![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Elisabeth🌙
Sep. 29th, 2018 09:15 pmA writes words about shows after half a bottle of wine .. part 1 / ???
So I snagged tickets to Elisabeth. Or should I say that S snagged tickets to Elisabeth for us.. Really NICE tickets. Which means she didn't look at what cast we would be seeing, which originally had me disappointed. We had tickets to see B cast, but they turned out to be GOLD tickets leading to the biggest problem I've had since Madoka circa 2k15. Yeah... that Big. Why, you may ask yourself. Well, our day just happened to be one of the days Miyaruri was out sick.
Here is the cast I saw:
🌙
Franz Joseph... Tsukishiro Kanato
Lucheni... Kazama Yuno
Rudolph... Akatsuki Chisei
Elemer...Ren Tsukasa
Stephan... Sena Ayaoto
🌙
I have to say that overall this production was lukewarm for me. But, if I am completely honest, Elisabeth is always lukewarm for me, especially in the fall. Mostly because I think Takarazuka has overdone it to death, and because it has a lot of unpleasant associations with it due to a good friends death. But this production, despite having NO time to rehearse the understudies, was still really good. If you didn't know that CALAMITY had struck, then you would have never guessed that this was a hobbled together emergency cast.
Anyway, Tamakichi was a solid Todd. I have such a hit/miss relationship with Tamakichi. Some shows I find her young, endearing and the golden retriever-esque boyfriend I wish I had. Other times she lands so flat and misses so many notes, but just the barest smidge... so close that I want to scream " ARE YOU EVEN TRYING!!! FOR FUCKS SAKE!!". But this show was a solid middle ground. Her Death was nothing to write home for me, although I adore the costume choices they made. She wears it well, when she misses those notes by a smidge you can forgive her because singing her heart out as Death every day has lent her a husk in her voice, which makes it work. Even with the husk lending her its power, I do have compliment the clear amount of work she has put into her voice for this show. You can hear it. I hope she uses everything she learned for ON THE TOWN. Oh she also gave up on the curls on the side of the wig. Which like, made me like it more. I knew from the promo shots that those
Chapi played it better than expected. It has a different vibe than the previous versions because when it opens you don't have the overplayed, overacted child-like Sisi setting the stage for the play. You watch an older, but more charming and wistful young adult come out. I am 200 percent behind this change. Elisabeth wasn't 12 when she went off to get her sister married off. She was 15, and I think it makes her desire to run off and join the gypsy even that more compelling, not childish fantasy, more a teenagers desire to escape the world prescribed for her by her position and her mother. At first it felt jarring, and I had a knee-jerk reaction of NO, which is ingrained from knowing Takarazuka's Elisabeth intimently. But the farther into the scene it went the more I liked it. She showed the power and poise of a musumeyaku of her power and her rank throughout the entire production. She had the ending to a wonderful career that I wish Mirion would have taken. Something WORTHY of her. But I can't fault Mirion for doing what she did, even if it surprised everyone.
Reiko. Reiko as Franz was just so... boring. Like, I don't find Reiko particularly enthralling on a good day, and without her playing Lucheni (which I was excited for, btw) she lacked any real -vague hand gestures-. Franz is boring. Reiko still remains boring to me. I think she played it a cool cucumber in terms of not showing her nervousness, although it came out in a few bits of Franz's more iconic songs. . I still am waiting for her to impress me. So far no luck.
The MVP for me was def Lucheni, with Kazama Yuno reprising her shinko role in the honkouen. Holy shit, this child is an attractive human shaped lump of RAW TALENT. She sings, she dances, she acts. If you wouldn't have known she was a ken 5 playing a role normally played by a ken 11 you would have never guessed. She has stolen my heart. I can't pinpoint when it happened either. During Act I, I was solidly impressed by her skills, but somewhere at the end of act II she just... leapt over my expectations. And then she came down the stairs in the finale in a place she normally would NOT be and ROCKED the FUCK out of the otokoyaku dance. I just... -heart eyes- her floppy hair. I have spent the last week slowly consuming all media with her in it, and every time I think I will find something that will kill how attractive and into her whole thing I am. I haven't yet. We are not acknowledging the douki thing. We just aren't... okay? okay.
Ari was Rudolph. Solid choice. Solid dancing. Lukewarm acting. Much the same I have come to expect from her. I keep wishing she would hit a point and raise the bar, instead of just jumping over the mediocre bar she has set up for herself. Maybe next time.
I wasn't a fan of Touka Yurino as Sophie. Which is 200 percent to do with her voice, not her acting or her choices. In fact, she brought a sense of indulgence to Sophie which I found new and refreshing. When Franz shoots the statue and shows it to her nods, but then when he turns around she smiles indulgently and walks away. It brings a side of Sophie I would like to see more of. I think Sophie often gets played as the bad guy, all for the sake of the country. But I think she could be played just as forceful because the success of her country is the success of her beloved son.
Oh. Last big thing here, before I give up any attempt at continuing this. This was The Worst Finale Remix I think I have ever heard. The 1970's called and they want their Barry Manilow remix of Elisabeth back. Which is such a fucking SHAME, because the choreography is rocking and everyone gave it 200 percent more than usual. Like, Musumeyaku with thigh slits up to... shameless... while groping Tamakichi?? yes??? A pair dance which starts with a little bit of a passionate hate-fuck vibe. I am very here for all of it. My new Problem coming down the stairs and ROCKING it... My problem coming down in the Parade??? Yes... I am so here for it.
