Ocean's 11 The Musical - #2
Second report. The show in general.
I'm a big fan of the Hollywood's Oceans Trilogy. Back in 2011, when I read Takarazuka was doing a musical adaptation of it, I immediately thought.... what? Ocean's 11 into a musical? How's that even gonna work? I couldn't imagine. How can something as cool as O11 be made into a musical? Then when the Shingo's version was announced, despite the fact that I got so excited to know Shingo plays Danny, Koji plays Rusty and Arisa plays Tess, it's such a dream team for me... I was still worried that a musical version of O11 would be too weird for me.
Turned out, I worried for nothing. Ocean's 11 The Musical was really..... BRAVO!!! AMAZING!!!! EXCELLENT!!! SUBARASHII!!! SUTEKI!!!! KAKKOII!!! OMOSHIROI!!!
The overall atmosphere reminds me of CHICAGO.
The musical can really hold it's own! I could totally watch it as a self stand-up show without thinking that this is an adaptation and comparing much with the original movie. Of course, there were lots of changes, but I totally didn't mind, cause they all works very well. On the contrary, I'm really having fun comparing the differences of the musical and the original movie.
One of the change is Rusty's character. Brad Pitt's Rusty was really cool though he'd blurt out his own joke once in a while. Koji's Rusty was like the CLOWN IKEMEN, lol. He's really a clown.... he's weak, in the club fight, Danny had to rescue Rusty and all Rusty got to do was to get hit and fall, over and over again, lol. All jokes and comedy comes from Rusty. I don't mind because when he start singing and dancing, he's suddenly the COOL-Rusty, so it's like he has this two sides of him. So despite the fact that this Rusty have a clown side of him, he also still have Rusty's kakkoii side. And I can't believe it, I decided that I love Koji's Rusty better than Pitt's Rusty! XD
Actually I would say a part of Koji's Rusty reminds me of Jimmy Foster (played by Peter Lawford), the "Rusty", Danny's sidekick in the 1960's original Ocean's 11 (Frank Sinatra as Danny Ocean). Koji's Rusty act like a momma's boy sometimes... and he said his parents had gone through divorces about 3-4 times respectively. That's exactly how Jimmy was, he was a rich momma's boy and his mother had divorced and re-married a couple of times. Then Koji's Rusty womanizer character is similar to Pitt's Rusty, I guess.
I understand that Shingo as Danny is very, very kakkoii and the ultimate gentleman, but my eyes couldn't help but keep trailing Rusty everywhere he goes whenever he's on the stage, cause he always do something funny and/or stupid and/or interesting in the background. In the club fight, gosh I knoowww I should've pay attention to Danny fighting the bad guys and looking very kakkoii, but I couldn't help it! I had to pay attention to Rusty, hahaha... the way he got hit and the way he was about to fall, was sooooo funny, lol!! One time, after he got hit, he act like one leg was limb and then he was just spinning and spinning inbalance, omg I can't describe it but it looked so stupid, hahaha. When Danny was talking to Basher, Rusty did his own magic with the staff Basher was holding haha, sugooiii. Also when Danny was talking to O11 members, Rusty saw Linus playing with the Rubik's cube, Rusty grabbed it from Linus, and he finished the whole sides so fast!! lol, amazing!
And this is my first time watching Koji dancing. Wow he can dance reeeeaalllll good!!! I'm sorry, but I have to say he dance even better than Shingo O_o
Some said Shingo's Danny is similar to Clooney's Danny, but for me it's like watching the Western Kondo Isami, lol! So quiet and only talk when it's necessary. He only loses his cool when he talks to Tess. He really shines in all scenes and he sings much better than when he was in SMAP's live concerts. He has the same height and as big as Koji, the actor who play Benedict is even taller than him, but I dunno why, Shingo looks the biggest and most prominent on the stage, in a good way, of course. He really owns the stage even when he's just standing on the side, watching what's going on at the center of the stage. I guess it's something that comes with him as SMAP. He has such a wonderful aura. He's also so natural in his acting. I was afraid that he'd act like Kanizo most of the time, haha.... but no, I feel like it's the natural quiet side of him.
