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ekusudeiMagician no Yuutsu
Moon Troupe, 2007
Stars: Sena Jun & Ayano Kanami
[ TCA Pictures Shop ] [ ENAK Sumire Style ] [ Takarazuka Precious ]
Where to even begin? Well, I suppose I'll do this one a bit like I did MAHOROBA. This means it's going to be full of spoilers, so I'd avoid it if you want a surprise when you first watch it.
It opens, as some of you might have heard, with a magic trick. ;) One by one, caped men appear under stark spotlights on the stage, all holding their capes up to hide there faces. They begin moving around, confusing the eyes, until... they all whip off their capes! Every show, Asako is standing somewhere else. It's rather fun to try to guess which otokoyaku is which. I managed to guess Masaki once. ;)
From there the play itself begins, with Asako's character Sandor giving a parlor performance. One of the noblewomen, Ilona (Takigawa Sueko), asks Sandor if he can help her find her lost pet dog. In response he pulls out a deck of cards and spreads them out, telling her to chose one. She picks the 7 of hearts, and when prompted to write something on it, scrawls out her name. Sandor shuffles all the cards together, and tells her to pick up the top one. It's the 7 of hearts with her name on it! He drops it back in the hat and flips the hat over. A handkerchief falls out, and nothing more. Instead, the card has appeared in Misa Noeru's pocket! Like the card, Sandor predicts, her dog will return to her.
And indeed, it does! One after another, all of Sandor's predictions and advice begin to come true. He is as surprised as everyone else, but rides out the sudden popularity with good stagemanship. Magic, after all, is all about observation and the performance. His employees are similarly thrilled, because although they all hold their own jobs, they don't make much money as actors, fortunetellers, poets, etc., and they depend upon Sandor for food and clothes. He growls at them to support themselves, but it's mostly in fun. Let's see, the gang: Laszlo (Yoshizuki Eri) is a sardonic private detective who likes to wear leather jackets and frown at the world, Zsigmond (Ozora Yuuhi) is an inventor often hanging about with Laszlo. Her costume was also constructed specifically to give me a heart-attack. Together they provide amusing bridge conversations between some of the scenes. Gizella (Izumo Aya) is a fortuneteller who likes Sandor because he keeps her in pretty dresses (*grin*). She's the mother of the bunch, often seen trying to smack some manners into little Leo. Leo (Ryu Masaki) is a young, teenage, wanna-be poet, only no one else actually knows that (or so they said in the Kageki interview). He likes to sit on tables and pout. He wears a cute newsie hat and his hair is a horror. Jen is in love with the cuteness. Janos (Ryouga Haruhi) is an actor who can't seem to stop acting -- all of his gestures and intonations are larger-than-life. There is group singing. There is posing on couches. There is complete and total love for Masatsuka-S.
One of Sandor's triumphs is finding the missing nobleman Kornel (Izumi Aoki), who has been missing for over a year. There is a press-conference at his return, where he is continually pestered with questions from the journalists. It turns out he's been living in a village in the Congo in Africa -- He looks it too, in pith helmet and early 19th century explorers gear. The unbelieving journalists ask how he could have survived in a place without modern conveniences, and he is exasperated. "What do you mean 'a place like that'? All you need is love!" His high-mindedness is completely misinterpreted, and he storms off-stage. He reappears shortly, however, when Sandor arrives. The journalists immediately latch on to this "true" magician. Sandor doesn't seem as enthusiastic about the epithet as he should be; things are getting out of control. Meanwhile, a trio of women has arrived and is observing Sandor. This number is rather hilarious, because both Asako and Mihoko (one of the women) attempt to blend into the group dance, but aren't quite on the beat or fired with the right enthusiasm.
Everyone leaves, and Sandor sings a solo. As he ends and walks off stage, Mihoko's character appears, following him. Sandor's voice floats out: "Please stop following me." The woman protests that she's not a journalist, and has an important job for him. Sandor appears mysteriously behind her, and tells her to go to his office like everyone else. She argues that the job must be kept secret, but that she's Veronika, and from the palace. Sandor refuses the job, since she won't give him any details. Apologizing, she twists his arm behind his back as the other two women reappear. "What, are you going to kidnap me?" he jokes. "Yes," she replies. He stops laughing when the women break out the kung-fu moves. They're very persistent, and at last he gives up. This scene is hilarious. Perfect comic timing. They handcuff him, but of course he has the handcuffs off in an eye-blink -- After all, he's a magician.
The surprise waiting for Sandor at the palace is Boldizsar, the crown prince of the country (Kiriya Hiromu). For those of you who love Kiriyan's Louis XVI from BaraFuu, this role was made for us. Hysterical. Kiriyan's royalty is always just the right blend of born-to-it arrogance and quirkiness. Boldizsar explains the situation: His wife, Princess Marek (Shirosaki Ai), was killed three years previously in a car accident. However, lately he's been having dreams. "I see," says Sandor. "Do you think it's odd?" asks Boldizsar. "No, not at all," Sandor replies hurriedly and rather unconvincingly. This whole dialogue, which should be dry because of the length of exposition, has some of the best laughs of the show. Throughout Boldizsar's explanation, Sandor keeps standing up, and Boldizar keeps waving him back into his seat. Every time the giggle of the audience is a little louder, until the time when Kiriyan simply stops mid-sentence and stares at Sandor until he sits down again. Then everyone cracks up. It's funny. Even knowing what was coming, I cracked up every time. Anyway, Boldizsar continues, saying that he has begun to suspect that the accident was no accident. Sandor reluctantly agrees to investigate, touched by the prince's passion. In return, Boldizsar agrees to accept that it was an accident, if Sandor believes it.
