Sooo I finally got my graduation present. Even though I graduated in August I had to find a way to get my present to Holland. Luckily my kouhai helped me out ^^, he ordered it for me and send it by mail. After six monts of waiting I was able too watch the blu-ray I had my eyes on for almost a year :). Which is the the performance of Romeo & Julliete of Takarazuka's star troupe ^_^. (See poster below.)
Takarazuka also has a certain system concerning the ranking of theirs stars and what kind of roles they receive in their productions. You have the so called top stars who will always get the leads, and then the second most important actress naturally receives the second most important role (usually the villian role).
The ranks are decided by their experience and most importantly their popularity.
Takarazuka has five different troupes which roughly exist out of 60 to 70 people, but this can vary from time to time. The troupes names are Hana （花）flower troupe, Tsuki（月）Moon troupe, Yuki（雪）Snow troupe, Hoshi（星）Star troupe and Sora（宙）Cosmos troupe.
And that is a basic introduction if you want any more information you can check out the official site ( they also have an Englisch introductionary part):
Official English site
Official Japanese site
But there is also a site called takawiki which is made by foreign fans for other fans to provide information, share tips etc. :
Takawiki site
So now that's over with let's get started on the play itself ^^. This version of Romeo & Julliete is actually written by a Frenchmen named Gérad Presgurvic and was first performed in France in 2002. It is a very popular musical and has been performed in countries all over the world. It follows the story of William shakepeare's story of Romeo & Julliete, although with maybe a slight alteration at the end concerning Paris. But other than that it follows the original plot with roles added of Death and ( in Takarazuka's case ) Love. They're invisible characters to the main cast and sort influence them throughout the story. Just in case there is someone who does not know the story justr a short summary:
The story is about two young lovers who live in the town of Verona, where two families, the Capulets and the Montagues, have been in fued for a really long time. Untill this day they still fight each other and hold a deep hatred towards another. The main characters Romeo Monatague and Julliete Capulet fall in love after meeting each other at a ball. Of course they can never be together because of their families and marry in secret, also because Julliete's parents plan to wed her to Paris. After that the families are outraged because of their union, and a fight occurs with a tragic ending for Thybalt and Mecutio. After that the two are seperated and by misunderstanding Romeo utimately thinks Julliete died. He comes to her side and drinks poison to be reunited with his love. Although it was just a fake to get her out of town and she finds Romeo dead by her side after which she also kills herself.
For Takarazuka this version, there is a reason why the year it was performed in included, is the forth time this play has made it to their stage. This musical is extremely popular in Japan, other productions besides Takarazuka were also set up. Star troupe performed this musical before in 2010, and two other troupes, Snow and Moon, also performed the musical in 2011 and 2012. Now why would you let the same people perform a production twice? Well some of us were also surprised (but very delighted I can add) that they would perform it a second time. The curent Star troupe top stars (the otokoyaku star in particular are very popular) are very popular and so was their first performance of this musical. And besides that reason members are also sent from one troupe to another or they leave/retire (退団, taidan) from the company. This means that the actresses constantly change in the troupes. Some retired which held some important roles, other transferred to other troupes or where transferred to Star troupe. So even though the majority of the actresses stayed the same, some of the main roles were portrayed by other people this time.
And also to make things easier for all of us (not really it might get a bit confusing) they also had some switching roles, some actresses received two roles and alternate with each other . Which means that there are two versions, simply called A and B. But they keep version A as the main version so to say.
The lead roles are for the current top stars (their names are stage names btw, they are not allowed to use their real names)
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Romeo : Yuzuki Reon (柚希 礼音)
Julliete : Yumesaki Nene (夢咲 ねね)
The role of Thybalt was protrayed by two actresses, I'll list the a version first and B second.
Kurenai Yuzuru (紅 ゆずる)
Kurenai Yusuru performing kyou koso sono hi
Kurenai Yusuru performing kyou koso sono hi
(sorry if it is not really clear, it was the most decent picture I could find)
Makaze Suzuho (真風 涼帆)
The we have Benvolio which was also portrayed by two different women.
Rei Makoto (礼 真琴)
(the right one) Kurenai Yuzuru
Kurenai Yuzuru performing douyatte tsutaeyou
Kurenai Yuzuru performing douyatte tsutaeyou
And the role of Mercutio was also alternated. (These two also portrayed Paris, but I wans't able to find a picture T^T)
Ichijou Azusa (壱城 あずさ)
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Tenju Mitsuki (天寿 光希)
And last bu tnot least the roles of Death and Love were also alternated, I think it is obvious from the costumes which is which ^^. Though I wasn't able to get a shot of Tsurumi Mayu (鶴美 舞夕) as Love.
Makaze Suzuho
Mao Yuuki (麻央 有希)
Rei Makoto
And so far the alternated roles. And actually pretty much the main roles.
As for the musical itself (I might be a bit biased though XD) I think it is really awesome. So far this is one of my favourites. And not just because my favourite actress is in it ^^, though it does play its part. But I also really like the music and the songs. I can't give an example of this version but there are some songs on the internet or youtube. The copyright is really strict and things get deleted rather easily...
