Elisabeth: An Initial Review
At intermission, I turned to Manda and said, "it's amazing how one can watch the entire first act of Elisabeth and barely look at Death at all."
That was basically my method for viewing the entire show. Not necessarily because I was trying to avoid Asako, but simply because I actually watched Elisabeth for Elisabeth. And, you know, Lucheni and Rudolph and Black Angels and revolutionaries and everyone else. ;D
I'll put my "as a whole" thoughts here at the beginning. As a whole, this Elisabeth is... めちゃくちゃ. The ages and sizes of characters are all wrong; it's distracting and makes me unable to suspend my disbelief any further. And I'm usually pretty good at suspending disbelief. Also, some horrible costume choices were made. As well as several mistakes, but I can chalk the last one up to it being early in the run.
The way to enjoy this Elisabeth is to watch it for the parts instead of the whole.
Elisabeth (Nagina Ruumi) - I don't even know where to start. My levels of respect and adoration for Kacha have skyrocketed. But I'm going to be critical and mix in the bad things with all the good things.
All through the first act I thought to myself, "she can do better" as far as singing. Her voice broke a little in "Watashi dake ni". I felt like she was holding back... or that she hadn't warmed up enough. But in the second act... I cried during the hospital scene. I never expected her voice to sound so beautiful. Her "Watashi ga Odoru Toki" was also a lot better than I'd expected. I can't say I was disappointed by the first act -- I cried at "Éljen Elisabeth" too -- I just knew it could be more. And the second act proved me totally right as far as her singing.
As far as her look... Unsurprisingly, as an otokoyaku who surpasses Kiriyan and rivals Asako in height, she spent the duration of the play in almost-flat shoes. That's fine. As a slender otokoyaku with a very babyish face, she looked like a child next to Kiriyan and was hardly believable as Ahi's mother. I thought she played the young mother quite well, though, I mean... she played everything well.
Kacha is an actress of a caliber that cannot be described in words. You have to see it with your own eyes, you have to look past the topical limitation of her face and watch everything that she's doing that overrides it. God honest, she did the best she could as Old Elisabeth with that handicap working against her. Especially with her voice, and her movements, the world-weariness I swear it was there and so palpable.
I cried at "Éljen Elisabeth" because she was so elegant, and I wanted to shout "long live Elisabeth!!" myself. Then the white dress... it was there that she first started to be Older Elisabeth and open up her soft palate and sing like she should have and I was just... completely overcome.
I could talk all day about Kacha as Elisabeth. About her cute young Elisabeth, totally tomboyish and pretty confused as to why this emperor person is taking her hand, and the part of her Elisabeth who's irresistibly drawn to Death, she almost succumbs but always remembers herself at the last moment, and the part of her Elisabeth who finds a moment of clarity in talking to an insane woman...
And they brought back the exchanging of fans YAY, and she was barefoot at the end AWW, and the pair dance SQUEE, and and and...
Well, I guess I'll move on. Humph.
Der Tod; Death (Sena Jun) - Asako said she wanted to put her own 自分らしさ into her Death. And she did. Her Der Tod is All Asako, All the Time!! And to me all Asako is is cold and not really enjoying anything. Manda and I decided Asako!Death is the Self-Absorbed Death -- "I'll chase after you because it amuses me and you look like you'd be good arm candy, but nothing you do can really hurt me". After Elisabeth rejects Franz and then rejects Death yet again, and he walks out the door... Asako angsted against the door frame for maybe a fraction of a second, and then was like "...okay I'm over it."
I say this, of course, having already admitted that I didn't watch Asako very much, but there were scenes in which I kind of had to... And after her completely chemistry-less dance with Ahi, her smile accompanying the Kiss of Death seemed so fake.
Fans of the cool, Asako Brand Angst™ should like her performance, though.
Franz Joseph (Kiriya Hiromu) - I know Kiriyan to be a talented and accomplished actress. But her Franz was so... staid. I didn't really get much of a reading on the character other than "those typical things you always expect from Franz". And I think what with our Elisabeth looking so young, Kiriyan looked kind of old for Young Franz.
I didn't hate her finale costume as much as Manda did, but I agree that they could've done away with the sparkly accessories and drapings and just given her a proper short cape.
