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Feminist. Slash fan. Video game geek. Sometimes writer & artist. Lover of genderbent musicals.
Natasha Stark is my role model: Genius, billionaire, playboy dominatrix, philanthropist.
Currently sailing the Steve/Tony ship in 616 Marvel-verse and admiring Uwe Kröger's golden locks in Elisabeth.
nimble, a border collie-papillon mix, wins the 12” class in the 2024 masters agility championship. the first time a mixed breed has won at westminster ever.
Spreading Hungarian musical propaganda because more people need to know about them + my ensemble song list was full of them anyway
It's veeeery long, sorry in advance :]
(with album links, lyrics translations, and if possible, show links)
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István, a király [Stephen, the King], 1983.
(English translations of the lyrics)
(show link, no subs)
(show link with subs by @saltavenegar)
A rockopera about the succession of Stephen I and his fight for the throne with his relative,* Koppány. It's also about the foundation of the Kingdom of Hungary, it's basically Hungarian Hamilton.
Most known song: Szállj fel szabad madár [Fly high free bird]
+ bonus: Nincs más út csak az Isten útja [There is Only God's Way] with Sándor Péter as István and Dolhai Attila as Koppány
*Koppány was the oldest male relative in the family at the time, but I have no idea exactly how he was related to István and I will not Google it. Koppány's claim on the throne was the so-called 'principle of seniority', meaning that after the old ruler (in this case, Géza, István's father) dies, the oldest male-relative takes over. This went against the new succession principle that Géza introduced with Christianity, the principle of primogeniture, where the oldest son (István) takes over. Also there was a religion-based disagreement as well, but I won't go into that now.
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A padlás [The Attic], 1988.
(show link, no subs)
(English translations of the lyrics)
This musical features the four ghosts of forgotten fairy tale characters (such as the 8th dwarf or the kid who pointed out that the emperor has no clothes) trying to cross over. They arrive at an attic which should be the perfect place to do so, and there they meet Rádiós, a technology nerd, Süni, a musically talented girl, Mamóka, a grandma without grandkids and Témüller, the cartoonishly yet cleverly evil landlord and The Ferryman who is supposed to guide them to the Other Side.
Despite the seemingly silly premise, this show discusses mortality, perspectives on life, loss of family, communism (you have to know Hungarian to get this, unfortunately, but just believe me that it has many, many lines and details that are referencing the political situation of Hungary at the time)
Most known song: Fényév távolság [Lightyear's distance] — it's beautiful, moving and deserves all the hype it gets
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Valahol Európában [Somewhere in Europe], 1995.
(English translations of the lyrics)
This is based on the 1948 movie with the same name. Detail wise it's set in late WW2 era Hungary, but it can apply to any war, any place, any time (you'll see why in a second). It's about a group of heavily traumatised orphans trekking across the country, trying to find a place for winter and to stay in general. But even when they find it, not everything is solved.
The characters all have a depth to them that you maybe wouldn't expect, with backstory details sprinkled thorughout. The musical touches on topics such as how violence can skew children's worldview, wartime rape, parentification, found family etc.
Most known song: A zene [Music]
+ my personal favourite: Miért van?! [Why?!]
+ bonus: Dolhai Attila singing Miért van?!
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A dzsungel könyve [The Jungle Book], 1996.
(English translations of the lyrics)
Not much to say about this plot wise, it's yet another version/mish-mash of Kipling's stories. I'll be honest, I saw this once when I was 9, but I'm listening to the songs ever since and they are bangers.
Because I haven't engaged with it, I don't know what the most known song is, but here are some of my favs:
- Nyitány [Prologue] that sets the vibes masterfully;
- Csak egy út van [There's only one road to take] which is yet another chance for Hungarian musical theatre guys to sing their hearts out (also it was added later so it's not on the album);
- Szavakat keresek [I'm looking for words] which is a nice love duet between Mowgli and... whatever the girl's name was, as I said, I saw it once.
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A Pál utcai fiúk [The Paul Street Boys], 2016.
(English translations of the lyrics)
Oh god, where do I even start with this one...
It's based on the children's book and mandatory school reading of the same name by Molnár Ferenc (English translation here, it's an amazing book).
Both the book and the musical are about two groups of boys, the Paul Street boys and the redshirts, fighting over an empty plot of land between Budapest's tall houses in the late 1800s. On the surface it may seem like a book about fighting over a football field, but it's main topic is actually war and how war is the most useless, stupidest thing in the world (and it was written way before WW1 so!! the author didn't even need the Great War to know this). It deals with the topic in a way that's easily digestable for younger readers as well, but it's not childish in any way. The author has a humorous style with references kids may not get (inflation :D), the characters are loveable, even the "bad guys", and you will be crying by the end, both the book and the musical.