Sandor is led to the princess's room by Veronika. Veronika, it turns out, came over with the princess from Wales as one of her bodyguard. Her twin sister was also one of the bodyguard, but she died in the car accident along with the princess. However, Veronika says that she and her sister could sometimes see what the other was thinking, and from what she saw just before her sister died, she too believes it was no accident. Sandor notes that the princess was pretty, that she liked lavender and plays. Veronika is shocked by this further proof of Sandor's authenticity, but he just laughs and tells her it was observation. The smell of lavender lingers, and the chairs in the room are placed well to get the evening light, and there is a collection of Shakespeare at hand.
Later, Sandor, Laszlo, Zsigmond, Veronika, Charlotte, and Eva meet up with Boldizsar and his two bodyguards (Szkharosi - Seitou Kaijo) and Nekcsei (Asumi Rio) at the site of the accident. Sandor, erm, begins channeling a female spirit. If you've seen Mariko during the body-switch skit in Action!... yeah, it's like that. *dies a bit* It's not convincing at all, of course, but the people from the palace are so desperate to believe that they take it all in. However, Sandor snaps out of it quickly when Boldizsar begins winding up for a passionate love declaration to his dead princess. He switches tactics, pretending to see a woman's hand, and on the hand a ring. As he describes the ring, Boldizsar gets really excited. "Like this?!" he cries, shoving his hand in Sandor's face. Shock! An exact match! *g* It must be Marek's hand, and her wedding ring. "But no... No! It's impossible!" Sandor cries. "She's alive!" Boldizsar shouts. Beginning to get nervous, Laszlo and Zsigmond pull him off to the side. He explains that he's going to really overdo it to discredit himself so that Boldizsar decides he'll be useless. Sandor goes back to the prince. It's not possible, he's very sorry.... Unfortunately, Boldizsar isn't listening. The crown prince warmly thanks Sandor. For he has always believed.... that Marek is still alive. "You have?" Sandor manages to croak out.
Suddenly Eva comes running back, warning that someone is coming. Gunshots ring out. The bodyguards throw themselves around the prince and Sandor. Veronika takes a shot to the arm protecting Sandor. The prince, still excited about this newest revelation, keeps trying to get to his feet and shout at Sandor's group on the other side of the street, and his bodyguards keep trying to push him down. This scene is hilarious. Finally an exasperated Szkharosi shouts "I'm very sorry!" and jumps onto the prince to push him down, with the others dog-piling on top. With the danger declared passed, Boldizsar struggles back to his feet. His two bodyguards begin brushing him off, straightening his clothes, and petting his hair back into place (*amused*). Boldizsar is now very excited, and declares that he's going to have Marek's grave reopened. He drags a very un-enthusiastic Sandor along with him. I think this might be my favorite song from the musical....
Sandor goes to a tavern to meet his crew and explain the situation. He's taken the job, but this will be the last one. It's gone too far; he needs to move on. They all wish him luck, except Leo, who cries that there must be some other way and pouts. They put their heads together to try to come up with a plan. Maybe some bones of an animal which would have caused the accident....
Suddenly Veronika and her two women arrive like a thunderstorm. Veronika berates Sandor -- how can he get anything done drinking in a tavern? He protests that he needs the energy of the people, and that he's there with his employees. Introductions all around, and Asako tussles Masaki's hair (*love*). Veronika's women are Charlotte (Touka Yurino) and Eva (Yumesaki Nene), two other former bodyguards of the princess. They all drink a toast. Janos is instantly interested in the silent Charlotte. Sandor and Veronika dance, but Veronika isn't very good at it. She tells him that she's not going to let him out of her sight again, to make sure he doesn't wander into any more taverns. There goes his plan to flee the country. In the background, Leo is rejected by Eva, tosses back a drink, makes faces, and sometimes starts scrawling in a notebook. I don't actually see much of what Asako and Mihoko are doing during their love-love scene. ;)
At the graveyard, the two raggedy grave diggers have dug up the coffin (i.e. - the center stage trapdoor is opened up), and are just waiting for everyone to arrive. The priest Salamon (Kiryuu Sonoka) is consecrating the ground with holy water and murmured prayers from his Bible. At a sign from the prince, the gravedigger Stormfeld (Misa Noeru) creaks back the coffin lid. Boldizsar jumps down into the pit. The coffin is filled with nothing but dirt! Pressured by the prince, Sandor agrees Marek must still be alive. In all the uproar, the priest collapses, then gulps down some holy water to revive himself (*grin* I love watching the minor characters being silly in the background). The prince demands to know where Marek is, but Sandor says he's too tired and he's exhausted his powers for the day. The prince urges him to rest up so that they can go searching and departs. Left momentarily alone with Laszlo and Zsigmond, the three panic. Things aren't going according to plan at all.... When the two grave-diggers pass by, Sandor tries to stop and question them, but things quickly go downhill when the two refuse to say anything other than "I don't know nothin'" over and over again. Veronika arrives in time to stop Aldeheid (Yashiro Kou) from taking a swing at Sandor with her shovel. The priest reappears as well, but his entreaties don't get anything more from the two either. Sonoka is particularly silly and amusing as the high-voiced, timid, effeminate priest.