Luigi Lucheni (Ryuu Masaki) - I. Love. Masaki. I love everything she does. I love how she dropped her voice down lower and tried to be sleazy and at least sometimes succeeded. I love love love her singing.
I love her face. But it is, admittedly, a rather young and pretty face for Lucheni. And her take on it was pretty... all over the place. Masaki was mostly being Masaki, I think, and not giving many definitive traits to her character. Sometimes sleazy, sometimes crazy, and sometimes... a little gay?
I love Masaki, but I hope over the course of the run she kind of brings it together and solidifies the role she's building.
And please, dear god, someone fire whoever decided to put her in green for the finale. >________<
Rudolph (Ryouga Haruhi) - I wish I could say much about Ahi. But her Rudolph was just so... sad. In the way she played him -- and she did portray the hurt in being rejected by both mother and father and all that -- but also just watching her was sad. Because I knew that she's above this role, that she doesn't deserve to be treated like this, and that she could be doing so much more somewhere else.
It could be my imagination, but I think one of the times Asako got close to her, her eye kind of twitched. I'm not sure if that was intentional or not. ^^;;;
Sophie (Shirosaki Ai) - Like everyone must be saying about Kacha, my main problem with Ai-chan is that she's simply too young to be believable as Kiriyan's mother. Kiriyan has stage presence and Ai-chan has stage presence but you put them next to each other and it just looks wrong.
However, I LOVED her Old Sophie. She seriously should have used stage makeup to her advantage and put bags under her eyes from the beginning and just added more toward the end. It worked SO much better, and this is just me being superficial but she seemed more powerful with the older look in the second act.
And her singing is good. :)
Elmer, Stephan & Jura (Aoki Izumi, Asumi Rio, Kouzuki Ruu) - Were Very Determined Revolutionaries™. And looked cute in mustaches (Morie's was SO big... XDDD;;;)
Young Rudolph (Hazakura Shizuku) - Was cute. Sang well.
Windisch (Kagetsu Miyako) - Was pretty darn awesome.
Madame Wolf (Sawaki Rizu) - Was also really awesome, except when her voice cracked ;______;
Schwarzenberg (Seijou Kaito) - I think Magee was having a hard time hiding how much fun she was having with Ai-chan. ;) But I liked her kind of cheeky Schwarzenberg.
Black Angels (Kiryuu Sonoka, Takachi Ao, Shimon Yuriya, Ranno Hana, etc) - Sonoka = teh smex. I got all distracted by her when she was dancing around Kacha in the Death chair. Ran-chan = so grown up these days it is crazy, hot as Madeline but also a ridiculously cute and tiny Black Angel.
All others = awesome by default. Note to self, watch Black Angels more next time.
Cafe Singer #4, Policeman, Angsty Townsperson Who Wants Milk, Servant Who Gets Sat on by Ai-chan and Later Leers at Whores (Chinami Karan) - Karan-chan ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ Sooooooooo cute it's ridiculous. Her angst is super adorable with her sweet face, and she tries too hard like Monchi with the sexy looks. X3 But I totally wish I had been in my same seat in the first row where I could be the direct recipient of Karan-chan's Omgz I Need Milk bit. Gah *____* She was in the W-Trio in the parade, also on my side of the stage, and I grinned at her and Ran-chan and I was close enough that they might have seen me but I don't know.
If I skipped somebody you wanted to hear about... too bad. :P Last part is mistakes! (From the 11:00AM performance on Sunday, May 24th.)
-Asako not being very smooth with her cape at the end of "Saigo no Dance". She didn't have a very good hold on it; Manda said she almost dropped it on Saturday.
-Masaki letting the knife slip out of her jacket pocket when she went to pick up the newspaper; but she was so slick about snatching it back up again that depending on where you were sitting you might not have even noticed.
-Shimon's collar coming undone at the back for the rockette; she held it in place until she could run offstage, but when she came back on it broke open again. T____T;;
-Kacha... slipping on the staircase. She walked down the first about 10 steps... And then slid down four or five more. ;__________; Kacha ;________________; I had been grinning at babies up until that point, but when I looked up for her solo and saw that, I had to stifle a cry. >____<;;; But she stood back up and sang her part of the parade and apparently Manda missed the whole thing. :P
I think that's everything? Only not, I could've said so much more, but...
