I can't believe I talked this much about a one-act show
Apparently I'm gaining a reputation for being funny! But I think it's mostly because someone else writes my material for me. ;)
For the last time Ebira-san and Kuni-san provide plot in front of the curtain. General Jarjayes is feeling genuine fear for Oscar's safety, but has no power against General Bouillet's orders. Raising Oscar as a man "may have been the biggest mistake of my life". Kuni-san is also worried and feels there has to be something, something she can do that the general cannot. She calls upon Tani to put her life on the line -- "because your life belongs to Oscar, doesn't it?"
General Bouillet's home. Tamatama is there again, so I guess there is a little more use to her character. ^^;; She and Itsuki-san admire Ume-chan in the most gorgeous dress she wears in the play. It's peach-colored and huge and has sparkles everywhere. Apparently Itsuki-san has been training the country accent out of her for two years and is going to introduce her to the aristocracy at a ball the following night. As one of the articles I read said, it basically sounds like My Fair Lady. ^^;;; (Only I want to switch the roles and see Tamatama as Prof. Higgins, please oh please.)
But they are interrupted when Tamatama announces that Andre Grandier has come to visit. "Andre... Grandier!" Ume-chan exclaims. She has to to wait somewhere else, though, because Andre's business is with the general.
Tani begs Itsuki-san to transfer Oscar somewhere else or release her from the eiheitai or something. Of course Itsuki-san can't do that for a multitude of reasons -- because it would look bad on her, because it would look bad on Oscar, because it would be demoralizing to the soldiers, etc. So the conversation is pretty much pointless. Anyway, it only exists so Andre and Marise can finally meet again. After the general leaves, Ume-chan comes back out. She's overjoyed to see Tani, while Tani has to put her hand over her bad eye and squint to figure out who it is. (I don't really get how Andre would be expected to recognize her after all those years anyway.)
Tani doesn't waste much time breaking Ume-chan's heart. Ume-chan is like "have you forgotten the promise we made as children?" and Tani's like "no, but now my life belongs to someone else." So Ume-chan goes from " I wanted to see you so badly" to "I want to hate you and yet I still can't." Desperate for anything she can do, she offers to beg her 'father' to grant Tani's request. But it's too late, and Tani feels bad that Ume-chan would go so far just to win back her affections. Ume-chan tells her to get out. Basically Ume-chan gets to show a strong face for a minute, but then breaks down again as soon as Tani leaves. Itsuki-san returns. "So that's the person you've been waiting for all this time..."
"Father...!" Ume-chan cries, throwing herself onto the ground.
While Ume-chan was on the floor, I may have been looking down her dress. I'M ONLY HUMAN, OKAY, AND SHE WAS BENDING SO FAR FORWARD.
Itsuki-san is so touched that Ume-chan would finally call her 'father' that she offers to grant Tani's request just to please her 'daughter'.
"No... You don't need to do that. It's all over now." Ume-chan sings a short solo about "I can't see you anymore". I don't really know what to make of this song, because it seems to have so much potential for dramatic irony in regards to Tani losing her eyesight, but it's not Tani's number. Did they use this song for Andre in a different Gaiden Berubara???
Aaaaanyway. Finally my angel shows up again, because we're finally close to the end, because it's the Storming the Bastille scene. First it's just a handful of peasants in front of the curtain singing "Aisuru mono no Tame ni", and then the curtain comes up and there's practically everyone in the peasant revolution. Tomochin is there, and Masako, and whoever's playing Oscar that day. At least they gave them something to do after all that time offstage. :\
Alice-chan has braided pigtails and wears a kerchief on her head and is generally way cuter as a peasant than as a bar wench. Plus she gets to be Fierce and Determined and fight for the cause! With a stick!
Meanwhile Bernard is in the middle ostensibly leading the peasants. But really, Chigi (Chigi is Bernard now) isn't doing much besides dancing in the center and looking menacing with a sword. She gets no lines. Bernard has no actual lines in the entire show. Still, Chigi makes as good a Bernard as she did Oscar, with the same kind of feeling behind it -- always giving 110%, radiating melodrama and Berubara-ness.
