Half of a Berubara report
I wrote some more comments and emails. I slept and possibly dreamed about Mii-chan. I woke up and wrote even more comments and emails.
I feel refreshed. I think I can talk about Berubara now.
No, wait! gummical wrote her impressions of Phoenix and demachi in her journal! You should all comment and friend her and suck her into the LJ fan community! >:D
NOW about Berubara.
After the curtain rises, the lights stay down for about 10 seconds while the opening music plays. Then the lights go up and BAM we're in the world of Berubara. You know. The pink and the turquoise and the sparkles. The big poofy dresses. The blonde wigs. Those Purple Uniforms.
Cate referred to the poofy dresses as Berubara: the Slutty Version, because they have spaghetti straps and unattached sleeves so that their shoulders are showing. ^^;; Initially I agreed, but now I try not to think about it because it distracts me from how beautiful Alice-chan looks.
Even if blonde ringlets isn't my favorite hairstyle on her.
I think the order of the prologue went: everyone onstage, then Tani and Ume-chan dance together (and J-ko has a kagesolo), then Tani and the otokoyaku do a dance, then everyone comes back out again and sings, then Tani and Ume-chan go in front of the curtain and sing together.
Ume-chan has at least one costume change in the opening. The first time I saw the performance, she had trouble with her necklace. It wasn't attached properly and started to fall off, so she grabbed it and just danced with it in her hand. But it was the end of the prologue, and then she had to stand in front of the curtain and sing romantically with Tani with this distracting necklace in her hand. I looked away for a second and I swear to god she must've put the thing down her dress because sometime in the middle of the song it disappeared. o_o
The second time I saw the show, right near the end when Ume-chan kneels down subserviently bows to Tani... She couldn't quite get back up again. ^^;; That is, it took her a few extra seconds with that big poofy dress weighing her down.
Between these two things and her other accessory malfunction in the revue, I couldn't help but worry about Ume-chan. Every time it was near the beginning of the performance, and I started to wonder what she was doing backstage instead of getting ready properly. Maybe that's not the right line of thinking to take, but... :\
Tani and Ume-chan wrap up the prologue. Curtain comes up in Provence and Kuni-san is looking for Young Andre (Zono). LittleBoy!Zono is SO CUTE. All huffy and pouty and rebellious. I will miss her. :( <3 Anyway, Andre and Marronglace are going to Versailles, so Zono has to say goodbye to J-ko. People in the audience laughed at the country accents the first time, but not so much the second time. I think they're cute. J-ko gives Zono a ribbon to remember her by, then demands something in return. Zono pats all of her pockets in consternation and is, again, SO CUTE. She finds a bunch of acorns in a pouch her mother gave her and hands it over.
Zono and J-ko stand in front of the curtain and sing a song about "where will this road lead". Then they disappear, Tani and Ume-chan take their places and sing the same thing. Typical, but cute, and I like Ume-chan's country girl dress.
Curtain goes up! And there is an angel! In a pub! With everyone else at the pub, singing about how life is pretty poor right now but oh well, let's drink!
It's hard to say much about Alice-chan in the pub. Because mostly she just goes around serving drinks, and chatting with the customers, or else tripping and sending a platter of cheese flying and getting scolded by the other bar wenches. And I think the other bar wenches have better costumes. (But this just leads me to create a theory that only the Bitchy Bar Wenches are allowed to have sexy costumes, and the Nice Bar Wenches have to dress more plainly.)
Anyway. Kanachin or someone else comes in yelling about how there's a girl collapsed outside, and they bring her in and of course it's Ume-chan in a dress that's glaringly brighter than anything else anyone is wearing in the pub. (I liked her other country girl dress better.) And because she's from Provence and Ayumi-san is from Provence she lets her work at the pub even though they have no money to spare. Good business sense there, Ayumi-san. ^^;;
Switch focus. It's Andre and Oscar time! Oscar says, good news, Andre! We've caught the trail of the Black Knight and traced him to this mansion! They prepare to enter the grounds.
Only as soon as Chigi is gone, Tani decides this is a good time to wax poetic and sing a solo. *laughs*
AFTER Tani has been given ample time for romantics, the Black Knight and co. surround her. Kacha comes in wearing a mask but rips it off dramatically before attacking Tani. *laughs, but also loves* Kacha and Tani fight for little bit until Tani gets stabbed in the eye and Chigi comes to her rescue. Kacha and co. disappear without Kacha having said any lines besides "get him!" or "let's go!" or something.