Oh lord. I'm falling into tsukigumi so hard. Help.. please. somebody.
So I snagged tickets to Elisabeth. Or should I say that S snagged tickets to Elisabeth for us.. Really NICE tickets. Which means she didn't look at what cast we would be seeing, which originally had me disappointed. We had tickets to see B cast, but they turned out to be GOLD tickets leading to the biggest problem I've had since Madoka circa 2k15. Yeah... that Big. Why, you may ask yourself. Well, our day just happened to be one of the days Miyaruri was out sick.
Here is the cast I saw:
🌙
Franz Joseph... Tsukishiro Kanato
Lucheni... Kazama Yuno
Rudolph... Akatsuki Chisei
Elemer...Ren Tsukasa
Stephan... Sena Ayaoto
🌙
I have to say that overall this production was lukewarm for me. But, if I am completely honest, Elisabeth is always lukewarm for me, especially in the fall. Mostly because I think Takarazuka has overdone it to death, and because it has a lot of unpleasant associations with it due to a good friends death. But this production, despite having NO time to rehearse the understudies, was still really good. If you didn't know that CALAMITY had struck, then you would have never guessed that this was a hobbled together emergency cast.
Anyway, Tamakichi was a solid Todd. I have such a hit/miss relationship with Tamakichi. Some shows I find her young, endearing and the golden retriever-esque boyfriend I wish I had. Other times she lands so flat and misses so many notes, but just the barest smidge... so close that I want to scream " ARE YOU EVEN TRYING!!! FOR FUCKS SAKE!!". But this show was a solid middle ground. Her Death was nothing to write home for me, although I adore the costume choices they made. She wears it well, when she misses those notes by a smidge you can forgive her because singing her heart out as Death every day has lent her a husk in her voice, which makes it work. Even with the husk lending her its power, I do have compliment the clear amount of work she has put into her voice for this show. You can hear it. I hope she uses everything she learned for ON THE TOWN. Oh she also gave up on the curls on the side of the wig. Which like, made me like it more. I knew from the promo shots that those
Chapi played it better than expected. It has a different vibe than the previous versions because when it opens you don't have the overplayed, overacted child-like Sisi setting the stage for the play. You watch an older, but more charming and wistful young adult come out. I am 200 percent behind this change. Elisabeth wasn't 12 when she went off to get her sister married off. She was 15, and I think it makes her desire to run off and join the gypsy even that more compelling, not childish fantasy, more a teenagers desire to escape the world prescribed for her by her position and her mother. At first it felt jarring, and I had a knee-jerk reaction of NO, which is ingrained from knowing Takarazuka's Elisabeth intimently. But the farther into the scene it went the more I liked it. She showed the power and poise of a musumeyaku of her power and her rank throughout the entire production. She had the ending to a wonderful career that I wish Mirion would have taken. Something WORTHY of her. But I can't fault Mirion for doing what she did, even if it surprised everyone.
Reiko. Reiko as Franz was just so... boring. Like, I don't find Reiko particularly enthralling on a good day, and without her playing Lucheni (which I was excited for, btw) she lacked any real -vague hand gestures-. Franz is boring. Reiko still remains boring to me. I think she played it a cool cucumber in terms of not showing her nervousness, although it came out in a few bits of Franz's more iconic songs. . I still am waiting for her to impress me. So far no luck.
The MVP for me was def Lucheni, with Kazama Yuno reprising her shinko role in the honkouen. Holy shit, this child is an attractive human shaped lump of RAW TALENT. She sings, she dances, she acts. If you wouldn't have known she was a ken 5 playing a role normally played by a ken 11 you would have never guessed. She has stolen my heart. I can't pinpoint when it happened either. During Act I, I was solidly impressed by her skills, but somewhere at the end of act II she just... leapt over my expectations. And then she came down the stairs in the finale in a place she normally would NOT be and ROCKED the FUCK out of the otokoyaku dance. I just... -heart eyes- her floppy hair. I have spent the last week slowly consuming all media with her in it, and every time I think I will find something that will kill how attractive and into her whole thing I am. I haven't yet. We are not acknowledging the douki thing. We just aren't... okay? okay.
Ari was Rudolph. Solid choice. Solid dancing. Lukewarm acting. Much the same I have come to expect from her. I keep wishing she would hit a point and raise the bar, instead of just jumping over the mediocre bar she has set up for herself. Maybe next time.
I wasn't a fan of Touka Yurino as Sophie. Which is 200 percent to do with her voice, not her acting or her choices. In fact, she brought a sense of indulgence to Sophie which I found new and refreshing. When Franz shoots the statue and shows it to her nods, but then when he turns around she smiles indulgently and walks away. It brings a side of Sophie I would like to see more of. I think Sophie often gets played as the bad guy, all for the sake of the country. But I think she could be played just as forceful because the success of her country is the success of her beloved son.
Oh. Last big thing here, before I give up any attempt at continuing this. This was The Worst Finale Remix I think I have ever heard. The 1970's called and they want their Barry Manilow remix of Elisabeth back. Which is such a fucking SHAME, because the choreography is rocking and everyone gave it 200 percent more than usual. Like, Musumeyaku with thigh slits up to... shameless... while groping Tamakichi?? yes??? A pair dance which starts with a little bit of a passionate hate-fuck vibe. I am very here for all of it. My new Problem coming down the stairs and ROCKING it... My problem coming down in the Parade??? Yes... I am so here for it.
Oh lord. I'm falling into tsukigumi so hard. Help.. please. somebody.