Sandor and Veronika later wander into the church and speak some more with Salamon. Nothing is discovered, but suddenly three menacing men all in black with black leather gloves and guns appear. Morie is leading them and knocks the protesting priest down pretty easily. Veronika grabs one of the underlings and threatens to kill him. Morie tells her to go ahead. Sandor gets Veronika to let the man go. "If they were going to kill us, they would have shot us already." Morie smirks and replies that they didn't want to spill blood in a church. The two are hustled out.
Yay! Ai-chan! Suddenly we are in a foggy, dim place, with piles of skulls. A crowd of wraith-like women appear and dance. One more appears -- Marek (Shirosaki Ai)! Cue spooky music. I love this dance. Ai-chan is so pretty and pale and.... The women disappear back into the mist as Sandor and Veronika wander on stage, wondering where they've been thrown. Veronika sees the skulls and freaks out. Sandor is amused to see that the level-headed, cool, business-like Veronika has a weakness. He says there must be a way out, and she declares she'll stay put. "Really? You know, in novels and movies, the part where someone stays behind alone is the part when...." She declares she'll go with him after all, but then screams. Somehow she managed to get a skeletal hand tangled around her ankle. Sandor waves it at her. "A friend of yours?" He promises not to let go of her hand, and the two set off. Along the way as they pass between the mounds of skulls they pick up a third member. I love this bit. One moment there's two of them, and the next, Yashiro Kou is suddenly in between them, holding their hands. The two are surprised at how strange each other's hands feel, and then they finally notice the grave-digger! *snerk*
Shock all around, while everyone demands to know what the other is doing there. Aldeheid tells them they don't belong there, but also refuses to show them the way out. Suddenly a voice is heard singing. Aldeheid begins to panic. "No! No! I told you not to come out!" The wispy, wraith-like Marek appears. Confronted with this latest spectre, Veronika faints. Sandor realizes that this must be the missing princess, but Aldeheid protests she's not, she's just a simple girl. They argue, and Aldeheid cries that Marek doesn't remember anything of her life before and can't even speak; she's happy here. If she leaves her life will be in danger. All of them will be in danger! Veronika wakes up again, and begs Marek to come back. Boldizsar will protect her. The name raises a faint stir of life from Marek. "Boldizsar?" Aldeheid agrees to show Sandor the way out, while Veronika remains with Marek.
At Sandor's house, everyone is worried about the missing Sandor and Veronika. After an argument, Eva raises her voice and shouts at them all. Janos is in love. "She spoke!" Salamon arrives bringing the news that the two have been kidnapped! He's a little surprised when this old news doesn't get a reaction from anyone. He hurries to reassure them that he knows where they are, and suddenly everyone crowds around, coming to life. He has brought the two grave-diggers and everything gets explained. They all hurry off.
Marek has been returned to her prince. Her memory has not returned yet, but he promises to give her as much time as she needs. She asks him if she can still love him, even if her memory never returns. Love-love scene. *hearts* After their duet, Veronika and Sandor arrive. There is still the unsolved problem of who attempted to kill Marek. Veronika is fairly certain the military is involved, because of the way the men who attacked them held themselves. A plan is concocted to use an approaching public ceremony at the palace as their showcase....
Veronika has slipped away into a garden of the palace, where she sings. Sandor arrives to join her in the duet (appropriately and creatively titled "Duet"), then asks her why she is troubled. She denies it, and then admits that it's because she wasn't very useful. Sandor protests that he is very thankful for all the times she protected him. As they talk, he admits that none of the magic was real magic --that it was all like he had explained the first time they went to the princess's room, observation-- and that from the beginning he had planned to simply lie to them, but that as things progressed he found he couldn't. She's surprised that everything he made up ended up being true, but not angry.
All of the nobles and dignitaries have gathered for the party when Boldizsar announces his surprise guest -- the magician Sandor! The crowd is thrilled, particularly by Sandor's dramatic entrance (reminiscent of the show's opening number). Two people, however, are not entertained and instead look paniced. As the crowd surges into a dance around them, they are the only two sour notes. Observing all of this, Sandor unmasks them as the conspirators: Minister Bartok (Kitajima Mami) and Commander Andras (Takaki Amane). The ruined men are hustled away and the princess's arrival is announced to the marveling crowd by the adorable herald (Asanagi Mana).
