd be in as a "friend supporter", but he commented publicly that he didn't know what he'd be able to do, since he's not a cast member, etc.... Well, he certainly had his... role... if you can call it that. Besides the band (defspiral, which I hadn't heard of, although apparently they were formerly known as Transtic Nerve, which Maya'd heard of, and The Underneath, who played at the hide memorial summit), who took their spots in the back, J was the first person to walk on stage. Silently, he moved slowly to the center platform, sunglasses on, looked around as everyone else wandered out holding & looking at small pieces of paper (tickets?), which they all suddenly tore up into pieces, at which point J hangs his head & walks silently off stage. Um, huh?
His next several entrances were pretty much the same- he'd shuffle out silently, look around, possibly do some wordless interaction with another character (put a hand on their shoulder, or sit down next to them), and then silently walk off again. It wasn't until he walked out & we noticed a mic stand in the center platform that things got exciting- and even more so when he reached his hand out to the side and a crew member brought in & passed him his bass... and proceeded to sing? A song I didn't even recognize. Turns out it was Electric Cucumber, by zilch, which is hide-related, but which I haven't listened to nearly as much (although I recognized "What's Up Mr. Jones?" when I heard it somewhere in the wild a while back... probably as some pre-show music at a J or BT show). Hm, apparently J has done a remix of that song, which I was not aware of- will have to remedy that. Anyway, after another couple of wordless stage entrances, J took the stage again & sang Rocket Dive, leading me to hope really badly that they release a DVD of this show...
Maya's theory of J's character is that he was the "good" rock star, who helped the 2 main characters come together, prevented her friend from pulling her away at first, etc. The "bad" guy, then, played by Taka (defspiral's singer), who also sang most of the hide songs when the cast weren't (and damn well, I must say- then again, he is a rock star singer himself), is the one who gave them the psychommunity tokens, and then took them away. Still not sure exactly what that was supposed to represent (although it's easy to say "drugs"- esp. since the main girl mentioned "weird mushrooms" a couple times), but oh well. I doubt it's supposed to be as straightforward as other musicals... And hey- to be honest, everyone's there for the music, not the story, anyway.
Anyway, overall it was quite worth it. I might've even been tempted to go a second time if we didn't already have plans for both of the remaining 2 days (sorry- not taking the Bullet Train To Osaka, or Nagoya, to see it there). Saturday was Afternoon Tea w/ friends, followed by a viewing of the Ray Kurzweil documentary Transcendent Man, & Sunday was Luna Sea "Night" (3-10pm) at B-Flat, the "Musician's Bar" that does Buck-Tick night every month. Although the place was packed at over 30 people, there were only 1-2 other people there who played INO part, so I ended up doing most of the songs (about 18, IIRC)... no complaints there, of course. :) This Friday's another Beatles Night (probably), then the no-smoking session on Sunday, followed by gacktisgod's show. Must practice moar!
So yeah- neither of us were familiar with anyone involved in the project, except the obvious J, although the fact that it was a hide musical (and thus chock full of hide songs) pretty much guaranteed it a win anyway. The story itself was kinda odd- about a bored salaryman who talks to a sort of telephone call-girl (seriously- her job is to talk to lonely guys on the phone), who wants to "fly" (a reference to Pink Spider's lyrics, although the girl then asks "What, like w/ strange mushrooms?"), and said he used to be in a band when he was younger, but he's too busy/serious/l4m3 now to play again. He ends up running into her in real life (much to the dismay of her protective friend, who assumes he's a stalker), and then some devilish guy gives him a "psychommunity" badge/button, which totally changes his behavior when he pins it on... the girl gets one, too, and then they go to a "concert" & pretend to eat each other (which maya thinks is a reference to the Pink Spider PV (NSFW- boobies!), which I apparently haven't seen enough times), the devil-guy and his crew steal back the badges, and then the 2 talk about how weird that just was, but it was good since they got to meet each other, and they "flew, and came safely back to the ground," and they'll have to "fly" on their own from now (i.e. without the magic butterfly pins). Oh, and the guy decides to start a band. Ummm, yeah- no idea. I'm probably missing at least a little bit from the language barrier, but I'm assuming it was pretty abstract anyway. But hey- lots of hide songs. And even a zilch one.
So, now onto J. We'd heard he'd be in as a "friend supporter", but he commented publicly that he didn't know what he'd be able to do, since he's not a cast member, etc.... Well, he certainly had his... role... if you can call it that. Besides the band (defspiral, which I hadn't heard of, although apparently they were formerly known as Transtic Nerve, which Maya'd heard of, and The Underneath, who played at the hide memorial summit), who took their spots in the back, J was the first person to walk on stage. Silently, he moved slowly to the center platform, sunglasses on, looked around as everyone else wandered out holding & looking at small pieces of paper (tickets?), which they all suddenly tore up into pieces, at which point J hangs his head & walks silently off stage. Um, huh?
His next several entrances were pretty much the same- he'd shuffle out silently, look around, possibly do some wordless interaction with another character (put a hand on their shoulder, or sit down next to them), and then silently walk off again. It wasn't until he walked out & we noticed a mic stand in the center platform that things got exciting- and even more so when he reached his hand out to the side and a crew member brought in & passed him his bass... and proceeded to sing? A song I didn't even recognize. Turns out it was Electric Cucumber, by zilch, which is hide-related, but which I haven't listened to nearly as much (although I recognized "What's Up Mr. Jones?" when I heard it somewhere in the wild a while back... probably as some pre-show music at a J or BT show). Hm, apparently J has done a remix of that song, which I was not aware of- will have to remedy that. Anyway, after another couple of wordless stage entrances, J took the stage again & sang Rocket Dive, leading me to hope really badly that they release a DVD of this show...
Maya's theory of J's character is that he was the "good" rock star, who helped the 2 main characters come together, prevented her friend from pulling her away at first, etc. The "bad" guy, then, played by Taka (defspiral's singer), who also sang most of the hide songs when the cast weren't (and damn well, I must say- then again, he is a rock star singer himself), is the one who gave them the psychommunity tokens, and then took them away. Still not sure exactly what that was supposed to represent (although it's easy to say "drugs"- esp. since the main girl mentioned "weird mushrooms" a couple times), but oh well. I doubt it's supposed to be as straightforward as other musicals... And hey- to be honest, everyone's there for the music, not the story, anyway.
Anyway, overall it was quite worth it. I might've even been tempted to go a second time if we didn't already have plans for both of the remaining 2 days (sorry- not taking the Bullet Train To Osaka, or Nagoya, to see it there). Saturday was Afternoon Tea w/ friends, followed by a viewing of the Ray Kurzweil documentary Transcendent Man, & Sunday was Luna Sea "Night" (3-10pm) at B-Flat, the "Musician's Bar" that does Buck-Tick night every month. Although the place was packed at over 30 people, there were only 1-2 other people there who played INO part, so I ended up doing most of the songs (about 18, IIRC)... no complaints there, of course. :) This Friday's another Beatles Night (probably), then the no-smoking session on Sunday, followed by gacktisgod's show. Must practice moar!