4.5-year awaited Grand Theater return on September 22 (before things) ft. my eyes dead from the unseasonable heat and yet another failed attempt to get my FLYING SAPA REFUND FROM 2020 THAT THEY STILL OWE ME.
This, unexpectedly, turned out to be the hands-down Takarazuka highlight of Tadaima ’23, and that’s… despite a play of extremely questionable content. Tsukigumi—Mugen Musou / Krung Thep—had the honor of being my last live Takarazuka before the shit hit the fan globally, and the troupe is such different vibes I felt like I stepped through a portal (not that Yukigumi isn’t, dear lord, but small theaters are always a little weird vibe-wise). I had a feeling this would be my first and last live top Tsukishiro Kanato, and she did indeed announce taidan days later. We have no shortage of 95th top stars, but, since I was a hardcore Yukigumi fan ten years ago, Reiko is the only one I’ve been closely following since her shinko days. She’s gotten so good, and every time I’ve watched her since the Romance Gekijou stream, I’ve seen in her movements and expressions that she's absolutely watched Komu on repeat in her moments of doubt. It makes my heart sing.
FLÜGEL SPOILERS (can’t believe I’m saying this again, but cw suicide, also nazis 🙄):
If you’ve ever thought to yourself, “Gee, you know whose take I’d love on the politics of a divided Germany? TAKARAZUKA’S,” well, maybe this show is for you! It’s the 1980s (although you wouldn’t know it till they bust a hole through the Wall… they really dropped the ball on costuming) and Jonas (Reiko) is a GDR officer who grew up thinking his mother (Shirayuki Sachika) was a nazi after she was arrested in his childhood for war crimes and they were separated on opposite sides of the partitioned country. After we open with a completely historically inaccurate scene from the Russian Afghan war (just SCREAMS Takarazuka, doesn’t it?), Jonas is put in charge of overseeing an East German concert featuring wildly popular West German idol Nadia (Umino Mitsuki), while other GDR officer Helmut (Houzuki An) is tasked with keeping an eye on them/preventing spying or something (idk, this plot doesn’t hold a ton of water to be honest). The general conflict is that Team Reiko is pro-unification, and Team Chinatsu is staunchly anti. Amidst a flurry of various activities that realistically would have gotten Jonas thrown in the gulag 1000 times over—including helping old war buddy?? Amashi Juri escape to West Germany via an underground route operated by Irodori Michiru and Haon Mika—Team Helmut attempts to dampen pro-unification sentiment by plotting a terrorist attack at the concert (in the form of an exploding microphone) and pinning it on a priest (Yumena Rune) and his band of peaceful student protestors. Thanks to Jonas and Luis Wagner (Kazama Yuno), who is Nadia’s manager and also secretly the best spy in the world or something, the mic is retrieved and the plan is thwarted. When Nadia returns to West Germany, she is moved to become a pro-unification activist thanks to the friends she made on the other side, and leads a protest that results in breaking the wall down. Helmut, unable to cope with the defeat of his ideology, takes his own life quite dramatically (so be aware of that). After travel is permitted between east and west, Jonas discovers that his mother (aging with dementia), while employed by the nazis, actually used her position to help Jews escape. Jonas and Nadia don’t fall in love, but they do look off into the sky together in hope and friendship.
I really did not care for this plot, yet somehow I also didn’t absolutely hate watching it. I think there were enough isolated highlights to make the experience worth it:
I! Love! Reiko! And I’m so happy I got to see her as top once! And her voice is fantastic lately!
Reiko and Chinatsu have an unexpectedly compelling chemistry
Chinatsu has an unexpected chemistry with me and my feelings
The final protest scene (set to a dramatic rendition of Ode to Joy) features Chinatsu repeatedly trying to hit Reiko, while Reiko just blocks all her punches and stares straight into her eyes. It’s a lot.
I had similar feelings watching Oda as I did watching Agachin; she wore those 4.5 years loud and proud. +1000 confidence, absolutely ready for her nibante era.
Nice little send off role for Ren Tsukasa, who is ABSOLUTELY BELOVED. People cheered the theater down for her, it was genuinely moving. No one in anything else I saw got that much applause except for maybe Kaiho Naoto.
KALEIDOSCOPE SPOILERS:
This, brainchild of Kurita-sensei making her revue debut, was the revue of the year, and probably the revue of all pandemic era for me. It was fresh, it had a theme, the music slapped, it actually called back a little to Ogita-sensei who I will miss in tkz until the end of time. LET WOMEN MAKE REVUES!!