Sandor and Veronika are in the garden again. She says she plans to travel now that her job here is finished, maybe go home to England. He says he intends to travel too, maybe to France. But at her mention of England, he thinks perhaps London would be better for a magician. She enthuses about the places he can see, until she stumbles to an embarrassed stop. He asks her to come with him, surprising her. He needs a manager, he explains, but of course he wouldn't want to put her out... "I'll do it!" She snaps up the opportunity. It's very sweet. And then, just as she manages to fluster herself yet again, he admits that he loves her. She replies that she loves him as well.
Cue sweet duet on ginkyou and entire cast returning for a triumphant finish!
..... But wait, there's more!
Mini revue time! *lovelovelove*
Best mini revue evar. Excellently cool music with an Eastern European feel. Otokoyaku upperclassmen dance in black tuxedos with Kiriyan in the lead in blue. And then Asako in red and Yuuhi and the young stars dance in blue tuxedos and it is hot (*fans self*). Very catchy line dance! In which uber-tall Asanagi Mana managed to be out of step every night. Kind of hard to manage that without being noticed 1) in a line dance, 2) when you're the tallest one (178 cm), and 3) when you're dead-center. I shall fangirl her awkward cuteness from now on. And then Asako dances a slower number with the musumeyaku, including a really touching moment with Sueko-san. This was the moment every time where it really hit me that Eri and Sueko are retiring, and I got a little teary-eyed. And then Mihoko comes out and there is a duet dance of love. Although that lift had me terrified that Asako was going to drop her every.single.time. It was just a little awkward at the very beginning, and particularly on the "oops" Sunday I really thought that was going to be the crowning glory, which would have been awful. And then those two take a bow and we launch into the shortest parade evar! Yuuhi etoile! Which was just all kinds of weird, but also interesting in that it kind of removes the whole precedence issue (except that Kiriyan's feathers are a little more elaborate than Yuuhi's anyway). Anyway, I had much love for etoile!Yuuhi.
---
I know they say that original shows in Takarazuka are written with the cast in mind, but I think that's more apparent for some shows than for others, and probably some playwrights are better at it than others. This show was perfect for this cast, particularly for Asako, Mihoko, and Kiriyan. Mihoko! I didn't really go into her role much in the summary, but her voice was low and not hoarse exactly, but a little rough. And all of her songs tended to be in a lower range than usual as well, and I think it must have been her natural range because it was gorgeous. There weren't a lot of solos in this show, and when there were solos, they were often little scraps of them (for Kiriyan and Mihoko). There were several duets, though, and lots of really, really catchy group numbers. And all of the songs were actually right for the voices of the 'siennes singing them. Oh, I love when they do that.
The stage work was completely fun -- great lighting and lots of uses of all the mechanics (rotating stage, trap doors, etc.). I loved the sets, particularly what they did with the stairs.
The costumes weren't very elaborate, but I liked Asako's black velvet suit and Ai-chan's green dress in particular. And Eri's leather jacket outfit and Yuuhi's vest and combat boots and open-necked shirt and... yeah. .....Ahi's outfit needs to be seen to be believed.
Moon Troupe, 2007
Stars: Sena Jun & Ayano Kanami
[ TCA Pictures Shop ] [ ENAK Sumire Style ] [ Takarazuka Precious ]
Where to even begin? Well, I suppose I'll do this one a bit like I did MAHOROBA. This means it's going to be full of spoilers, so I'd avoid it if you want a surprise when you first watch it.
It opens, as some of you might have heard, with a magic trick. ;) One by one, caped men appear under stark spotlights on the stage, all holding their capes up to hide there faces. They begin moving around, confusing the eyes, until... they all whip off their capes! Every show, Asako is standing somewhere else. It's rather fun to try to guess which otokoyaku is which. I managed to guess Masaki once. ;)
From there the play itself begins, with Asako's character Sandor giving a parlor performance. One of the noblewomen, Ilona (Takigawa Sueko), asks Sandor if he can help her find her lost pet dog. In response he pulls out a deck of cards and spreads them out, telling her to chose one. She picks the 7 of hearts, and when prompted to write something on it, scrawls out her name. Sandor shuffles all the cards together, and tells her to pick up the top one. It's the 7 of hearts with her name on it! He drops it back in the hat and flips the hat over. A handkerchief falls out, and nothing more. Instead, the card has appeared in Misa Noeru's pocket! Like the card, Sandor predicts, her dog will return to her.
And indeed, it does! One after another, all of Sandor's predictions and advice begin to come true. He is as surprised as everyone else, but rides out the sudden popularity with good stagemanship. Magic, after all, is all about observation and the performance. His employees are similarly thrilled, because although they all hold their own jobs, they don't make much money as actors, fortunetellers, poets, etc., and they depend upon Sandor for food and clothes. He growls at them to support themselves, but it's mostly in fun. Let's see, the gang: Laszlo (Yoshizuki Eri) is a sardonic private detective who likes to wear leather jackets and frown at the world, Zsigmond (Ozora Yuuhi) is an inventor often hanging about with Laszlo. Her costume was also constructed specifically to give me a heart-attack. Together they provide amusing bridge conversations between some of the scenes. Gizella (Izumo Aya) is a fortuneteller who likes Sandor because he keeps her in pretty dresses (*grin*). She's the mother of the bunch, often seen trying to smack some manners into little Leo. Leo (Ryu Masaki) is a young, teenage, wanna-be poet, only no one else actually knows that (or so they said in the Kageki interview). He likes to sit on tables and pout. He wears a cute newsie hat and his hair is a horror. Jen is in love with the cuteness. Janos (Ryouga Haruhi) is an actor who can't seem to stop acting -- all of his gestures and intonations are larger-than-life. There is group singing. There is posing on couches. There is complete and total love for Masatsuka-S.