Eventually Andre and the soldiers show up too. So they get to dance in the center and Chigi dances off by Alice-chan. ♥ Tani gets shot, but keeps fighting. Other people also possibly get wounded, but it's hard to say when I'm generally watching Alice-chan the whole time. ^_^;; I did notice BonBon clutching at her stomach the last time I saw the show. Suddenly Tani cries out "Oscaaaaaar!!", runs forward and gets shot again. Tomoe kneels down to catch and support her. The music reaches its climax. Babies standing at the back of the stage (Ai-ai, Juma-chu, Akkii, Ten-chan) start waving big flags. Micchan helps Tani stagger up to them and raise her sword in triumph.
And that's the end of the Bastille scene.
There is no bridge. There is no Oscar. And Andre doesn't actually die onstage.
It may as well not be Berubara anymore if that's the way they handle the battle.
The last scene is Kuni-san coming to tell Ume-chan that Andre and Oscar are dead. Ume-chan is of course devastated, and finds it even more depressing that the two of them died without ever having gotten together. Kuni-san explains IN THE EPILOGUE that Oscar and Andre did get together, the night before the battle. And Tani was so happy, but felt a little bit bad because she had hurt Ume-chan so much. Kuni-san gives Ume-chan back the ribbon, the symbol of their childhood promise, saying that Tani had kept it all that time and thought of her fondly. Ume-chan feels that in return she should give the acorn bag back to Kuni-san, but wants to keep the acorns to plant them so that they will grow into a tree in memory of Tani. "Andre, I'll never forget you, ever... ever..."
If nothing else, I feel bad for Ume-chan's character at least. :(
So Ume-chan and Kuni-san sink down the lift looking all sad, and Tani rises out of the lift behind them in the white sparkly costume with the blue collar and cuffs. She sings the "where will this road lead" song, except now it's "my love will never change", etc. There's fog and candles everywhere, and the play ends with Tani ascending the stairway to heaven.
~
Basically I see it this way. All the problems with this Gaiden Berubara could have been fixed if Ume-chan had been Oscar. If Ueda.S-sensei had only had the guts to do that, it could've been a completely different and completely awesome show.
As it is, they had to chop things up and downplay this and put more importance on that and create a story that doesn't even exist in the manga.
But, well, I got a satisfactory amount of entertainment out of it. ^_^;;;
I think I'll reply to some comments before I get to Dancing for You.
For the last time Ebira-san and Kuni-san provide plot in front of the curtain. General Jarjayes is feeling genuine fear for Oscar's safety, but has no power against General Bouillet's orders. Raising Oscar as a man "may have been the biggest mistake of my life". Kuni-san is also worried and feels there has to be something, something she can do that the general cannot. She calls upon Tani to put her life on the line -- "because your life belongs to Oscar, doesn't it?"
General Bouillet's home. Tamatama is there again, so I guess there is a little more use to her character. ^^;; She and Itsuki-san admire Ume-chan in the most gorgeous dress she wears in the play. It's peach-colored and huge and has sparkles everywhere. Apparently Itsuki-san has been training the country accent out of her for two years and is going to introduce her to the aristocracy at a ball the following night. As one of the articles I read said, it basically sounds like My Fair Lady. ^^;;; (Only I want to switch the roles and see Tamatama as Prof. Higgins, please oh please.)
But they are interrupted when Tamatama announces that Andre Grandier has come to visit. "Andre... Grandier!" Ume-chan exclaims. She has to to wait somewhere else, though, because Andre's business is with the general.
Tani begs Itsuki-san to transfer Oscar somewhere else or release her from the eiheitai or something. Of course Itsuki-san can't do that for a multitude of reasons -- because it would look bad on her, because it would look bad on Oscar, because it would be demoralizing to the soldiers, etc. So the conversation is pretty much pointless. Anyway, it only exists so Andre and Marise can finally meet again. After the general leaves, Ume-chan comes back out. She's overjoyed to see Tani, while Tani has to put her hand over her bad eye and squint to figure out who it is. (I don't really get how Andre would be expected to recognize her after all those years anyway.)
Tani doesn't waste much time breaking Ume-chan's heart. Ume-chan is like "have you forgotten the promise we made as children?" and Tani's like "no, but now my life belongs to someone else." So Ume-chan goes from " I wanted to see you so badly" to "I want to hate you and yet I still can't." Desperate for anything she can do, she offers to beg her 'father' to grant Tani's request. But it's too late, and Tani feels bad that Ume-chan would go so far just to win back her affections. Ume-chan tells her to get out. Basically Ume-chan gets to show a strong face for a minute, but then breaks down again as soon as Tani leaves. Itsuki-san returns. "So that's the person you've been waiting for all this time..."