Tani turns away from the audience, clutches at her eye and moans loudly. Chigi cradles her in her arms, and when Tani turns back there's a stain of blood on her hand. She moans some more. I know I shouldn't be amused, but it's SO overdramatic and Tani screams for a REALLY long time. ^^;;;
Ebira-san and Kuni-san provide filler in front of the curtain, worrying about Andre and, by extension, Oscar. (Actually they're both more worried about Oscar, because it's Andre's job to do whatever it takes to protect her. ^^;;) Eventually Ebira-san leaves and Tani comes out with a bandage over one eye. Kuni-san tells her that Chigi went out drinking at the pub and Tani, heedless of the irreparable damage she could do to her eye, runs off to "save" Chigi from the commoners.
Back at the pub! Where there is an angel! And Ume-chan in a dress that is, again, brighter than what everyone else is wearing. And slightly more poofy too. When Chigi enters she is also clearly out of place in her shiny white blouse and jacket and blue velvet breeches, but NO ONE SEEMS TO NOTICE. XDD;;; They just make fun of her for being a pretty boy and downing her wine at such an alarming rate. "Woo," they say, "this guy's drinking a ton, let's all get wasted tonight!" It's all fun and games until someone (Risa-chan or Kanachin again) makes a crack about Marie Antoinette. THEN IT'S FIGHTIN' TIME. "How dare you say that! Do you know who I am?!" Chigi lets it known that she's an aristocrat and everyone's like OMG UR AN ARISTOCRAT!?! like it wasn't blindingly obvious. XDDD;;; She shucks off her jacket and tosses it dramatically which also made me laugh. It falls near Alice-chan and Tara-chan; Tara-chan picks it up and I totally thought she was going to keep it. ^^;;;
But no, after little bit of Chigi beating people up Tani comes in and breaks it up and apologizes for her. She gives money to Ayumi-san for them to all go drink more somewhere else. Tara-chan gives back the jacket, and Tani uses it as a blanket for Chigi as they sit down on a convenient bench. Chigi apologizes about getting drunk and apologizes about Tani's eye and then passes out. Tani takes the opportunity to get romantic again and stroke Chigi's cheek but not sing. Instead, she decides to carry Chigi home.
The first time I saw the show, I was on the second floor and way off to the right where I could see Tani carry Chigi out the door and around the corner and then put her down backstage. X3
Ume-chan was conveniently offstage the whole time Tani was there; she belatedly comes back with drinks but finds only an acorn on the ground. *drama drama drama*
Next, Tomochin and Chigi come out, and it's a Fersen x Oscar scene! Tomochin has such a retarded wig. If only she'd gotten a cool Fersen wig like Wao or Wataru... ;____; Anyway, Chigi and Tomochin say all those lines that I've come to expect in Fersen and Oscar scenes, and some lines I would've expected them to say in different scenes. It's all kind of a compressed version of "omg you must leave the queen and go back to Sweden, omg Oscar you are a woman with no heart, omg but Fersen I do have a heart, omg you like me, omg why must our fates be intertwined like this".
And I giggle a little. Oh, but I should mention that at the beginning of that scene Tomochin got a solo. <3
Switch focus again. (They really did try, for at least half of the play, to divide the time between Andre's story and Marise's story.) Bitchy Bar Wenches are bullying Alice-chan. Ten-chan and Juma-chu look entirely too hot and have cleavage, which they are totally not allowed to do. @____@ Yucchi-san and Ecchan are also there, blaming Alice-chan that they got scolded by Ayumi-san for not having the pub clean, because obviously it's Alice-chan's job to do everything. Tara-chan, who is also a Nice Bar Wench, stands around being unhelpful. So it's Ume-chan to the Rescue! Bitchy Bar Wenches say they don't want her to apologize for someone else and start making fun of her country accent. Ume-chan tries to just take it and turn the other cheek at first, but the girls go too far and she gets fired up. "Oh yeah!? You wanna see what a girl from the country can do!?" She starts putting up her fists and Ten-chan starts putting up her fists but eventually is too freaked out and the bitches run away.
Alice-chan and Tara-chan thank Ume-chan, and she tells Alice-chan to stand up for herself more and not let the nasty bar wenches get to her. After they leave Ayumi-san comes out, having seen the whole thing. She commends Ume-chan for being so strong and tells her she has good news. A regular customer has taken a liking to her and wants to make her his adopted daughter. (I know, I know, this sounds creepy and suspicious to those of us with dirty minds. :P)
But before we get to that, let's remind you what Tani's doing! Tani is trying to convince Tomochin to say goodbye to Chigi before she goes back to Sweden. Once again, lots of lines I've already heard before.
So back to Ume-chan. Gasp! General Bouillet! You were masquerading as a commoner and slumming about in pubs?! Yes, but really, he's a nice old gentleman who never had any children and lost his wife last year and wants to adopt Ume-chan as his daughter. Yes. Not creepy at all. Ume-chan is uncertain at first because someone of her low birth doesn't deserve a wealthy life like this, but eventually she accepts.
...
I'm stopping the report here for now. After this there's a long period where Ume-chan and Alice-chan don't show up, although Micchan finally DOES show up (AN HOUR INTO THE PLAY).