One of Sandor's triumphs is finding the missing nobleman Kornel (Izumi Aoki), who has been missing for over a year. There is a press-conference at his return, where he is continually pestered with questions from the journalists. It turns out he's been living in a village in the Congo in Africa -- He looks it too, in pith helmet and early 19th century explorers gear. The unbelieving journalists ask how he could have survived in a place without modern conveniences, and he is exasperated. "What do you mean 'a place like that'? All you need is love!" His high-mindedness is completely misinterpreted, and he storms off-stage. He reappears shortly, however, when Sandor arrives. The journalists immediately latch on to this "true" magician. Sandor doesn't seem as enthusiastic about the epithet as he should be; things are getting out of control. Meanwhile, a trio of women has arrived and is observing Sandor. This number is rather hilarious, because both Asako and Mihoko (one of the women) attempt to blend into the group dance, but aren't quite on the beat or fired with the right enthusiasm.
Everyone leaves, and Sandor sings a solo. As he ends and walks off stage, Mihoko's character appears, following him. Sandor's voice floats out: "Please stop following me." The woman protests that she's not a journalist, and has an important job for him. Sandor appears mysteriously behind her, and tells her to go to his office like everyone else. She argues that the job must be kept secret, but that she's Veronika, and from the palace. Sandor refuses the job, since she won't give him any details. Apologizing, she twists his arm behind his back as the other two women reappear. "What, are you going to kidnap me?" he jokes. "Yes," she replies. He stops laughing when the women break out the kung-fu moves. They're very persistent, and at last he gives up. This scene is hilarious. Perfect comic timing. They handcuff him, but of course he has the handcuffs off in an eye-blink -- After all, he's a magician.
The surprise waiting for Sandor at the palace is Boldizsar, the crown prince of the country (Kiriya Hiromu). For those of you who love Kiriyan's Louis XVI from BaraFuu, this role was made for us. Hysterical. Kiriyan's royalty is always just the right blend of born-to-it arrogance and quirkiness. Boldizsar explains the situation: His wife, Princess Marek (Shirosaki Ai), was killed three years previously in a car accident. However, lately he's been having dreams. "I see," says Sandor. "Do you think it's odd?" asks Boldizsar. "No, not at all," Sandor replies hurriedly and rather unconvincingly. This whole dialogue, which should be dry because of the length of exposition, has some of the best laughs of the show. Throughout Boldizsar's explanation, Sandor keeps standing up, and Boldizar keeps waving him back into his seat. Every time the giggle of the audience is a little louder, until the time when Kiriyan simply stops mid-sentence and stares at Sandor until he sits down again. Then everyone cracks up. It's funny. Even knowing what was coming, I cracked up every time. Anyway, Boldizsar continues, saying that he has begun to suspect that the accident was no accident. Sandor reluctantly agrees to investigate, touched by the prince's passion. In return, Boldizsar agrees to accept that it was an accident, if Sandor believes it.
Sandor is led to the princess's room by Veronika. Veronika, it turns out, came over with the princess from Wales as one of her bodyguard. Her twin sister was also one of the bodyguard, but she died in the car accident along with the princess. However, Veronika says that she and her sister could sometimes see what the other was thinking, and from what she saw just before her sister died, she too believes it was no accident. Sandor notes that the princess was pretty, that she liked lavender and plays. Veronika is shocked by this further proof of Sandor's authenticity, but he just laughs and tells her it was observation. The smell of lavender lingers, and the chairs in the room are placed well to get the evening light, and there is a collection of Shakespeare at hand.
Later, Sandor, Laszlo, Zsigmond, Veronika, Charlotte, and Eva meet up with Boldizsar and his two bodyguards (Szkharosi - Seitou Kaijo) and Nekcsei (Asumi Rio) at the site of the accident. Sandor, erm, begins channeling a female spirit. If you've seen Mariko during the body-switch skit in Action!... yeah, it's like that. *dies a bit* It's not convincing at all, of course, but the people from the palace are so desperate to believe that they take it all in. However, Sandor snaps out of it quickly when Boldizsar begins winding up for a passionate love declaration to his dead princess. He switches tactics, pretending to see a woman's hand, and on the hand a ring. As he describes the ring, Boldizsar gets really excited. "Like this?!" he cries, shoving his hand in Sandor's face. Shock! An exact match! *g* It must be Marek's hand, and her wedding ring. "But no... No! It's impossible!" Sandor cries. "She's alive!" Boldizsar shouts. Beginning to get nervous, Laszlo and Zsigmond pull him off to the side. He explains that he's going to really overdo it to discredit himself so that Boldizsar decides he'll be useless. Sandor goes back to the prince. It's not possible, he's very sorry.... Unfortunately, Boldizsar isn't listening. The crown prince warmly thanks Sandor. For he has always believed.... that Marek is still alive. "You have?" Sandor manages to croak out.