The premise is a journey through different eras of Tokyo, triggered by the turn of a magic kaleidoscope. Each era’s scene is beautifully designed, and has a little self-contained plot. The transitions are seamless, and I loved the song choices (CITY! POP! CHUUZUME!). Tsukigumi as a whole is vocally outstanding right now, and the impact was awesome. Verbal descriptions don’t do it justice! If you’re tired of Fujii/Saitou/Nakamura B throwing all their old scenes into a tumble dyer and pulling them back out in a random order, watch Kaleidoscope, even if you aren’t a fan of Tsukigumi.
Standing in the Seinenkan hallway and finding out Maaya Kiho and Ikuta-sensei got married feels like it happened in a different lifetime. So much has transpired since, little of it good.
SPOILERS (cw death, chronic pain, suicide—perhaps read below if you were thinking of watching this but are struggling with what has recently occurred in Takarazuka):
Hyperbolic Chart is a hospital drama of sorts based on a novel that follows surgeon Fernando de Rossi (Genius! Womanizer! Dark secret??) ((Kazuki Sora)) as he’s approaching the premature end of his life. He has an incurable illness that gives him a reckless streak, and a moral code that puts people first and doesn’t necessarily always agree with the written law. Although they have a great respect for each other, this puts him at odds with fellow doctor Lamberto (Agata Sen) whose moral code is very by the book. The chief of medicine’s daughter Clarice (Nonoka Himari) wants to marry Fernando, but he falls in love with the new nurse, Monica (Kasumi Sana). Love triangle aside, over the course of the show, Fernando decides to give one of his patients, Cesare (Ouji Kaoru), who is quite afraid of death, an unnecessary and ineffective surgery for his terminal cancer, while lying to the family about the surgery’s likelihood of success (the surgery scene takes the form an epic dance, in which Fernando metaphorically battles Death, played by Manomiya Rui). The hospital thinks this is ethically wrong, but Fernando thinks it’s important to give Cesare one last moment of hope, so his family can see him smile again. Cesare expresses gratitude for this decision in a letter he writes just before his death. Subsequently, Lamberto discovers via some x-rays that Monica finds in Fernando’s home that Fernando is also suffering from a terminal disease. He confronts Fernando, and they have an argument that ends in Fernando refusing treatment. In the end, Fernando takes Monica on a romantic trip to his hometown, introduces her to his mother, and ultimately decides to end his own life rather than suffer the pain of allowing his disease to run its natural course.
The themes of this show, which are very much about the role doctors play not just in physical care but also in emotional care and acceptance of death, as well as choosing one’s own path to death, kinda hit differently now.
Thoughts on the show itself though…
Agata Sen wore the 4.5 years that have passed since I last saw her PROUDLY. She was stately, handsome, subtle, in command, really got the intricacies of the complex differences between Lamberto and Fernando. There is no villain in this story; only the abstract conflict of opposing morals, neither of which are “wrong.” Agachin may still need to go to singing bootcamp, but she blew me away with how well she captured the nuances of this.
I went in hoping I’d wind up obsessed with Kasumi Sana, since I haven’t seen her before, I don’t personally care for the apparent musumeyaku track within the troupe, and at the time I thought I needed to have more of a vested interest in who would be next (guess I’m free??). I still have no idea how I feel about her, because I absolutely despise Monica. I don’t think it was Kasumi’s portrayal; I think Monica is a terrible character, the product of a female love interest in a workplace drama being written by a hundred-year-old man. She has no personality, she’s essentially thrilled about being sexually harassed at work, and considering Fernando’s MUCH more developed character, there is no basis for the strength of his feelings for her, other than she happens to be standing there one day while he’s thinking about death and she’s a woman so it’s her job to be available to receive his emotional burdens (and we are expected to find this utterly romantic). I find it infuriating, and I think it singlehandedly prevented me from feeling moved by the show.
Clarice is only marginally a better character (if one woman wins the man the other’s whole personality must be jealousy, right?), but I think Himari is probably a top 5 musumeyaku in the company right now in terms of acting, which helped.
