Paris no Sora Yori mo Takaku/Fancy Dance 3/14 review
Last night I went to see Moon Troupe's latest production (I live about an hour and a half away from Tokyo). Please not that unfortunately this review is influenced by the fact that I had a rather miserable cold when I went. By the end of the revue I had a really bad headache. I feel like I'm going to have to watch this one on DVD (which comes out next week!) to totally pin down my thoughts.
-The show started off with a nice couple of dance numbers and then went into the main show. I wouldn't put the musical half among the best of Takarazuka I've seen, but it was well-done and enjoyable. There was a great song and dance number with Kiriyan, Yuuhi, and Asa which I definitely want to see again. There were some pretty funny comedic bits as well.
-Sena Jun is a really good dancer. Unfortunately during the musical half she was often speaking really fast for comedic effect, so it was hard for me to understand her (my Japanese is only so-so). I felt like I wanted to love her (as I'm a big Asa fan), but couldn't quite get to complete adoration in this performance. But that one I'm definitely leaving up to a second viewing.
-The main musumeyaku, Ayano Kanami and Izumo Aya, were good but underused. Ayano Kanami in particular has a very lovely voice. Unfortunately, both of their roles were a little bland. Having seen Ernest in Love beforehand I felt like both of these women were capable of doing really great work and didn't get a chance to shine here. I guess this is arguably a problem of Takarazuka in general.
-I adore Kiriyan, so it made me happy every time she came on stage. Does that count as a bias? ^_^ One thing I noticed is that she always had this very genuine smile on her face and looked happy to be there. And if that wasn't the case, she sure didn't show it. Her character was cute and dorky. On one hand I would be thrilled to see her as a Top Star, but I worry if that was the case her roles wouldn't be as interesting. *indecision*
-Yuuhi: I've never really seen her do anything comedic before, but she was good here. Once again, I feel like I need to see this show again to make a really good judgement.
The revue I didn't get into as much as the musical, but I think the fact that I wasn't feeling well really may have influenced that. All of the ladies did shine as dancers, though.
Of course, even though I wasn't feeling so well I decided to do demachi at the end. (What can I say? This hobby inspires insanity). You could figure out who was in whose fan club by what they were wearing. One fan club had red scarves and hoods, another had white shawls. I eventually figured out that I should just stand in the back. Huh...I would if the Kiriyan fan club would accept me and my crappy Japanese? While there, I met a very nice gaikokujin (non-Japanese) lady. It was nice to be able to share my obssession with someone who speaks English.
When the actresses began coming out things got quiet and the fan club members kneeled. Um...I was bad and I took some pictures. But at least I was standing in the right place? (plus I wasn't the only one doing it so I figured it was okay). Honestly, though, the actresses were for the most part wearing sunglasses and it was night out so it was hard to get a good view. Still, there was something about seeing them on the street that was pretty cool.
The fan club members were silent as each star picked up the letters from her fan club. One star (name witheld cause I don't want to start any bad gossip) was a little stoic, but I figured she was probably tired and wanted to go home. Or at the very least that she's entitled to have nights where she's just not in the mood to talk. She had just done two shows that day, after all. Another star was still silent but more smiley when she took her fan-mail and gave a very cute "bye-bye" at the end before getting into her car. You could tell who were the chorus members coming out of the stage door by how good their posture was and the way they were walking.
I felt the whole thing in general was very respectful to the stars while still letting their fans be able to get fairly close to them. I'd definitely like to do demachi again, and maybe irimachi as well.
Whew, that got to be long. Next month is Hanagumi, but stupid Sumire Haruno has to be so popular that tickets are currently listed as being sold out for the whole run. *sigh* I guess it's waking up early in the morning for seats in the back of the theater...oh, Takarazuka...
(crossposted to the Takarazuka wiki)
-The show started off with a nice couple of dance numbers and then went into the main show. I wouldn't put the musical half among the best of Takarazuka I've seen, but it was well-done and enjoyable. There was a great song and dance number with Kiriyan, Yuuhi, and Asa which I definitely want to see again. There were some pretty funny comedic bits as well.
-Sena Jun is a really good dancer. Unfortunately during the musical half she was often speaking really fast for comedic effect, so it was hard for me to understand her (my Japanese is only so-so). I felt like I wanted to love her (as I'm a big Asa fan), but couldn't quite get to complete adoration in this performance. But that one I'm definitely leaving up to a second viewing.
-The main musumeyaku, Ayano Kanami and Izumo Aya, were good but underused. Ayano Kanami in particular has a very lovely voice. Unfortunately, both of their roles were a little bland. Having seen Ernest in Love beforehand I felt like both of these women were capable of doing really great work and didn't get a chance to shine here. I guess this is arguably a problem of Takarazuka in general.
-I adore Kiriyan, so it made me happy every time she came on stage. Does that count as a bias? ^_^ One thing I noticed is that she always had this very genuine smile on her face and looked happy to be there. And if that wasn't the case, she sure didn't show it. Her character was cute and dorky. On one hand I would be thrilled to see her as a Top Star, but I worry if that was the case her roles wouldn't be as interesting. *indecision*
-Yuuhi: I've never really seen her do anything comedic before, but she was good here. Once again, I feel like I need to see this show again to make a really good judgement.
The revue I didn't get into as much as the musical, but I think the fact that I wasn't feeling well really may have influenced that. All of the ladies did shine as dancers, though.
Of course, even though I wasn't feeling so well I decided to do demachi at the end. (What can I say? This hobby inspires insanity). You could figure out who was in whose fan club by what they were wearing. One fan club had red scarves and hoods, another had white shawls. I eventually figured out that I should just stand in the back. Huh...I would if the Kiriyan fan club would accept me and my crappy Japanese? While there, I met a very nice gaikokujin (non-Japanese) lady. It was nice to be able to share my obssession with someone who speaks English.
When the actresses began coming out things got quiet and the fan club members kneeled. Um...I was bad and I took some pictures. But at least I was standing in the right place? (plus I wasn't the only one doing it so I figured it was okay). Honestly, though, the actresses were for the most part wearing sunglasses and it was night out so it was hard to get a good view. Still, there was something about seeing them on the street that was pretty cool.
The fan club members were silent as each star picked up the letters from her fan club. One star (name witheld cause I don't want to start any bad gossip) was a little stoic, but I figured she was probably tired and wanted to go home. Or at the very least that she's entitled to have nights where she's just not in the mood to talk. She had just done two shows that day, after all. Another star was still silent but more smiley when she took her fan-mail and gave a very cute "bye-bye" at the end before getting into her car. You could tell who were the chorus members coming out of the stage door by how good their posture was and the way they were walking.
I felt the whole thing in general was very respectful to the stars while still letting their fans be able to get fairly close to them. I'd definitely like to do demachi again, and maybe irimachi as well.
Whew, that got to be long. Next month is Hanagumi, but stupid Sumire Haruno has to be so popular that tickets are currently listed as being sold out for the whole run. *sigh* I guess it's waking up early in the morning for seats in the back of the theater...oh, Takarazuka...
(crossposted to the Takarazuka wiki)