Suddenly Eva comes running back, warning that someone is coming. Gunshots ring out. The bodyguards throw themselves around the prince and Sandor. Veronika takes a shot to the arm protecting Sandor. The prince, still excited about this newest revelation, keeps trying to get to his feet and shout at Sandor's group on the other side of the street, and his bodyguards keep trying to push him down. This scene is hilarious. Finally an exasperated Szkharosi shouts "I'm very sorry!" and jumps onto the prince to push him down, with the others dog-piling on top. With the danger declared passed, Boldizsar struggles back to his feet. His two bodyguards begin brushing him off, straightening his clothes, and petting his hair back into place (*amused*). Boldizsar is now very excited, and declares that he's going to have Marek's grave reopened. He drags a very un-enthusiastic Sandor along with him. I think this might be my favorite song from the musical....
Sandor goes to a tavern to meet his crew and explain the situation. He's taken the job, but this will be the last one. It's gone too far; he needs to move on. They all wish him luck, except Leo, who cries that there must be some other way and pouts. They put their heads together to try to come up with a plan. Maybe some bones of an animal which would have caused the accident....
Suddenly Veronika and her two women arrive like a thunderstorm. Veronika berates Sandor -- how can he get anything done drinking in a tavern? He protests that he needs the energy of the people, and that he's there with his employees. Introductions all around, and Asako tussles Masaki's hair (*love*). Veronika's women are Charlotte (Touka Yurino) and Eva (Yumesaki Nene), two other former bodyguards of the princess. They all drink a toast. Janos is instantly interested in the silent Charlotte. Sandor and Veronika dance, but Veronika isn't very good at it. She tells him that she's not going to let him out of her sight again, to make sure he doesn't wander into any more taverns. There goes his plan to flee the country. In the background, Leo is rejected by Eva, tosses back a drink, makes faces, and sometimes starts scrawling in a notebook. I don't actually see much of what Asako and Mihoko are doing during their love-love scene. ;)
At the graveyard, the two raggedy grave diggers have dug up the coffin (i.e. - the center stage trapdoor is opened up), and are just waiting for everyone to arrive. The priest Salamon (Kiryuu Sonoka) is consecrating the ground with holy water and murmured prayers from his Bible. At a sign from the prince, the gravedigger Stormfeld (Misa Noeru) creaks back the coffin lid. Boldizsar jumps down into the pit. The coffin is filled with nothing but dirt! Pressured by the prince, Sandor agrees Marek must still be alive. In all the uproar, the priest collapses, then gulps down some holy water to revive himself (*grin* I love watching the minor characters being silly in the background). The prince demands to know where Marek is, but Sandor says he's too tired and he's exhausted his powers for the day. The prince urges him to rest up so that they can go searching and departs. Left momentarily alone with Laszlo and Zsigmond, the three panic. Things aren't going according to plan at all.... When the two grave-diggers pass by, Sandor tries to stop and question them, but things quickly go downhill when the two refuse to say anything other than "I don't know nothin'" over and over again. Veronika arrives in time to stop Aldeheid (Yashiro Kou) from taking a swing at Sandor with her shovel. The priest reappears as well, but his entreaties don't get anything more from the two either. Sonoka is particularly silly and amusing as the high-voiced, timid, effeminate priest.
Sandor and Veronika later wander into the church and speak some more with Salamon. Nothing is discovered, but suddenly three menacing men all in black with black leather gloves and guns appear. Morie is leading them and knocks the protesting priest down pretty easily. Veronika grabs one of the underlings and threatens to kill him. Morie tells her to go ahead. Sandor gets Veronika to let the man go. "If they were going to kill us, they would have shot us already." Morie smirks and replies that they didn't want to spill blood in a church. The two are hustled out.
Yay! Ai-chan! Suddenly we are in a foggy, dim place, with piles of skulls. A crowd of wraith-like women appear and dance. One more appears -- Marek (Shirosaki Ai)! Cue spooky music. I love this dance. Ai-chan is so pretty and pale and.... The women disappear back into the mist as Sandor and Veronika wander on stage, wondering where they've been thrown. Veronika sees the skulls and freaks out. Sandor is amused to see that the level-headed, cool, business-like Veronika has a weakness. He says there must be a way out, and she declares she'll stay put. "Really? You know, in novels and movies, the part where someone stays behind alone is the part when...." She declares she'll go with him after all, but then screams. Somehow she managed to get a skeletal hand tangled around her ankle. Sandor waves it at her. "A friend of yours?" He promises not to let go of her hand, and the two set off. Along the way as they pass between the mounds of skulls they pick up a third member. I love this bit. One moment there's two of them, and the next, Yashiro Kou is suddenly in between them, holding their hands. The two are surprised at how strange each other's hands feel, and then they finally notice the grave-digger! *snerk*
Shock all around, while everyone demands to know what the other is doing there. Aldeheid tells them they don't belong there, but also refuses to show them the way out. Suddenly a voice is heard singing. Aldeheid begins to panic. "No! No! I told you not to come out!" The wispy, wraith-like Marek appears. Confronted with this latest spectre, Veronika faints. Sandor realizes that this must be the missing princess, but Aldeheid protests she's not, she's just a simple girl. They argue, and Aldeheid cries that Marek doesn't remember anything of her life before and can't even speak; she's happy here. If she leaves her life will be in danger. All of them will be in danger! Veronika wakes up again, and begs Marek to come back. Boldizsar will protect her. The name raises a faint stir of life from Marek. "Boldizsar?" Aldeheid agrees to show Sandor the way out, while Veronika remains with Marek.