Sora. I watched Hyperbolic Chart with about as light a feeling as one can have while watching this sort of thing, because I genuinely thought that she had about six years and a legitimate shot at top stardom ahead of her, and that my fantasy of watching her lead some kind of witty screwball enemies-to-lovers show inspired by a Cary Grant movie or something had more than zero chance of becoming reality in the future. I’ve never been so caught off guard by a taidan announcement, and it seems none of my friends/acquaintances (some of whom have fandom roots going back to like, Mori Keaki) have either. I felt this before, but I feel it even more now: who looked at Sora and thought ah, yes, the perfect canvas for our most fucked up tragedies?? Yume Chidori, Lovers’ Suicide, this… it’s been three leads in a row. On top of that, the latter two are Yukigumi re-stages that for me are kind of irreplaceable.
She was heartbreaking, she was good. Girl is a triple threat af, and has only become more so in my absence. But I’ve been watching her since she couldn’t stop giggling and could barely put a sentence together, and this role doesn’t fit the Sora I know. It was written for Chigi. I wish this wasn’t her last lead. I wish I’d sat in the theater for her one more time and burst with joy before everything changed.
If seeing Tsukigumi was like stepping through a portal, seeing Hanagumi was like seeing Takarazuka for the first time. My last live Hanagumi was (checks notes) uhhh... Casanova. And with the exception of a Nice Work stream that I half paid attention to, Casanova is kinda also the last Hanagumi I saw, period. Oshidori had exactly one person in common with the visible cast of Casanova, and it was Rei. So here's my unbelievably fresh eyes take!
OSHIDORI SPOILERS:
No one is evil and no one dies!! 😭 This is a rakugo-inspired comedy based on an old movie that is readily available with English subs on YouTube, and I'd recommend watching it!
Oharu (Hoshikaze Madoka) is the daughter of Shimura Kyousai (Kazumi Shou), a rōnin turned umbrella maker. She is in love with another rōnin, Asai Reisaburou (Yuzuka Rei), who lives next door and teaches sword work to the local children, but he is being pursued by two of the town beauties, Otomi (Hoshizora Misaki) and Fujio (Mihane Ai). To make things even more difficult for Oharu, her father is obsessed with antiques, buying them even though he has little money and even when most of them eventually turn out to be fakes. A mistake puts him deeply in debt to the local lord, Minezawa Tanba-no-kami (Towaki Sea), and he is confronted with having to sell Oharu in order to pay it off. It turns out that Reisaburou, who prefers Oharu to the other two, is in possession of an extremely valuable antique; he was found with it in his basket when he was abandoned as an infant, and this means he's also the long lost oldest son of the Minezawa noble family. Everyone lives happily ever after!
Koyanagi-sensei is really the holy grail of Takarazuka in-house directors right now, in my humble opinion. This was such a good choice of adaptation, and her nihonmono comedy are always so fun and accessible. I was, frankly, jealous watching this; since I'm currently the least familiar with Hanagumi, I coveted it for my faves. But poor Rei has had quite a marred top star run (mostly due to COVID), and I'm glad she got a nearly complete run of such a fun show.
That said, Asai was unfortunately the least exciting character. This is definitely personal preference, but I don't really get fired up by the cool, quiet, aloof, handsome type in a lighthearted show, unless he's also the butt of jokes a la Daimon in Bakumatsu Taiyouden. I find Rei the most appealing in dynamic, dance-heavy performances, and Asai as a character was just too one-note for me.
OHARU, on the other hand...
Madoka will retire from Takarazuka, probably into a prolific stage career (if she wants it), and be remembered for/cast based on her high profile roles like Tess Ocean, Anastasia, and Elisabeth (shinko but still). If I were queen of the world I'd insist she be remembered for Oharu. Sometimes you watch so much Takarazuka you get the performance equivalent of nose blindness, and then out of nowhere, something like a Western guest director will jolt you awake and make you ask yourself, "What's different about this??" Madoka made an atypical acting choice! She did a weird voice! She was funny! She was adorable and charming! She stole the whole show, honestly.
Hitoko, my love. Last time I was in Japan, PRxPrince was in bow hall while On the 20th Century was in Shibuya, and I opted for OTTC, thus missing out on Hitoko entirely during that trip. That makes the last time I saw her live on stage friggin' Gaisenmon. That seems SO IMPROBABLE, but it's true. In that time, we went from MUCH too long-awaited first solo bow lead to ripe and ready for top stardom. Hitoko has a chameleon power that I think is pretty unique in Takarazuka; not only does she disappear into roles (positive), but also I truly think she could thrive in any troupe with little difficulty, and seem like she was there forever. As salty as I still am that she was stolen out from under me, she's the weft to Hanagumi's warp. Tanba-no-Kami was so fun and silly. I love finding out which new and different Hitoko I'm going to get each time, and I hope there are many many more variations to come (can't wait for Gekijou).