OH and BonBon and Kyanon were in the audience, 8th row, maybe seats 63 and 64 (/stalkery-ness).
That was basically my method for viewing the entire show. Not necessarily because I was trying to avoid Asako, but simply because I actually watched Elisabeth for Elisabeth. And, you know, Lucheni and Rudolph and Black Angels and revolutionaries and everyone else. ;D
I'll put my "as a whole" thoughts here at the beginning. As a whole, this Elisabeth is... めちゃくちゃ. The ages and sizes of characters are all wrong; it's distracting and makes me unable to suspend my disbelief any further. And I'm usually pretty good at suspending disbelief. Also, some horrible costume choices were made. As well as several mistakes, but I can chalk the last one up to it being early in the run.
The way to enjoy this Elisabeth is to watch it for the parts instead of the whole.
Elisabeth (Nagina Ruumi) - I don't even know where to start. My levels of respect and adoration for Kacha have skyrocketed. But I'm going to be critical and mix in the bad things with all the good things.
All through the first act I thought to myself, "she can do better" as far as singing. Her voice broke a little in "Watashi dake ni". I felt like she was holding back... or that she hadn't warmed up enough. But in the second act... I cried during the hospital scene. I never expected her voice to sound so beautiful. Her "Watashi ga Odoru Toki" was also a lot better than I'd expected. I can't say I was disappointed by the first act -- I cried at "Éljen Elisabeth" too -- I just knew it could be more. And the second act proved me totally right as far as her singing.
As far as her look... Unsurprisingly, as an otokoyaku who surpasses Kiriyan and rivals Asako in height, she spent the duration of the play in almost-flat shoes. That's fine. As a slender otokoyaku with a very babyish face, she looked like a child next to Kiriyan and was hardly believable as Ahi's mother. I thought she played the young mother quite well, though, I mean... she played everything well.
Kacha is an actress of a caliber that cannot be described in words. You have to see it with your own eyes, you have to look past the topical limitation of her face and watch everything that she's doing that overrides it. God honest, she did the best she could as Old Elisabeth with that handicap working against her. Especially with her voice, and her movements, the world-weariness I swear it was there and so palpable.
I cried at "Éljen Elisabeth" because she was so elegant, and I wanted to shout "long live Elisabeth!!" myself. Then the white dress... it was there that she first started to be Older Elisabeth and open up her soft palate and sing like she should have and I was just... completely overcome.
I could talk all day about Kacha as Elisabeth. About her cute young Elisabeth, totally tomboyish and pretty confused as to why this emperor person is taking her hand, and the part of her Elisabeth who's irresistibly drawn to Death, she almost succumbs but always remembers herself at the last moment, and the part of her Elisabeth who finds a moment of clarity in talking to an insane woman...
And they brought back the exchanging of fans YAY, and she was barefoot at the end AWW, and the pair dance SQUEE, and and and...
Well, I guess I'll move on. Humph.
Der Tod; Death (Sena Jun) - Asako said she wanted to put her own 自分らしさ into her Death. And she did. Her Der Tod is All Asako, All the Time!! And to me all Asako is is cold and not really enjoying anything. Manda and I decided Asako!Death is the Self-Absorbed Death -- "I'll chase after you because it amuses me and you look like you'd be good arm candy, but nothing you do can really hurt me". After Elisabeth rejects Franz and then rejects Death yet again, and he walks out the door... Asako angsted against the door frame for maybe a fraction of a second, and then was like "...okay I'm over it."
I say this, of course, having already admitted that I didn't watch Asako very much, but there were scenes in which I kind of had to... And after her completely chemistry-less dance with Ahi, her smile accompanying the Kiss of Death seemed so fake.
Fans of the cool, Asako Brand Angst™ should like her performance, though.
Franz Joseph (Kiriya Hiromu) - I know Kiriyan to be a talented and accomplished actress. But her Franz was so... staid. I didn't really get much of a reading on the character other than "those typical things you always expect from Franz". And I think what with our Elisabeth looking so young, Kiriyan looked kind of old for Young Franz.
I didn't hate her finale costume as much as Manda did, but I agree that they could've done away with the sparkly accessories and drapings and just given her a proper short cape.
Luigi Lucheni (Ryuu Masaki) - I. Love. Masaki. I love everything she does. I love how she dropped her voice down lower and tried to be sleazy and at least sometimes succeeded. I love love love her singing.