At Sandor's house, everyone is worried about the missing Sandor and Veronika. After an argument, Eva raises her voice and shouts at them all. Janos is in love. "She spoke!" Salamon arrives bringing the news that the two have been kidnapped! He's a little surprised when this old news doesn't get a reaction from anyone. He hurries to reassure them that he knows where they are, and suddenly everyone crowds around, coming to life. He has brought the two grave-diggers and everything gets explained. They all hurry off.
Marek has been returned to her prince. Her memory has not returned yet, but he promises to give her as much time as she needs. She asks him if she can still love him, even if her memory never returns. Love-love scene. *hearts* After their duet, Veronika and Sandor arrive. There is still the unsolved problem of who attempted to kill Marek. Veronika is fairly certain the military is involved, because of the way the men who attacked them held themselves. A plan is concocted to use an approaching public ceremony at the palace as their showcase....
Veronika has slipped away into a garden of the palace, where she sings. Sandor arrives to join her in the duet (appropriately and creatively titled "Duet"), then asks her why she is troubled. She denies it, and then admits that it's because she wasn't very useful. Sandor protests that he is very thankful for all the times she protected him. As they talk, he admits that none of the magic was real magic --that it was all like he had explained the first time they went to the princess's room, observation-- and that from the beginning he had planned to simply lie to them, but that as things progressed he found he couldn't. She's surprised that everything he made up ended up being true, but not angry.
All of the nobles and dignitaries have gathered for the party when Boldizsar announces his surprise guest -- the magician Sandor! The crowd is thrilled, particularly by Sandor's dramatic entrance (reminiscent of the show's opening number). Two people, however, are not entertained and instead look paniced. As the crowd surges into a dance around them, they are the only two sour notes. Observing all of this, Sandor unmasks them as the conspirators: Minister Bartok (Kitajima Mami) and Commander Andras (Takaki Amane). The ruined men are hustled away and the princess's arrival is announced to the marveling crowd by the adorable herald (Asanagi Mana).
Sandor and Veronika are in the garden again. She says she plans to travel now that her job here is finished, maybe go home to England. He says he intends to travel too, maybe to France. But at her mention of England, he thinks perhaps London would be better for a magician. She enthuses about the places he can see, until she stumbles to an embarrassed stop. He asks her to come with him, surprising her. He needs a manager, he explains, but of course he wouldn't want to put her out... "I'll do it!" She snaps up the opportunity. It's very sweet. And then, just as she manages to fluster herself yet again, he admits that he loves her. She replies that she loves him as well.
Cue sweet duet on ginkyou and entire cast returning for a triumphant finish!
..... But wait, there's more!
Mini revue time! *lovelovelove*
Best mini revue evar. Excellently cool music with an Eastern European feel. Otokoyaku upperclassmen dance in black tuxedos with Kiriyan in the lead in blue. And then Asako in red and Yuuhi and the young stars dance in blue tuxedos and it is hot (*fans self*). Very catchy line dance! In which uber-tall Asanagi Mana managed to be out of step every night. Kind of hard to manage that without being noticed 1) in a line dance, 2) when you're the tallest one (178 cm), and 3) when you're dead-center. I shall fangirl her awkward cuteness from now on. And then Asako dances a slower number with the musumeyaku, including a really touching moment with Sueko-san. This was the moment every time where it really hit me that Eri and Sueko are retiring, and I got a little teary-eyed. And then Mihoko comes out and there is a duet dance of love. Although that lift had me terrified that Asako was going to drop her every.single.time. It was just a little awkward at the very beginning, and particularly on the "oops" Sunday I really thought that was going to be the crowning glory, which would have been awful. And then those two take a bow and we launch into the shortest parade evar! Yuuhi etoile! Which was just all kinds of weird, but also interesting in that it kind of removes the whole precedence issue (except that Kiriyan's feathers are a little more elaborate than Yuuhi's anyway). Anyway, I had much love for etoile!Yuuhi.
---
I know they say that original shows in Takarazuka are written with the cast in mind, but I think that's more apparent for some shows than for others, and probably some playwrights are better at it than others. This show was perfect for this cast, particularly for Asako, Mihoko, and Kiriyan. Mihoko! I didn't really go into her role much in the summary, but her voice was low and not hoarse exactly, but a little rough. And all of her songs tended to be in a lower range than usual as well, and I think it must have been her natural range because it was gorgeous. There weren't a lot of solos in this show, and when there were solos, they were often little scraps of them (for Kiriyan and Mihoko). There were several duets, though, and lots of really, really catchy group numbers. And all of the songs were actually right for the voices of the 'siennes singing them. Oh, I love when they do that.