Other highlights:
VERY juicy (albeit old man) taidan role for Kazumi Shou. Dad is a big supporting character and she has a lot of stage time.
Shimon's presence is healing
Last time I saw Hanagumi, Mihane Ai was an unnamed ken-2 and Hoshizora Misaki was an unsorted rockette in Ocean's 11. It was funny to see the two apparent contenders for next top musumeyaku competing with the current top musumeyaku for the top star's heart. Since Hoshizora snagged the tour lead it sure seems like she's the front runner, but I have to say I personally preferred Mihane!
GRAND MIRAGE SPOILERS
The curtain went up on those pastel dresses and oversized bonnets and I just giggled to myself. It was Okada-sensei alright! Especially after the fresh delight that was Kaleidoscope, it was disappointing to go back to yet another pandemic-era revue that left me struggling to remember what any of the scenes were. It was classic, and if you're both into that style and a Hanagumi fan I'm sure there were memorable moments. To me it felt like Citrus Breeze if you sucked all the nostalgia out of it.
I’m flattered that the overwhelming response to my poll was to bring back reviews :D Since I posted that, Takarazuka has unfortunately been involved in a terrible tragedy (additional information here). I may review the Takarazuka performances I was able to see at a later date, but at the moment I’m going to take some space from doing so.
In the meantime, a very bright spot in a long-awaited trip otherwise filled with multiple bouts of shocking news was the Broadway musical Anastasia, featuring Asami Hikaru (my ご贔屓, kamioshi, bias to end all biases, for those who joined during COVID and somehow missed this) amidst a rather star-studded cast. Getting to see Anastasia was quite special, not only because it’s been 4 1/2 years since I was last able to travel to Japan and see Komu, but also because I HAD tickets to the original Spring 2020 run before, well, you know (not to mention the ruined plans to see fave #2 as the same role in the tkz version). On top of that, it was good.
The Broadway version of Anastasia follows two con men in post-revolution Russia, Dmitri and Vlad, who, amidst rumors that Anastasia Romanov has somehow survived the execution of the rest of the royal family, accidentally find the real one while auditioning actresses to pretend to be her for reward money.
Given that my bias to end all biases taidan’d 17 years ago, I’ve seen my fair share of Japanese theater outside of Takarazuka in my quest to spend as much time in her presence as humanly possible. Usually, I find the non-OG cast members (especially men!!) unimpressive to the point of superfluousness. Imagine my shock when I found myself raising my opera glasses when Komu wasn’t even on stage.
Ranking!!
Anya: Aoi Wakana / Kinoshita Haruka
Anya is a poor street sweeper with amnesia who has a feeling SOMEONE is waiting for her in Paris (turns out it’s her grandmother, the dowager empress). I was supposed to see each actress twice, but due to the flu making its rounds through the cast, I ended up seeing Wakana three times and Haruka only once… which is unfortunate, because Haruka is an absolute powerhouse, and Wakana is a TV actress. The cast lineup for my first of four viewings was absolutely flawless, and I wish it had been the finale instead (especially because I was in shock from Sora taidan dropping like 3 hours prior to curtain). Haruka has a Broadway-quality voice, and her acting not only made sense, but also lacked that peculiar anime-like delivery that most of the Japanese actors I’ve seen have in spades (IYKYK). Although perhaps she returned from flu recovery too quickly and didn’t have her whole voice, Wakana’s singing wasn’t really up to the challenge of the role; all of Anya’s big solo’s were rendered anticlimactic by very flat long notes. I also found her acting to be over the top and desperate, whereas Haruka’s was quite nuanced.
Dmitri is the romantic lead, something of a street urchin who starts off by hatching a moneymaking scheme to produce a fake Anastasia, and ultimately gives it all up after falling in love with Anya. I got to see Kaiho and Aiba, and to be honest, the only reason I’m not mad I had to see Aiba once is because that day Kaiho Naoto was Gleb. I know I am very late to this party, but this was the first time I got to see Kaiho Naoto live, and hooooooooooo boy. That man’s voice gave me chills, he acts like a normal person and not a cartoon, and his facial expressions are SO dynamic. His fans in the FIRST ROW had their opera glasses up, and now I take back making fun of them in my head. Incredible casting choice for Dmitri; he did an amazing job going through the full range of emotions and showing character growth, plus he looked so good in that scruffy little outfit. Tbh, marry me (Aiba on the other hand was an anime boy made flesh and blood and I can’t say I cared for it).