But I have to stop because I have to get ready for work now. ^^;;;
I feel refreshed. I think I can talk about Berubara now.
No, wait! gummical wrote her impressions of Phoenix and demachi in her journal! You should all comment and friend her and suck her into the LJ fan community! >:D
NOW about Berubara.
After the curtain rises, the lights stay down for about 10 seconds while the opening music plays. Then the lights go up and BAM we're in the world of Berubara. You know. The pink and the turquoise and the sparkles. The big poofy dresses. The blonde wigs. Those Purple Uniforms.
Cate referred to the poofy dresses as Berubara: the Slutty Version, because they have spaghetti straps and unattached sleeves so that their shoulders are showing. ^^;; Initially I agreed, but now I try not to think about it because it distracts me from how beautiful Alice-chan looks.
Even if blonde ringlets isn't my favorite hairstyle on her.
I think the order of the prologue went: everyone onstage, then Tani and Ume-chan dance together (and J-ko has a kagesolo), then Tani and the otokoyaku do a dance, then everyone comes back out again and sings, then Tani and Ume-chan go in front of the curtain and sing together.
Ume-chan has at least one costume change in the opening. The first time I saw the performance, she had trouble with her necklace. It wasn't attached properly and started to fall off, so she grabbed it and just danced with it in her hand. But it was the end of the prologue, and then she had to stand in front of the curtain and sing romantically with Tani with this distracting necklace in her hand. I looked away for a second and I swear to god she must've put the thing down her dress because sometime in the middle of the song it disappeared. o_o
The second time I saw the show, right near the end when Ume-chan kneels down subserviently bows to Tani... She couldn't quite get back up again. ^^;; That is, it took her a few extra seconds with that big poofy dress weighing her down.
Between these two things and her other accessory malfunction in the revue, I couldn't help but worry about Ume-chan. Every time it was near the beginning of the performance, and I started to wonder what she was doing backstage instead of getting ready properly. Maybe that's not the right line of thinking to take, but... :\
Tani and Ume-chan wrap up the prologue. Curtain comes up in Provence and Kuni-san is looking for Young Andre (Zono). LittleBoy!Zono is SO CUTE. All huffy and pouty and rebellious. I will miss her. :( <3 Anyway, Andre and Marronglace are going to Versailles, so Zono has to say goodbye to J-ko. People in the audience laughed at the country accents the first time, but not so much the second time. I think they're cute. J-ko gives Zono a ribbon to remember her by, then demands something in return. Zono pats all of her pockets in consternation and is, again, SO CUTE. She finds a bunch of acorns in a pouch her mother gave her and hands it over.
Zono and J-ko stand in front of the curtain and sing a song about "where will this road lead". Then they disappear, Tani and Ume-chan take their places and sing the same thing. Typical, but cute, and I like Ume-chan's country girl dress.
Curtain goes up! And there is an angel! In a pub! With everyone else at the pub, singing about how life is pretty poor right now but oh well, let's drink!
It's hard to say much about Alice-chan in the pub. Because mostly she just goes around serving drinks, and chatting with the customers, or else tripping and sending a platter of cheese flying and getting scolded by the other bar wenches. And I think the other bar wenches have better costumes. (But this just leads me to create a theory that only the Bitchy Bar Wenches are allowed to have sexy costumes, and the Nice Bar Wenches have to dress more plainly.)
Anyway. Kanachin or someone else comes in yelling about how there's a girl collapsed outside, and they bring her in and of course it's Ume-chan in a dress that's glaringly brighter than anything else anyone is wearing in the pub. (I liked her other country girl dress better.) And because she's from Provence and Ayumi-san is from Provence she lets her work at the pub even though they have no money to spare. Good business sense there, Ayumi-san. ^^;;
Switch focus. It's Andre and Oscar time! Oscar says, good news, Andre! We've caught the trail of the Black Knight and traced him to this mansion! They prepare to enter the grounds.
Only as soon as Chigi is gone, Tani decides this is a good time to wax poetic and sing a solo. *laughs*
AFTER Tani has been given ample time for romantics, the Black Knight and co. surround her. Kacha comes in wearing a mask but rips it off dramatically before attacking Tani. *laughs, but also loves* Kacha and Tani fight for little bit until Tani gets stabbed in the eye and Chigi comes to her rescue. Kacha and co. disappear without Kacha having said any lines besides "get him!" or "let's go!" or something.
Tani turns away from the audience, clutches at her eye and moans loudly. Chigi cradles her in her arms, and when Tani turns back there's a stain of blood on her hand. She moans some more. I know I shouldn't be amused, but it's SO overdramatic and Tani screams for a REALLY long time. ^^;;;
Ebira-san and Kuni-san provide filler in front of the curtain, worrying about Andre and, by extension, Oscar. (Actually they're both more worried about Oscar, because it's Andre's job to do whatever it takes to protect her. ^^;;) Eventually Ebira-san leaves and Tani comes out with a bandage over one eye. Kuni-san tells her that Chigi went out drinking at the pub and Tani, heedless of the irreparable damage she could do to her eye, runs off to "save" Chigi from the commoners.
