Hello, everyone! This Saturday at 10 PM (Tokyo time) I’ll be streaming Hoshigumi’s Treasure Sword of the Hapsburgs! Feel free to drop in and marvel as we celebrate Chanukah and the most ridiculous way possible!
I had a lovely time at Chie’s tea party today! It was a little disorganized, but I suppose that’s what happens when it’s the first major even after taidan.
Chie told us some stories from her time in New York and showing the POB cast around Tokyo. She gave us a quiz in English (she really tried her best with her English, and she did a great job asking us simple questions; more complicated ones gave her more trouble, which was as adorable as you’d imagine), and did a raffle for prizes. I didn’t win anything, but it was fun. We watched the video of the photo shoot for her 2016 calendar, and it was all around a good evening!
Oh yes, and I got to play a round of “my strange foreign name inciting fear and panic among the staff” when I picked up my ticket, but we worked it out in the end.
Today was my first viewing of Prince of Broadway! It was really a great show, lots of fun, and very energetic. I’m so glad I’ll get to see it twice more.
What a great cast! Everyone up there did such an amazing job. You could not have asked for a better group of people to be up on that stage. I was particulrly impressed with Bryonha Marie Parham’s singing, Tony Yazbeck’s tap dancing, and everything Chie. Surprise surprise, Chie is my favorite. I know you’re all shocked.
We got to see some lovely costumes, too. I liked all of them, but every showgirl themed costume, the ‘20s style dresses, and Aurora’s costume were particularly great. The one issue I took with the costumes was Magnolia’s (Kaley Ann Voorhees) dress if the scene from Showboat. It was a lovely dress, but there was a line that specifically said, “You just got your first long dress and you say you’re in love.” That dress was definitely still a short dress by the standards of the day. Well, it was still very pretty, so I shouldn’t complain too much.
During the scene from Follies in which Chie plays a showgirl, the shoulder strap of her costume broke. Nothing fell, nothing was exposed. It wasn’t a big deal. But I noticed (thank you, Chievision).
The sets were beautiful, too, especially since they had such a short amount of time to cycle through so many different scenes. The lighting was great, too! For our one set mishap, there were three backdrops made to represent Rome for the A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum scene. One of the backdrops got tangled and didn’t, well, drop. But I guess if there was any musical represented tonight where that could be played off, it’s Forum.
MUSIC! Overall, I was pleased by the selection of songs used. I do have some complaints, but that’s just my personal taste. Both Webber musicals represented got three songs each, more than any of the others except Sweeney Todd. But Fiddler on the Roof and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum only got one song each. What injustice is this? Fiddler and Forum are far superior to Phantom and Evita and I will stand by this statement until the day I die. The song from Forum was “Lovely.” “Lovely” is a fine song, but it’s not what I would have picked to represent that show as a whole. “Everybody Ought to Have a Maid” would have been a better fit, I think. Or have Shuler Hensley sing the part of Miles Gloriosus and do “My Bride.” Oh well.
SO LET’S TALK ABOUT CHIE. CHIE IS WONDERFUL. CHIE AS LOLA IS THE CUTEST THING I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE. You have not lived until you have seen Chie as Lola. And Broadway Ballet? It’s much longer than the clips would lead you to believe! Chie has a couple of shorter dancer solos leading in to the pair dance and she looked wonderful. She shines. She looks so happy when she dances. And Kiss of the Spider Woman! She looked so amazing in her costume, and she sang in her lovely deep voice in Japanese.
At the end, every cast members got applause. Every cast member got cheers. But when Chie blew us all a kiss... Chie was the only one who got screams. Gotta keep those Broadway stars in their place.
Today was also Chie’s After Talk Event! It was fairly short, but she came out in jeans, a pink Prince of Broadway t-shirt, and doc martens. She answered a few questions and took a photo with the audience for Instagram. During the talk, she reiterated her desire to not wear skirts or grow out her hair (the audience responded with applause), and how much she enjoyed seeing women’s fashion in New York (”American women are too amazing,” she said).
What kind of shows does she want to do next? Well, she doesn’t think too far ahead, but maybe doing a concert would be nice (significant look at the audience). I guess this means we should expect another Chie concert soon!
What was difficult about doing Prince of Broadway? Makeup. It always ended up being otokoyaku makeup accidentally. Oh, and moving in a feminine way. During the costume parade people kept saying, “emphasize your chest more!” but it was impossible.
What else was difficult? Stiletto heels!
Does she wear heels in her free time? “No, it’s always like this,” she said as she pointed to her Doc Martens.
There were some questions from the audience, one of which was “Is your passport photo otokoyaku style, or do you look like a woman?” Chie responded with, “No, it’s just ugly like all my ID photos. I definitely never want to show you.” Hahaha!
All in all, I had a great time, and I can’t wait until next week to see it again!
Oh, and the show good included a program, a program-like book focusing on Chie’s time in New York (with lots of photos!), a couple of tote bags, pass cases, t-shirts, and weirdly enough necklaces. If anyone’s interested in any of these I’d be happy to grab some when I’m next there!