I love her face. But it is, admittedly, a rather young and pretty face for Lucheni. And her take on it was pretty... all over the place. Masaki was mostly being Masaki, I think, and not giving many definitive traits to her character. Sometimes sleazy, sometimes crazy, and sometimes... a little gay?
I love Masaki, but I hope over the course of the run she kind of brings it together and solidifies the role she's building.
And please, dear god, someone fire whoever decided to put her in green for the finale. >________<
Rudolph (Ryouga Haruhi) - I wish I could say much about Ahi. But her Rudolph was just so... sad. In the way she played him -- and she did portray the hurt in being rejected by both mother and father and all that -- but also just watching her was sad. Because I knew that she's above this role, that she doesn't deserve to be treated like this, and that she could be doing so much more somewhere else.
It could be my imagination, but I think one of the times Asako got close to her, her eye kind of twitched. I'm not sure if that was intentional or not. ^^;;;
Sophie (Shirosaki Ai) - Like everyone must be saying about Kacha, my main problem with Ai-chan is that she's simply too young to be believable as Kiriyan's mother. Kiriyan has stage presence and Ai-chan has stage presence but you put them next to each other and it just looks wrong.
However, I LOVED her Old Sophie. She seriously should have used stage makeup to her advantage and put bags under her eyes from the beginning and just added more toward the end. It worked SO much better, and this is just me being superficial but she seemed more powerful with the older look in the second act.
And her singing is good. :)
Elmer, Stephan & Jura (Aoki Izumi, Asumi Rio, Kouzuki Ruu) - Were Very Determined Revolutionaries™. And looked cute in mustaches (Morie's was SO big... XDDD;;;)
Young Rudolph (Hazakura Shizuku) - Was cute. Sang well.
Windisch (Kagetsu Miyako) - Was pretty darn awesome.
Madame Wolf (Sawaki Rizu) - Was also really awesome, except when her voice cracked ;______;
Schwarzenberg (Seijou Kaito) - I think Magee was having a hard time hiding how much fun she was having with Ai-chan. ;) But I liked her kind of cheeky Schwarzenberg.
Black Angels (Kiryuu Sonoka, Takachi Ao, Shimon Yuriya, Ranno Hana, etc) - Sonoka = teh smex. I got all distracted by her when she was dancing around Kacha in the Death chair. Ran-chan = so grown up these days it is crazy, hot as Madeline but also a ridiculously cute and tiny Black Angel.
All others = awesome by default. Note to self, watch Black Angels more next time.
Cafe Singer #4, Policeman, Angsty Townsperson Who Wants Milk, Servant Who Gets Sat on by Ai-chan and Later Leers at Whores (Chinami Karan) - Karan-chan ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ Sooooooooo cute it's ridiculous. Her angst is super adorable with her sweet face, and she tries too hard like Monchi with the sexy looks. X3 But I totally wish I had been in my same seat in the first row where I could be the direct recipient of Karan-chan's Omgz I Need Milk bit. Gah *____* She was in the W-Trio in the parade, also on my side of the stage, and I grinned at her and Ran-chan and I was close enough that they might have seen me but I don't know.
If I skipped somebody you wanted to hear about... too bad. :P Last part is mistakes! (From the 11:00AM performance on Sunday, May 24th.)
-Asako not being very smooth with her cape at the end of "Saigo no Dance". She didn't have a very good hold on it; Manda said she almost dropped it on Saturday.
-Masaki letting the knife slip out of her jacket pocket when she went to pick up the newspaper; but she was so slick about snatching it back up again that depending on where you were sitting you might not have even noticed.
-Shimon's collar coming undone at the back for the rockette; she held it in place until she could run offstage, but when she came back on it broke open again. T____T;;
-Kacha... slipping on the staircase. She walked down the first about 10 steps... And then slid down four or five more. ;__________; Kacha ;________________; I had been grinning at babies up until that point, but when I looked up for her solo and saw that, I had to stifle a cry. >____<;;; But she stood back up and sang her part of the parade and apparently Manda missed the whole thing. :P
I think that's everything? Only not, I could've said so much more, but...
OH and BonBon and Kyanon were in the audience, 8th row, maybe seats 63 and 64 (/stalkery-ness).