Arisa's Tess is a cute mature woman. I guess her Tess is close to the Takarazuka's Tess because that's how the script goes. I'm surprised with Arisa's singing skill. I've only heard her singing pop stuff and sometimes she'd go out of tune in live shows. But apparently she has potential in musical singing. She can hit the high notes very well! I love her voice. However, her acting is quite awkward esp. when she's angry toward Danny, she uses too much hand gestures to the extent that it got awkward to see, for me. Maybe she's not used to stage acting. Also she didn't have much a dancing scene, I guess in the end Danny/Tess final dance was erased cause Arisa cannot dance lol. Her stiffness reminds me of Goro, lol.
To my surprise, I couldn't feel Danny and Tess' chemistry... I don't know if its the script fault or due to Arisa's awkward acting. Shingo and Arisa have so much chemistry in reality, but I couldn't root Danny and Tess much O_o My fav couple in the show is Rusty and Paula cause they're so cute together.
But then again, an actor in Nakai no Mado once said that when an actor and an actress falling in love in reality and they have to play a couple on screen, it would do damage to their on-screen chemistry. I'll just trust this theory for awhile, harharhar!
But it's such a dream come true for me, to be able to hear Shingo/Arisa's harmonized duet! T_T
Also Shingo/Koji duet! Feel like crying T_T
I love almost all the music! So Broadway-ish, the songs are really my cup of tea! Awesome arrangements. The live big band hidden behind the background screens, sounds so much like a true orchestra, I was fooled! Awesome!
The stage set and designs were TOP-NOTCH, just amazing! I was speechless! How the set changes everytime they change location in the story, was really amazing! Stage directing was awesome as well! The costume and make-up were all very pleasant to the eyes!
Although I have to complain one thing. The vocal directing wasn't that good. I dunno, this 'idol' culture Japan have, seems like for them "not out-of-tune" is already amazing for them. Not just Shingo and the Johnnys boys, but I think the true musical actors lacks musical style singing technique as well, including Koji and Hashimoto Satoshi. Koji sings beautifully and he has a better technique than Shingo, but I still feel he's lacking the right technique of singing for a musical play. I say, they need a vocal director from Broadway.
I would want to watch this musical brought to Broadway with American Broadway cast, I'm sure it'll be great as well!
Next report will be on the details scene by scene.
I'm a big fan of the Hollywood's Oceans Trilogy. Back in 2011, when I read Takarazuka was doing a musical adaptation of it, I immediately thought.... what? Ocean's 11 into a musical? How's that even gonna work? I couldn't imagine. How can something as cool as O11 be made into a musical? Then when the Shingo's version was announced, despite the fact that I got so excited to know Shingo plays Danny, Koji plays Rusty and Arisa plays Tess, it's such a dream team for me... I was still worried that a musical version of O11 would be too weird for me.
Turned out, I worried for nothing. Ocean's 11 The Musical was really..... BRAVO!!! AMAZING!!!! EXCELLENT!!! SUBARASHII!!! SUTEKI!!!! KAKKOII!!! OMOSHIROI!!!
The overall atmosphere reminds me of CHICAGO.
The musical can really hold it's own! I could totally watch it as a self stand-up show without thinking that this is an adaptation and comparing much with the original movie. Of course, there were lots of changes, but I totally didn't mind, cause they all works very well. On the contrary, I'm really having fun comparing the differences of the musical and the original movie.
One of the change is Rusty's character. Brad Pitt's Rusty was really cool though he'd blurt out his own joke once in a while. Koji's Rusty was like the CLOWN IKEMEN, lol. He's really a clown.... he's weak, in the club fight, Danny had to rescue Rusty and all Rusty got to do was to get hit and fall, over and over again, lol. All jokes and comedy comes from Rusty. I don't mind because when he start singing and dancing, he's suddenly the COOL-Rusty, so it's like he has this two sides of him. So despite the fact that this Rusty have a clown side of him, he also still have Rusty's kakkoii side. And I can't believe it, I decided that I love Koji's Rusty better than Pitt's Rusty! XD
Actually I would say a part of Koji's Rusty reminds me of Jimmy Foster (played by Peter Lawford), the "Rusty", Danny's sidekick in the 1960's original Ocean's 11 (Frank Sinatra as Danny Ocean). Koji's Rusty act like a momma's boy sometimes... and he said his parents had gone through divorces about 3-4 times respectively. That's exactly how Jimmy was, he was a rich momma's boy and his mother had divorced and re-married a couple of times. Then Koji's Rusty womanizer character is similar to Pitt's Rusty, I guess.