Vlad: Osumi Kenya / Ishikawa Zen
Vlad is Dmitri’s old man friend, a former aristocrat and adulterous lover to Lily. This one is slightly less cut and dry because both actors had their merits, but alas, I’m a big Ishikawa Zen fan. Osumi Kenya is a dancer and Zen is not, and that was quite apparent in any scene with choreography. Other than that, I quite preferred Zen’s knockout voice, nuanced acting, and overflowing kindness. He’s irl bffs with Komu, so I found his Vlad’s chemistry with Lily to be more compelling; but he also integrated himself seamlessly into each cast, despite that I imagine it’s tricky to get the best possible rapport going when the roles are changing all the time. Osumi definitely gave his Vlad quite a bit of enjoyable energy and unique flair, but ultimately, I thought his Vlad was a bit over the top (he’d be a huge hit in a kids’ show), and he seemed to be acting next to rather than with the rest of the cast.
Gleb: Kaiho Naoto / Douchin Yoshikuni / Tashiro Mario
Gleb, a Bolshevik general trying to fill the shoes of his father who relished executing the Romanov family, is the villain of the show. I was SUPPOSED to see all three Glebs, and I’m quite sad I didn’t, but the flu took Tashiro Mario. I ended up seeing Douchin three times and Kaiho once. This is REALLY HARD, and it’s likely impossible to separate out my feelings toward Kaiho’s Gleb in isolation, because Dmitri, without Kaiho in the role, was not compelling, so the overall impact of the show was less on the not-Douchin day. Kaiho showed up again with the voice that gives you chills, and while his performance throughout most of the show was a bit more low-key, his final scene, in which he attempts to get Anya to admit she’s playing around and return to Russia lest he be forced to shoot her on the spot if she is in fact the real Anastasia, was ABSOLUTELY FUCKING UNHINGED (spit flying everywhere, no wonder everyone got sick). Douchin, however, also has quite a powerful voice, and I think overall he did a better job of coming off as creepy and weird. He was awkward in kind of an is-this-guy-ok way, his barely concealed feelings for Anya were both clearer and more unsettling, and he felt believably indoctrinated into an ideology vs. just this is the villain because we said he’s the villain. His slick, jet-black hair and choice to wear light blue colored contacts also really enhanced the evil image. I really regret not getting to see Tashiro Mario, but I think my ever so slight preference here is Douchin just because his presence balanced the rest of the cast.
Lily: Asami Hikaru / Marcia / Horiuchi Keiko
Lily is the dowager empress's lady-in-waiting, a former countess who, in her younger days, cheated on her boring husband with Vlad and is currently tending to the dowager empress in refugee-laden Paris. LBR, I didn’t fly across the world to see the other two (although 3 or so days into my trip there was a SCARE where Komu was announced out with an injury, and I thought I might have to… but she recovered in time for my first show!). Ohhhh it was so nice, I missed her more than my COVID-era complacence led me to believe. Lily was a very fun and pleasant Komu role for me. Homegirl is 51 now (don’t talk to me) and fresh taidansha like Tamaki Ryou are getting the heroines she played a decade and a half ago, but Lily isn’t exactly someone’s mom either. She’s funny, and sassy, and wears sick costumes, and has DANCE NUMBERS! Which she did without looking injured at all! With the exception of like 20 seconds in the prologue, Lily does not appear at all until Act 2, but Act 2 is very juicy. I think I liked the look-Vlad’s-back tango even better than her piano-top nightclub solo, but both were utterly delightful. She also has great chemistry with her Yukigumi top senpai Asami Rei, comfortable yet reverent (just like in real life!). I juuuUUUUuuUUUUuuuSsstttt wish they would lower the key for her… just a little… as a treat.........
Dowager Empress Maria: Asami Rei (more like Asami SLAY)
Y’all… seeing Asami Rei live has BEEN on my bucket list, and the experience did not disappoint. Her voice may be going, but it’s completely age appropriate, and she could have done literally anything up on that stage without it ruining the impact of her presence. I legit inadvertently gasped "mother" into my mask when she made her appearance in a black and silver bejeweled gown to attend the ballet… serving boatloads of charisma uniqueness nerve and talent at 73, to say the least.
The ensemble was also a force and the songs were expertly directed, giving the whole show a stunning sound that has been rare in my experience with Japanese musicals (part vocal talent, part book made for Broadway). The play-within-a-play scene at the ballet was genuinely impressive (it's been a while since I've seen a man jump that high). All in all, a treat to watch!