"Father...!" Ume-chan cries, throwing herself onto the ground.
While Ume-chan was on the floor, I may have been looking down her dress. I'M ONLY HUMAN, OKAY, AND SHE WAS BENDING SO FAR FORWARD.
Itsuki-san is so touched that Ume-chan would finally call her 'father' that she offers to grant Tani's request just to please her 'daughter'.
"No... You don't need to do that. It's all over now." Ume-chan sings a short solo about "I can't see you anymore". I don't really know what to make of this song, because it seems to have so much potential for dramatic irony in regards to Tani losing her eyesight, but it's not Tani's number. Did they use this song for Andre in a different Gaiden Berubara???
Aaaaanyway. Finally my angel shows up again, because we're finally close to the end, because it's the Storming the Bastille scene. First it's just a handful of peasants in front of the curtain singing "Aisuru mono no Tame ni", and then the curtain comes up and there's practically everyone in the peasant revolution. Tomochin is there, and Masako, and whoever's playing Oscar that day. At least they gave them something to do after all that time offstage. :\
Alice-chan has braided pigtails and wears a kerchief on her head and is generally way cuter as a peasant than as a bar wench. Plus she gets to be Fierce and Determined and fight for the cause! With a stick!
Meanwhile Bernard is in the middle ostensibly leading the peasants. But really, Chigi (Chigi is Bernard now) isn't doing much besides dancing in the center and looking menacing with a sword. She gets no lines. Bernard has no actual lines in the entire show. Still, Chigi makes as good a Bernard as she did Oscar, with the same kind of feeling behind it -- always giving 110%, radiating melodrama and Berubara-ness.
Eventually Andre and the soldiers show up too. So they get to dance in the center and Chigi dances off by Alice-chan. ♥ Tani gets shot, but keeps fighting. Other people also possibly get wounded, but it's hard to say when I'm generally watching Alice-chan the whole time. ^_^;; I did notice BonBon clutching at her stomach the last time I saw the show. Suddenly Tani cries out "Oscaaaaaar!!", runs forward and gets shot again. Tomoe kneels down to catch and support her. The music reaches its climax. Babies standing at the back of the stage (Ai-ai, Juma-chu, Akkii, Ten-chan) start waving big flags. Micchan helps Tani stagger up to them and raise her sword in triumph.
And that's the end of the Bastille scene.
There is no bridge. There is no Oscar. And Andre doesn't actually die onstage.
It may as well not be Berubara anymore if that's the way they handle the battle.
The last scene is Kuni-san coming to tell Ume-chan that Andre and Oscar are dead. Ume-chan is of course devastated, and finds it even more depressing that the two of them died without ever having gotten together. Kuni-san explains IN THE EPILOGUE that Oscar and Andre did get together, the night before the battle. And Tani was so happy, but felt a little bit bad because she had hurt Ume-chan so much. Kuni-san gives Ume-chan back the ribbon, the symbol of their childhood promise, saying that Tani had kept it all that time and thought of her fondly. Ume-chan feels that in return she should give the acorn bag back to Kuni-san, but wants to keep the acorns to plant them so that they will grow into a tree in memory of Tani. "Andre, I'll never forget you, ever... ever..."
If nothing else, I feel bad for Ume-chan's character at least. :(
So Ume-chan and Kuni-san sink down the lift looking all sad, and Tani rises out of the lift behind them in the white sparkly costume with the blue collar and cuffs. She sings the "where will this road lead" song, except now it's "my love will never change", etc. There's fog and candles everywhere, and the play ends with Tani ascending the stairway to heaven.
~
Basically I see it this way. All the problems with this Gaiden Berubara could have been fixed if Ume-chan had been Oscar. If Ueda.S-sensei had only had the guts to do that, it could've been a completely different and completely awesome show.
As it is, they had to chop things up and downplay this and put more importance on that and create a story that doesn't even exist in the manga.
But, well, I got a satisfactory amount of entertainment out of it. ^_^;;;
I think I'll reply to some comments before I get to Dancing for You.