The stage work was completely fun -- great lighting and lots of uses of all the mechanics (rotating stage, trap doors, etc.). I loved the sets, particularly what they did with the stairs.
The costumes weren't very elaborate, but I liked Asako's black velvet suit and Ai-chan's green dress in particular. And Eri's leather jacket outfit and Yuuhi's vest and combat boots and open-necked shirt and... yeah. .....Ahi's outfit needs to be seen to be believed.
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Date: 2007-10-17 11:06 pm (UTC)Definitely my play for 2007 ! Fun, fantasy and handsomeness : makes you see life beautiful. Even when you don't have a penny left !
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Date: 2007-10-19 05:35 am (UTC)It really was a fun play, wasn't it? :)
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Date: 2007-10-20 05:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-20 06:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-17 11:28 pm (UTC)And oh my, your descriptions of the characters is adorable. XD
Also, Mihoko manhandling Asako? Or should I say womanhandling? Either way, oh my gosh, I want to see it. =P
Wait, wait, channeling a woman??? Oh god, I REALLY need to see this show. T__T
Lolol, hand-holding. I can just imagine it. XD
Actually, I don't want to have to imagine it.
*pines pines pines and whines*
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Date: 2007-10-19 05:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-18 12:39 am (UTC)In other matters... just let me know when and how much you need paypal-ing. =)
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Date: 2007-10-19 05:30 am (UTC)I rummaged for your email address and failed horribly, so I'll just reply here: How would you like it mailed? I may be able to fit it into a flat-rate envelope, but probably without padding. I'm not sure how much more or how long a regular padded envelope first-class would take, but that's another option. :)
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Date: 2007-10-19 09:48 pm (UTC)Email is ceteranna at yahoo.
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Date: 2007-10-18 01:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-19 05:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-18 02:12 am (UTC)*once again adds it to his list of shows he needs to see*
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Date: 2007-10-19 05:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-18 10:23 am (UTC)Reading this is fun because so far I've mostly just been focusing on the main actresses and haven't been looking at the people in the background so much. Will try to do that next time...or, at least in the non-Certain People scenes.
Every show, Asako is standing somewhere else. It's rather fun to try to guess which otokoyaku is which.
Both times I saw the honkouen Asako came out in the same place (off to the far right), but that may have been chance. Who else besides Asako and Masaki is in that scene? I'll admit that I always get distracted by Asako at that point.
Re: Kiriyan's Boldizsar...well, it's a Kiriayn role so it can never be bad. But out of her recent roles, I think I liked Judd, Gustave Eiffel, and Matashichi better. Not totally sure why. I think Kiriyan's best moments are when she gets hysterical. Somehow I've never found the "sit down" scene as funny as everyone else, although I still do chuckle a little. My favorite by far is the bodyguards jumping all over her. And yeah, her song half-way through is pretty cool :D
Morie smirks and replies that they didn't want to spill blood in a church.
Okay, I know this is Zuka and I shouldn't think about silly things like Plot so much, but I always felt like they got out of the tomb too easily. In between that and easily finding the killer, I kind of felt like it took away the sense of danger.
One more appears -- Marek (Shirosaki Ai)! Cue spooky music. I love this dance.
Ditto. I also love Ai-chan's singing right before she appears before Sandor and Veronica.
As they talk, he admits that none of the magic was real magic --that it was all like he had explained the first time they went to the princess's room, observation-- and that from the beginning he had planned to simply lie to them, but that as things progressed he found he couldn't.
Once again, my powers of Japanese suck. I thought for some reason that this revelation happened before the scene at the party where the killer was revealed.
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Date: 2007-10-19 05:50 am (UTC)I think Asako really only has about three or four places where she makes her entrance, and once you figure out the "trick" it's easy to figure out where she'll be. But just the fact that she switches them around is fun.
To be honest, although I liked Judd, I wasn't as fond of Gustave or Matashichi. Different tastes, I guess. ;)
I also love Ai-chan's singing right before she appears before Sandor and Veronica.
Yes!
Once again, my powers of Japanese suck. I thought for some reason that this revelation happened before the scene at the party where the killer was revealed.
No, no, you're right. I was writing that from memory at the airport during my layover, and I forgot the order of the scenes. ;)
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Date: 2007-12-03 11:56 pm (UTC)OMG, I love Ai-chan's dance. I also have much love for the musumeyaku who plays Charlotte. I LOVE her straight face. XD
Asako. Mihoko. <3 Need I say more?
Hee, Masaki was cute.
Kung-fu musumeyaku OMG SO AWESOME I THINK MORE ZUKA SHOWS NEED K-F-Ms!!!
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Date: 2007-12-06 08:28 pm (UTC)Ai-chan's dance is love.
*hearts*
Have you watched Mahoroba?
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Date: 2007-12-06 09:21 pm (UTC)