I understand that Shingo as Danny is very, very kakkoii and the ultimate gentleman, but my eyes couldn't help but keep trailing Rusty everywhere he goes whenever he's on the stage, cause he always do something funny and/or stupid and/or interesting in the background. In the club fight, gosh I knoowww I should've pay attention to Danny fighting the bad guys and looking very kakkoii, but I couldn't help it! I had to pay attention to Rusty, hahaha... the way he got hit and the way he was about to fall, was sooooo funny, lol!! One time, after he got hit, he act like one leg was limb and then he was just spinning and spinning inbalance, omg I can't describe it but it looked so stupid, hahaha. When Danny was talking to Basher, Rusty did his own magic with the staff Basher was holding haha, sugooiii. Also when Danny was talking to O11 members, Rusty saw Linus playing with the Rubik's cube, Rusty grabbed it from Linus, and he finished the whole sides so fast!! lol, amazing!
And this is my first time watching Koji dancing. Wow he can dance reeeeaalllll good!!! I'm sorry, but I have to say he dance even better than Shingo O_o
Some said Shingo's Danny is similar to Clooney's Danny, but for me it's like watching the Western Kondo Isami, lol! So quiet and only talk when it's necessary. He only loses his cool when he talks to Tess. He really shines in all scenes and he sings much better than when he was in SMAP's live concerts. He has the same height and as big as Koji, the actor who play Benedict is even taller than him, but I dunno why, Shingo looks the biggest and most prominent on the stage, in a good way, of course. He really owns the stage even when he's just standing on the side, watching what's going on at the center of the stage. I guess it's something that comes with him as SMAP. He has such a wonderful aura. He's also so natural in his acting. I was afraid that he'd act like Kanizo most of the time, haha.... but no, I feel like it's the natural quiet side of him.
Arisa's Tess is a cute mature woman. I guess her Tess is close to the Takarazuka's Tess because that's how the script goes. I'm surprised with Arisa's singing skill. I've only heard her singing pop stuff and sometimes she'd go out of tune in live shows. But apparently she has potential in musical singing. She can hit the high notes very well! I love her voice. However, her acting is quite awkward esp. when she's angry toward Danny, she uses too much hand gestures to the extent that it got awkward to see, for me. Maybe she's not used to stage acting. Also she didn't have much a dancing scene, I guess in the end Danny/Tess final dance was erased cause Arisa cannot dance lol. Her stiffness reminds me of Goro, lol.
To my surprise, I couldn't feel Danny and Tess' chemistry... I don't know if its the script fault or due to Arisa's awkward acting. Shingo and Arisa have so much chemistry in reality, but I couldn't root Danny and Tess much O_o My fav couple in the show is Rusty and Paula cause they're so cute together.
But then again, an actor in Nakai no Mado once said that when an actor and an actress falling in love in reality and they have to play a couple on screen, it would do damage to their on-screen chemistry. I'll just trust this theory for awhile, harharhar!
But it's such a dream come true for me, to be able to hear Shingo/Arisa's harmonized duet! T_T
Also Shingo/Koji duet! Feel like crying T_T
I love almost all the music! So Broadway-ish, the songs are really my cup of tea! Awesome arrangements. The live big band hidden behind the background screens, sounds so much like a true orchestra, I was fooled! Awesome!
The stage set and designs were TOP-NOTCH, just amazing! I was speechless! How the set changes everytime they change location in the story, was really amazing! Stage directing was awesome as well! The costume and make-up were all very pleasant to the eyes!
Although I have to complain one thing. The vocal directing wasn't that good. I dunno, this 'idol' culture Japan have, seems like for them "not out-of-tune" is already amazing for them. Not just Shingo and the Johnnys boys, but I think the true musical actors lacks musical style singing technique as well, including Koji and Hashimoto Satoshi. Koji sings beautifully and he has a better technique than Shingo, but I still feel he's lacking the right technique of singing for a musical play. I say, they need a vocal director from Broadway.
I would want to watch this musical brought to Broadway with American Broadway cast, I'm sure it'll be great as well!
Next report will be on the details scene by scene.