I did manage to find quite a few videos ^^, I added the links to this post. Though not all of them are of the same version, but those are just there for the songs. Further down are videos of the 2013 performance :).
I did manage to find quite a few videos ^^, I added the links to this post. Though not all of them are of the same version, but those are just there for the songs. Further down are videos of the 2013 performance :).
But here is one of my favourites sekai no ou (kings of the world): sekai nou ou hoshi gumi 2010
And it is still Star troupe but it is the 2010 version ^^. Romeo is the same actress, Benvolio is protrayed by Suzumi Shio (涼 紫央) but she retired in 2012, and Mercutio is played by Kurenai Yuzuru and she plays Thybalt and Benvolio in the 2013 run.
And here are some samples of the French version, there might be some slight differences sometimes but in general the melody is the same. Every production gives there own little twist to it, so it is natural that nothing is completelt the same, but you get the feel of the music ^^.
Music Ball scene: ball scene music French musical
I actually saw all the versions of Takarazuka, sadly not all of them live -.- . That is the downside of being a foreign fan, on the other side they release DVD's or sometimes Blu-rays of almost every production. So that way we'll be able to see the play ^^. I have seen Star 2010, Snow 2011 on DVD, and saw the Moon performance live. That was absolutely amazing to get to see one of my favourites performed live.
Still it was really a shame I had to miss Yuzuki Reon's Romeo, because she is my absolute favourite. I just adore the sound of her voice, and I'm reallt picky with vocals. It sometimes even annoys me -.-, but anyway I just like to be wowed by a song and sometimes just the personal sound of a singer can put me of the wow factor. Not that they're not good, quite the contrary but it is just doesn't give me goose bimps so to say ^^.
And Yuzuki Reon manages to wow me everytime so far, and she is also known as one of the best dancers. And she's really lovely to watch as Romeo. And especially in combination with her partner Yumesaki Nene, they make such a great pair and they're just adorable in this production. Some pictures below for illustration ^_^.
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And of course Kurenai Yuzuru has her own charm, she doesn't quite beat the first Thybalt which was portrayed by Ouki Kaname (she transferred to a different troupe) but I actually enjoyed her Thybalt ^^ so singing wise she was great. And her villain roles are just to die for really, she also played Benedict in Ocean's 11 (yeah they made a musical of the movie ^^) and I just adored her in that role.
Though I have to say that I do prefer Makaze Suzuho as Death, she performed really wel but just nothing beats her Death aura. And compared to the other performances I kind thaught her Thybalt wasn;t as good. But that is just my personal opinion.
Makaze's Death is just to die for XD, also how she plays around with Romeo and the atmosphere on stage is amazing to watch.
Just like I think Tenju Mitsuki makes a better Mercutio than Ichijou Azusa, even though I adore Azusa she just didn't meet my expextations. Maybe I expected too much or my idea of the role is different but I don't know her version just didn't quite cut it for me. But then they have to compete with Kurenai Yuzuru who portrayed the role in the first run and she was really great, just like Sagiri Seina from Snow, and Miya Rurika of Moon troupe. But I guess you can't have everything right ^^.
Kurenai, Yuzuki and Tenju combi
Rei, Yuzuki, Ichijou combi
And then Benvolio, I was really pleased by both actresses actually. Well Kurenai Yuzuru was bound to make something out of it anyway, but the way she portrayed Benvolio was really amazing. She kind added a little humor and lightened the role somewhat, compared to Suzumi Shio who had a little more serious touch to her Benvolio. So I really liked her Benvolio just because of the slight goofyness ^^.
And the Rei Makoto, she is also one of my current favourites but she's quite young so this was the first big role she got in a main run production. And I was really looking forward to her Benvolio and wondering what she'd make of it. But I have to say she really made my day :). I just adored her, she can really sing the songs with feeling and the way I like to hear them as well (so double plus point for her there) and also add the slight goofyness to the part which I like. So I guess I can say that I have a new favourite benvolio here :D.
Also here are some scences from the play.
But they also have productions that are shorter on time and have a complete Revue show as a second part of the show. And it always end with the large stairs and the top stars wearing large feater constuctions on their back (don't know how to explain it other wise just look at the picture you'll get it ^^.
Here some pictures of the Revue show.
And here the Finale with the all the actresses on stage.
I hope you enjoyed reading my review, or rather me ranting about one of my favourite Takarazuka productions XD. If you ever get the chance to go see a show, live or on DVD, take it because their shows are really amazing. It doesn't matter if you don't understand Japanese, in the beginning I didn't get all of it either. Though I did study Japanese which made it easier in the end, there are also a lot of foreign fans with next to no knowledge of Japanese and still enjoy the shows. Plus there are always fan sites where they offer translations or summaries of the plays so you can grasp the story somewhat. And they also perform western musicals like Romeo & Julliete or Elizabeth, so you can always find information about those plays.
Thank you all and till next time !
~静夢 龍
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