(Fun fact, it's virtually impossible to get tickets to it unless you know someone with the right connections, it's that popular, even though it has been almost 10 years now)
Most known song: Mi vagyunk a grund! [We are the grund*] — fun fact about this song, when it came out, every schoolteacher in the country spiritually latched onto it, it is still often played at graduations, school year starting and ending ceremonies etc., + a few years ago during the teacher's strike it became sort of a theme song for it
+ personal favourite songs:
- Add át! [Pass it on!] which is an amazing intro song, sets the vibes perfectly + it has a fair amount of ensemble which you know I adore
- Igen, jó volt [Yes, it was good] which is devastatingly beautiful and also a chance for our musical theatre boys to slay so hard
- Az ember eltéved [Man gets lost] which is an enemies duet and that's all I'm gonna say, just listen to it
*grund is what the boys call their plot of land
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Other ones that I haven't (fully) seen/listened to, links will lead to bootlegs recorded with a brick, sorry
- Abigél [Abigail] - based on the novel by Szabó Magda, set in WW2 era Hungary before and during the German invasion; I highly recommend the book, it's amazing
‐ Sztárcsinálók [Starmakers] - something about Ancient Rome and Nero, songs are fire
‐ Szép nyári nap [Beautiful Summer's Day] - our topic is communism once again
- Szentivánéji álom [A Midsummer's Night Dream] - what it says on the cover, proshot (pt1, pt2) featuring Janza Kata, Szabó P. Szilveszter, Dolhai Attila, Bereczki Zoltán & co.
- Ördögölő Józsiás [Józsiás the Devilkiller(?)] - I just know this exists and that there is gay fanfiction about it on AO3 so I thought it was worth a mention :D
- Báthory Erzsébet - haven't seen it, it's about her life and the vampire allegations and it jumps on the theory as well unfortunately, but you know, banger soundtrack
Now includes a 2004 decent quality recording of Valahol Európában [Somewhere in Europe] with THE Dolhai Attila and THE Szinetár Dóra in the lead roles!!
Cancelled VN Projects: NewWorldOrder by Holicworks
Update: The game has unfortunately officially been cancelled after years of no updates, so I changed the title of this post.
“When you die, say hello to God for me’’
In 2015 LoveDelelivery (which is part of Holicworks) announced they were working on a new game, which takes place in the United Kingdom and focuses on a young British man called Lyr, who works as a pastor at a church. He’s good at material arts and also knows how to use a gun. Together with three of his fellow pastors, he’s on a mission to kill. These are not just normal pastors, they’re professional assassins. In the interviews the game’s director mentioned that there would be 5 different routes, of which each will have about 3 different endings. I also apologize for the poor picture quality, but right now all we have is the information that was posted in magazines…!
Look, man, all I'm saying is if 75% of your how-to-gamemaster advice boils down to "see all those shiny toys on your players' character sheets? The best way to keep the story moving is to give them as few opportunities to play with them as possible", you might just be playing the wrong game for the story you want to tell.
(This isn't just about D&D, either, though D&D's present culture of play is a frequent offender. You would not believe how many how-to-run-Vampire: The Masquerade explainers I've bumped into that advise being a bastard about the blood economy in order to stop players from "ruining the mood" with their goofy comic book super powers. Like, my guy, if you wanted Interview with the Vampire and not Morbius: The Living Vampire, why the fuck are you using a system where vampires have goofy comic book super powers?)
Edit on 15/08/2025: updated to add details on male leads in Western opera.
Takarazuka:
See here for my beginner's guide to Takarazuka
The official Takarazuka channel on Youtube has lots of well-shot performance clips to check out, and there are even more if you know where to search
Cantonese opera:
For a taste of how deliciously dramatic Cantonese opera can get, check out this short clip of a scene from The Butterfly Lovers, in which the two main characters (played by Joyce Koi/ 蓋鳴暉 and Ng Mei Ying/ 吳美英) struggle to come to terms with the female lead being forced into an arranged marriage
See here for my post on Yam Kim Fai (任劍輝) and Pak Suet Sin (白雪仙), the aforementioned "iconic pair" who dominated the Cantonese opera world
Many Cantonese opera films can be watched in full, in pretty decent quality, on Youtube, and English translations for much of the core repertory for Cantonese opera can be found with a quick Googling. For example, Yam-Pak's Legend of the Purple Hairpin (紫釵記) can be watched here, together with the English translation of the script here.
You can also take a look at my other posts on Cantonese opera here!
Yue opera:
Click here for a clip of Chen Lijun performing a modernised arrangement of a song from the hit Yue opera adaptation New Dragon Gate Inn (新龍門客棧). Basically can be described as "Yue opera and wuxia meet idol aesthetics"
For something more substantial, watch this pro-shot excerpt of the ending of Dream of the Red Chambers, which fuses traditional singing with modern staging. Alternatively, there are plenty of bootlegs of full shows on Youtube, so take your pick!
Trousers roles in Western opera:
Please also check out the "mezzosexual" tag :)
There are definitely some notable cases where the male lead is a trousers role, such as in Der Rosenkavalier, I Capuleti e i Montecchi (a.k.a. Romeo and Juliet), and Orlando Furioso. Also, as @siridealphosphorus kindly pointed out, it's much more common in Baroque operas, such as in Alcina, Ariodante, Giulio Cesare, Serse, and Orfeo ed Euridice.
I highly recommend the queer opera blog Queer Lorgnette, which reviews opera productions with humour, wit, and a distinctly queer and feminist eye
Korean musicals:
See here for my video on Korean musicals, which includes clips from several shows with genderblind casting
John Oliver gets it, as usual. AI Slop is one of the best episodes of Last Week Tonight I've seen so far. Gen AI is theft. Those who use it are not authors or artists, they're grifters profiting from real creatives.