Back at the pub! Where there is an angel! And Ume-chan in a dress that is, again, brighter than what everyone else is wearing. And slightly more poofy too. When Chigi enters she is also clearly out of place in her shiny white blouse and jacket and blue velvet breeches, but NO ONE SEEMS TO NOTICE. XDD;;; They just make fun of her for being a pretty boy and downing her wine at such an alarming rate. "Woo," they say, "this guy's drinking a ton, let's all get wasted tonight!" It's all fun and games until someone (Risa-chan or Kanachin again) makes a crack about Marie Antoinette. THEN IT'S FIGHTIN' TIME. "How dare you say that! Do you know who I am?!" Chigi lets it known that she's an aristocrat and everyone's like OMG UR AN ARISTOCRAT!?! like it wasn't blindingly obvious. XDDD;;; She shucks off her jacket and tosses it dramatically which also made me laugh. It falls near Alice-chan and Tara-chan; Tara-chan picks it up and I totally thought she was going to keep it. ^^;;;
But no, after little bit of Chigi beating people up Tani comes in and breaks it up and apologizes for her. She gives money to Ayumi-san for them to all go drink more somewhere else. Tara-chan gives back the jacket, and Tani uses it as a blanket for Chigi as they sit down on a convenient bench. Chigi apologizes about getting drunk and apologizes about Tani's eye and then passes out. Tani takes the opportunity to get romantic again and stroke Chigi's cheek but not sing. Instead, she decides to carry Chigi home.
The first time I saw the show, I was on the second floor and way off to the right where I could see Tani carry Chigi out the door and around the corner and then put her down backstage. X3
Ume-chan was conveniently offstage the whole time Tani was there; she belatedly comes back with drinks but finds only an acorn on the ground. *drama drama drama*
Next, Tomochin and Chigi come out, and it's a Fersen x Oscar scene! Tomochin has such a retarded wig. If only she'd gotten a cool Fersen wig like Wao or Wataru... ;____; Anyway, Chigi and Tomochin say all those lines that I've come to expect in Fersen and Oscar scenes, and some lines I would've expected them to say in different scenes. It's all kind of a compressed version of "omg you must leave the queen and go back to Sweden, omg Oscar you are a woman with no heart, omg but Fersen I do have a heart, omg you like me, omg why must our fates be intertwined like this".
And I giggle a little. Oh, but I should mention that at the beginning of that scene Tomochin got a solo. <3
Switch focus again. (They really did try, for at least half of the play, to divide the time between Andre's story and Marise's story.) Bitchy Bar Wenches are bullying Alice-chan. Ten-chan and Juma-chu look entirely too hot and have cleavage, which they are totally not allowed to do. @____@ Yucchi-san and Ecchan are also there, blaming Alice-chan that they got scolded by Ayumi-san for not having the pub clean, because obviously it's Alice-chan's job to do everything. Tara-chan, who is also a Nice Bar Wench, stands around being unhelpful. So it's Ume-chan to the Rescue! Bitchy Bar Wenches say they don't want her to apologize for someone else and start making fun of her country accent. Ume-chan tries to just take it and turn the other cheek at first, but the girls go too far and she gets fired up. "Oh yeah!? You wanna see what a girl from the country can do!?" She starts putting up her fists and Ten-chan starts putting up her fists but eventually is too freaked out and the bitches run away.
Alice-chan and Tara-chan thank Ume-chan, and she tells Alice-chan to stand up for herself more and not let the nasty bar wenches get to her. After they leave Ayumi-san comes out, having seen the whole thing. She commends Ume-chan for being so strong and tells her she has good news. A regular customer has taken a liking to her and wants to make her his adopted daughter. (I know, I know, this sounds creepy and suspicious to those of us with dirty minds. :P)
But before we get to that, let's remind you what Tani's doing! Tani is trying to convince Tomochin to say goodbye to Chigi before she goes back to Sweden. Once again, lots of lines I've already heard before.
So back to Ume-chan. Gasp! General Bouillet! You were masquerading as a commoner and slumming about in pubs?! Yes, but really, he's a nice old gentleman who never had any children and lost his wife last year and wants to adopt Ume-chan as his daughter. Yes. Not creepy at all. Ume-chan is uncertain at first because someone of her low birth doesn't deserve a wealthy life like this, but eventually she accepts.
...
I'm stopping the report here for now. After this there's a long period where Ume-chan and Alice-chan don't show up, although Micchan finally DOES show up (AN HOUR INTO THE PLAY).
But I have to stop because I have to get ready for work now. ^^;;;