"They seek him here, they seek him there
Those Frenchies seek him everywhere.
Is he in heaven, or is he in hell?
That demned, elusive Pimpernel"
~The Scarlet Pimpernel, by Baroness Orczy
Sunday the 16th, Margot, Sabrina and I took the Hankyu line down to Takarazuka, a city near Osaka, where the
Takarazuka Revue is based. We were a tad bit late getting to the show.
I managed to get in before the first number I think (after the Overture), but there was a little bit of a mix-up with the French girls' tickets. I'd bought mine online, so I just picked it up at the ticket office.
So, if you're ever going to a Takarazuka musical in Japan, and opt for buying the ticket at a konbini, make sure you then give the receipt to a worker there and have them give you your ticket
at the konbini itself.
The theatre is inside a small kind of mall--one of shops, the Salon de Takarazuka, is a place where you can put on make-up and elaborate, high-quality costumes from the shows, and then have professional-quality photos taken of you in said costumes. The lighting in the building is rather conch, and the aesthetic has just the right amount of elegant. Naturally, the carpet is red.
Set during the Reign of Terror in France,
The Scarlet Pimpernel tells the story of Sir Percival Blakeney, baronet. He and his band of loyal followers, do their utmost to save as many aristocrats from Madame Guillotine, thereby thwarting and grievously irritating Chauvelin, an agent of the new Republic, who begins a ruthless search for this mysterious figure known as the "Scarlet Pimpernel." As Percy hides his secret identity behind the shroud of a foppish dandy, his newlywed wife Marguerite starts to grow disillusioned with their marriage. Percy is devastated that he can no longer trust her, after learning she betrayed his friend the Marquis de St. Cyr, sending his family to their deaths as well. Unbeknownst to Percy, Marguerite had only betrayed the Marquis under severe coercion from Chauvelin, who later blackmails her once more into helping him find the Scarlet Pimperne's true identify after capturing her brother Armand, one of the Scarlet Pimpernel's men. Hilarity ensues as the intense contest to see who can out-fox everyone else begins...
The Moon Troupe's The Scarlet Pimpernel, the show itself, was breathtaking. The settings and costumes were fantabulous: from simplistic and gritty to elaborate and
effulgent. The transitions between scenes and numbers were impressively smooth, carried by well-composed spacial design of the highlighted actors, a handy revolving stage, and several trap-doors. In this way the performance was very much reveling in its nature as a stage production; while transitions kept the story moving along seamlessly, the way the actresses addressed the audience in their solo songs, their use of the part of the stage before the proscenium and the walkway around the front of the pit--these all embraced the theatricality of the performance, rather than concealing its technical workings.
The dancing was absolutely fantastic, and in the traditional Western musical style. It actually made me very nostalgic for
NWSA. While the dancers weren't given anything particularly spectacularly acrobatic, their technique and unity was solid, and most importantly, they brilliantly expressed the passion and chaos of the story through the choreography.
I have to admit though, the sudden change in costume for Lord Grenville's Ball from their historically accurate, albeit sparkly, outfits to over-the-top gaudy, neon spoofs of the period costume threw me for a bit of a loop.
The music and acting were likewise excellent, both the orchestra and actresses. I must rave about Hiromu Kiriya, who portrayed Sir Percy Blakeney. She was absolutely top form. Hiromu Kiriya is the Moon Troupe's current top otokoyaku, an actress who plays pants roles. (Yuki Aono played the corresponding leading musumeyaku role, Lady Marguerite Blakeney very well.) And whichever lady played the proud and resentful Chauvelin--Masaki Ryuu or Rio Asumi--did and incredible job as well. It's really quite amazing to watch a Takarazuka performance, because while you're quite aware that all the actors are women, the performances are unbelievably...believable.
The women who take on otokoyaku roles are rigorously trained in masculine mannerisms: how men stand, walk, speak, sing, gesture, and posture. Their manner on stage is quite convincing, although the otokoyaku is often seen as women's romantic, idealized vision of men. In any case, Hiromu Kiriya's presence on the stage was probably the brightest and most captivating, in my opinion. She performed Percy marvelously in all his guises and aspects: his foppish dandiness, his well-hidden sadness and longing, his determination, wit, and passion.
I was a little bit surprised, although perhaps I shouldn't have been--it is called Takarazuka Revue after all--when the show didn't end with the musical. After the last song, the principle actresses each did solo encores with a dance company in the background. Hiromu Kiriya and Yuki Aono actually danced a duet just to an instrumental, wearing very modern Broadway-revue-style costumes.
And we mustn't forget the Rockette number, for there were can-can girls in leggy, short-skirted French-inspired frills doing kicks in a can-can line. It also seems traditional to clap to the beat of the music in the upbeat encores. (Actually, it's also appropriate audience etiquette to clap when you really get a kick out of something, for example, after the protagonist has said or done something particularly witty or clever.) When we finally got to the cast bow number, Hiromu Kiriya came out with a crazy-flamboyant feather cape.
After the performance, I found myself in the Takarazuka store by the 1st-floor lobby. There, they sell dvds, cds, programmes, books, posters, photo prints, folders, Takarazuka Hello Kitty items...Moichendising, moichendising, moichendising. Performance DVDs unfortunately go for somewhere around $100 and CDs for $50. So I settled for buying a picture book with some photography of rehearsals, a programme with a copy of
The Scarlet Pimpernel written in Japanese, and a small photo card of the poster from Moon Troupe's production of
Elisabeth.
If you're in Japan, you love musicals, and you have the resources, a Takarazuka is a must see. And if you get a seat on the upper level, it's probably a good idea to get binoculars. I was glad that I managed to get a seat near the front and the right on the second story--I think I prefer being able to see the layout of the stage to being up in the front seats right by the stage--but I was kicking myself during the performance for not obtaining proper opera glasses.
Since the programme has the lyrics for the songs, and I have my mother's copy of the musical (in English), I'd like to take a look at the differences in the lyrics, script, etc...This might take me a while, though, but I think it might reveal some interesting insights. Plus, it's good for research for my paper on the performance for my Outlaws seminars, especially since it's originally a Western story. I'm curious to see how the original principles translated, or were rendered perhaps, into a Japanese context...
When I looked down the road, I saw another few macaques using another crosswalk from the other side of the street. One of them was a mother carrying a baby on her back. I suppose it was raid time.
In the meantime, here are some videos to have a look at the fabulousness of the singing, acting, and dancing: