sumire_no_hana

Hoshigumi...

Wow.

Ouch.

I'm speechless and even if I could say more I don't know if I would. This one hurts too many people.

Not wanting to marginalize, but thoughts go out

So, the announcement came today that Magee would be replacing Morie as Lawrence or the time being. Atsuki Renka is taking over Magee's role as Aloys.

Sadly, they don't post changes to the revue half that Mories absence necessitated. Here's what I've found online about todays show, though. I'm going to try doing toujitsuken this weekend so I can confirm then.

Ebony (Atuski Renka's role) - Sawaki Rizu. She had the role in the shinko

Heat on Beat -
Magee took over Morie's parts in the prologue as well as her part with Ahi in Besame Mucho during the chuuzume. I'm kinda interested to see how their voices mesh X_X
In the parade, only Masaki and Mirio came down in the center.


It seems like Magee did well in the role. Her take on the character is supposedly different than Morie's, but it's understandable considering they're styles are so different.

I worry about her running herself into the ground to catch up, though X_X She's been going in so early and leaving so late that we aren't even doing iridemachi

Yes, you've heard it from the rest of your friends lists already. Tsukigumi is I love Masaki. Really, I do. Do I think she's ready for nibante (ie Chauvelin)? I'm not so sure about that yet :/ No offense intended! I just wouldn't want to throw her to the sharks too early!

Here's food for thought: If they don't transfer someone in (like the Kimu rumor that's been circulating for a while now)... guest role/yakugawari, perhaps?

Barring that... hmmm... Micchan!Chauvelin? We could steal her back and it would lend itself toward the vocal base that they've been building with Tsuki lately

So the Tsukigumi okeiko digest aired today. I'll post more later when I have more time. For now, what appears to be a Kiriyan x Asako tango? YES PLEASE

*GASP!!!* A proper post from Manda! Can it be?!

I'm going to TRY to come out of hiding. I'm not sure that going IN to hiding was really a conscious choice or not in the first place. Part of it is something I do periodically in a completely non-fandom related way. Part of it is that I haven't had the ability to concentrate on doing any one thing long enough lately to finish it - ie, even writing an LJ post.
In either case, I intend upon writing more frequently from now on, if I can make myself.

I saw BeruBara / Exciter yesterday, as well as attended Mame-chan's (Hinata San) ochakai. This was my first live show in practically two months, believe it or not. Buying a $1000 plane ticket home for the holidays DOES have the annoying tendency to take a chunk out of your kangeki budget. I attended Tomu's ochakai for Gyakuten Saiban 2 last month, but wasn't able to see it.

So.... BeruBara. BeruBara, BeruBara, BeruBara. What can I say about it? I think Tegan summed it up pretty well yesterday:

The revue (Exciter) was worth the entire 2000 yen for touji B seki.

BeruBara was full of fail. Epic fail. BeruBara is this tricky beast; You go in expecting certain things in regards to a BeruBara show. Yet, at the same time, you don't really expect groundbreaking, earth-shattering theatre. You expect small things like the ridiculous 10 or 15 minute prologue and a ludicrous amount of melodrama. You expect overacting

BeruBara is okay in moderation and when you know what to expect. There's this guilt in watching it where you realize it's pretty damned ridiculous and you want to roll your eyes at the melodrama, but it's OKAY to secretly be liking something so ridiculous.

In this Andre Gaiden.... you just feel.. unsatisfied. It feels wrong. There's no melodrama. Everyone looks tired (wao_wao, I rode home on the train with one of my club members last night and she said the exact thing about them looking tired too). They've spliced down the top musumeyaku's role to practically nothing, all while sticking her in a rather hideous dress (Ayane-chan fans, may your fears be allayed in that she has some AMAZING dresses in the revue half, including a red slitted number with full-leg visibility). There's ridiculous inconsistencies. Sou's Alain coming across rather... stoned. Fersen's dialog, when faced with Oscar's feelings. Wow... HARSH.

And they inserted the Andre x Oscar confession scene.... only to mutilate it. I wonder how that conversation went in the universe of Ueda-sensei's head: "I have the AMAZING idea! Let's stick in the confession scene! But let's move it outside to the garden! And then COMPLETELY CHANGE THE DIALOG where we'll say that OSCAR KNEW ALL ALONG"

Frustration.

Bringing this gaiden back to the Daigekijou gave them the opportunity to rework it, to improve upon what were supposedly obvious problems with it the first time around. Instead.... it's....I don't know even how to put the disappointment into words. While speaking with another Japanese fan, the only way she could describe it was "ダメ"

Okay, my attention and concentration is waning quickly so I'll have to write about Exciter! later. Suffice it to say, it's the only part of the show WORTH the full price of admission.

They're doing 「侯爵のお悩み相談コーナー」tonight at the ochakai. We got cards at irimachi on which we can write whatever we advice we want to ask Magee/Magee's character.

And I have no clue what to write and ask ;_;

Let's see.

I'm in Tokyo right now. I'm dead tired and running on about an hour and a half to two hours of sleep. I made it to the theater RIGHT at 10:30 when the ticket pickup was beginning. I had stashed my suitcase in a locker in Tokyo Station as I didn't have time to drag it around or hunt down a locker in Hibiya.

Today was kumisouken and I had a great time, seeing all of the Tokyo ladies again. I love them and they all want to talk to me. I want to talk to them, too, but I keep doing my freeze-up thing. Deer in headlights, especially when several of them start trying to talk to me at once.

One of the Tokyo ladies - who sat at our table at the Me and My Girl ochakai more than a year ago - kept having me speak Japanese to people because she wanted everyone to hear ho much better I've gotten ^^; I feel like I make no progress, but then again when I compare myself to where I was a year ago, there's a big difference. Then, I had to concentrate VERY hard to understand. Now I'm at the point where I don't even try to translate in my head to understand

The one thing I wanted to know is how people who have done demachi during the summer have never mentioned the lovely smell from the sewer >_< Unless this was just a one-time thing. This was also the first time I've crouched on the Chanter side of the street (Asako's club was on the theater side until kaisan). When I came for however many days for Yume / Apasionado in January, we were on the theater side the entire time.

Magee was having slight mustache issues, but not bad, and only in the finale. During demachi standby, I tried to relay the story in half Japanese and half English to the others of how her mustache kept coming loose during "Madame Wolf's collection" once in the Mura and how her "Freeze Pose" wound up being one hand on Yuria's ass and the other against her mustache.

Lets see. Atsuki Renka had more people at de than I expected. I'm not sure that she even has people in Takarazuka for her. Masaki just looked soooo cool. But the kakkoii dress award goes to Morie <3 <3 She stood and talked to her club for a few minutes and we found out why she looked so おしゃれ. She was going straight to record her episode of Cafe Break! (It airs in Tokyo on August 3rd).

In the end, it wound up being us and Kacha's club who were last. Kacha and Magee came out pretty much at the same time. Kacha had on tan khakis (and a baseball cap).... and it looked like flat converses and the pants look like they're the length to normally be worn with heels... so her poor pants were getting all worn and all from being stepped on

Tomorrow is:
Magee's Birthday
Kaisouken
Magee ochakai

I know there's more I want to say but I'm sitting in Sakura's cafe and my eyes keep drifting shut on me.

Oh, and again, please give me your suggestions on what to do with my time here in Tokyo! I'm here until Thursday and will likely do iride the whole time, but tomorrow is the last time I see the show! (And i'm honestly getting Elisabeth'ed out). Even touristy things!

I realized that since I've been practically non-existant online lately, I'd forgotten to post about my Tokyo trip. (Saturday 7/18 - Thursday 7/23)

I'll be taking a shinkansen early morning this Saturday. I'll be going to the 11am show of Elisabeth (kumisouken). Afterwards, I'll be heading off to check in to Sakura, where I'll be staying for the duration.

Sunday the 19th will be busy ^^; Magee's birthday, so special irimachi. Seeing the 3:30 show (kaisouken). After the show, we'll be rushing to the ochakai (doors open at 6:30, starts at 7:30) at Grand Arc Hanzomon.


Those are the only two shows I actually have tickets for. Monday is a holiday, so yasumi is Tuesday. If I feel like seeing the show yet again, I might try doing toujitsuken. (I've never done it in Tokyo before).

Otherwise, my only plans are for iridemachi and...I'm thinking I might do some of the touristy Tokyo things that I somehow never seem to do during my other trips. ^^; One-track fangirl mind.

Any suggestions on how I can fill my time in Tokyo and the surrounding area? I'm up for anything!

I need to remember to watch / record more of Takarazuka Archives. (I usually have SkyStage on, which is CS, so often forget that I can switch over to BS. BS12 (TwellV) runs certain programs / shows. I really love the old footage in Archives. Right now there's a digest of the 1965 Paris Tour on <3 Had I turned it on 5 minutes earlier, before it started, I would have recorded it. It's repeating tomorrow, though, so I'll do it then.

Dammit! I just realized I forgot to mail my form for the ochakai (and the birthday present) >_< They're both due today.

(The furikomi was already done for both of these, so they're paid for. I just forgot to put the envelope in the mail since I hadn't had a stamp at the time ><)

I guess I should stumble through my horrible Japanese and let my daihyou know that it's paid for and I'm coming but the form hasn't arrived yet. Ugh. Hate my Japanese. Anyone feel like writing for me?

The new Takarazuka News music sounds SOOOOOO elevator music-y ^^;

I'm sitting here with Sora Fantasista on in the background. Mind you, since I don't own it, I haven't seen it as many times as many of the Sora-philes on my f-list. I know I remember humming along to the otokoyaku dnce before, but the name of the song was just out of reach.

Since it was mostly on as background noise while I read on my computer, I was finally struck by what that familiar tune is. The otokoyaku dance is an Earth Wind and Fire song X_X ("Fantasy," if you're curious).

One of these days I should keep track of all the random music I recognize in Zuka shows ^^; Just for amusement

Yay! I have my SkyStage back!!! <3 <3 <3

I didn't actually look to see who the new Sky Fairies were when they were announced yesterday. I knew, via Julie's LJ, that Monchi is one! And I'm so excited to see her.

But I get a selfish squee moment:

Akizuki Saya!

Yuuki <3 <3 <3

(speaking of, I should go update her page. And maybe write to her again <3 <3 )

Eliiiiiiiisabeth

First impression of this production: Sometimes there's a such thing as TOO MUCH.... even in Takarazuka.

(I actually fell asleep last night typing most of this up ^^; I woke up at 4am to a loooooooong string of "P"s where my fingers were pressing in my slumber.)

( Quick thoughts, with no order )

( Parade Order )

( Goof Ups )


Mind you, these are my thoughts after seeing the show once (and only the 3rd show performed, at that). It's hard to take everything in on the first time through (particuarly as I was distracted by seeing my girl on the stage for the first time in ...errr...four months_) and my opinions may possibly change

In the ongoing influenza drama, Tsukigumi fan clubs will not be doing irimachi or demachi through the 26th as a precautionary measure. Things are expected to go back to normal on the 28th... hopefully ;_;

*was really looking forward to doing iride this weekend ;_;*

*laughs*

http://kageki.hankyu.co.jp/english/tg_stage.html
Oh, Takarazuka. *pats on head*

At the end of the nineteenth century, Empress Elisabeth of Austro-Hungary was murdered by Luigi Lucheni. He took his own life in his cell.

The Purgatorial Court interrogates Lucheni, who reveals that Elisabeth and Der Tod (Death) loved each other. Conjured out of tombs, Lucheni's contemporaries speak about Elisabeth's life.

Der Tod keeps watch as Elisabeth is tortured by miscommunication with her husband Emperor Franz-Joseph, the feud with the empress dowager and the separation from her son. He is confident that Elisabeth will accept his love sooner or later.

I'll give them this much: At least it's longer than the summary was for BaraAme or Zorro. I mean, they even take us all the way up through the end of the first scene!

*edits*
Lady Starley *facepalm*

So, today was Hoshigumi shuugoubi. ekusudei has already posted about the casting (as the wiki is still out of commission).

As for Taidansha....
The good news:
Only one retirement for Hoshigumi, after the big hit they took with this last show.

The less-good news:
Hanami Yuuka
The 86th exodus continues