すみれの花咲く頃

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

Called out sick today. I was only half paying attention to Takarazuka News (which I normally have on every morning), but "大劇場お稽古場情報" came on without my noticing. My head snapped up in the middle of it as part of my mind realized what they were talking about.

The new scene.

There really IS going to be a new scene!!!

*_*

WANT TO SEE.

I missed half of what they were saying, between my comprehension and coming in in the middle of the conversation. But.... It seems as though Sonoka will have a large part in it *_*

One more month.

One more month.

I tend to recognize a LOT of the music in Takarazuka shows. The obvious things are... well... obvious. Sometimes I know some of the more obscure things, too. Having just recently downloaded a bunch of things by Muse, I realized that one of the songs in the Arabia section of Fancy Dance is the song "Micro Cuts." (The other two songs in that scene, btw, are "Kashmir" by Led Zeppelin and "White Queen" by Queen).

Out of curiosity, I went looking around because I KNEW that I knew the opening song to Zorro (which, incidentally, is really cool and intense). Having worked in a music store for years, I've heard LOTS of music of a million types. I recognized the style so I wandered around a bit.... and stumbled upong a surprise or two

This is the song in the opening of Zorro
Rodrigo y Gabriela - Diablo Rojo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KBgg-hrtyo

Familiar, mizukusa? ^_~

And the related links led me to... a cover of "Stairway to Heaven" by the same group
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJR6Fsu2hZg
That, my dear friends list, is your musumeyaku dance / pair dace *_*

Because they use recorded music during these two parts, rather than the orchestra, should the audio be cut for the recording, it shouldn't be incredibly difficult to splice back in ^^;

I.... I .... I can't even describe how absolutely amazing The Concert was. So much so that I WISH I could have afforded to see it twice.

I don't even know if I can write up a coherent description yet. It. I. Yes. Particularly "Ai to Shi no Rondo" was Amazing. Zunko as Death, with her band of kurotenshi, led by Wataru. And Wataru.... gah... I.. um....I don't even know how to describe it. Wataru in a pair of the tighetest leather pants you can imagine, black knee-high boots. A fishnet top with a cross across the front, designed to cover the ....errr.... essential bits (though I'm guessing she had something flesh-colored under the mesh top). Either way, not complaining. Her short back hair, slicked back. All in all, very masculine looking.

When I saw her come out, I thrust the opera glasses at mizukusa so that she could see who it was, because at first glance you would think she was one of the male backup dancers who made up the rest of the kurotenshi.

But... but...when.... during the second to last verse of the song, she laid down on the stage in front of Zunko, making certain motions... I ... um... *dies*

Perhaps I should ATTEMPT to start at the beginning, rather than the middle of the second act. I honestly haven't got the energy at the moment to do a full summary... but...

The entire first act was a sort of play-told-via song, in this case, Romeo and Juliet. Zunko and Wataru were abstract "emotion dancers," representing Love, Anger, Lust, Passion, etc. The others played the principal cast members of the "play". The act featured songs from 1996 Baz Luhrman movie version, the Prokofiev ballet, the musical "Romeo & Julia," West Side Story and an AMAZING rendition of "El Tango de Roxanne" from Moulin Rouge.

I was completely and absolutely blown away.

And this was only the first act.

Will HAVE to write more about the second act either later or tomorrow. Because... WOW. And I got my dream fulfilled of hearing Zunko sing "Yami ga Hirogaru." (Which, incidentally, is AMAZING when sung by two Deaths and two Rudolfs in various languages *_____*)

Okay.... I'll give you the second act set list, just to tide you over. I'll let you guess who sang what XD

"My Sharona" by The Knack
"Kids" by Robbie Williams
"Like a Virgin" by Madonna
"You're the One that I Want" from Grease
"I'm a Live" (Original song by ... Mate?)
MC
"One Song Glory" from Rent
"In His Eyes" from Jekyll & Hyde
"So Close" (そばにいて) from Enchanted (魔法にかけられて)
"Ai to Shi no Rondo" from Elisabeth
"Wie jeder andre Mann" (An Ordinary Man) from Rudolf
"Yami ga Hirogaru" from Elisabeth
"Lupin the Third" from Lupin the Third
"Frankie" by Club Des Belugas
"Poison" by Hotei Tomoyasu
"Kodoku no Kakera" by Angela Aki
"Sekai no Hatemade" original song, lyrics written by Lukas (I think it was?) and translated into Japanese by a friend
"Vivire" (生きる) by Andrea Bocelli
"The Galaxy Express 999" from Ginga Tetsudou 999

(Encore) "Somebody to Love" by Queen

I'm exhausted and not feeling much up to writing a huge post, but here are the basics.

* Saw Kaze no Nishiki-e / Zorro today, thanks to the amazing kindness of mizukusa. And I adored it!

* Kimu.... Such an amazing actress <3 <3 <3

* Yumiko yumiko Yumiko Yumiko. Yumiko. Yumiko. Delicioiusly evil Yumiko.

* First time seeing Mieko-sama live. (note amusement how sometmes you change how you refer to a person in certain company. With club people, she's always "Matsumoto-sensei"). It was an amazing experience. There is a purpose with every move she makes. And her hands. Oh, her hands

* DEFINITELY loved Tom so much more here than when I last saw her live (Reimei no Kaze / Passion), but I think that's just because Reimei was kinda.... errr.....

* During the finale, in the Tonami + Musumeyaku scene... which then turns into the Tonami + Mizu pair dance, I sat for a moment thinking "This music sounds REALLY familiar." I listened a bit more. It was kinda spanishy-guitary..... but my mind was telling me that I knew it in a different style.

The more I listened past all of the elaborate embellishments , I got to the point where I could hum along.

It dawned on me that it was a fancy spanish guitar-like version of..... *dies* Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven." It was so emellished upon that it was almost not recognizable as the song.

It goes on for pretty much the whole length of the original song. The slow, softer part in the beginning is the Tonami + Musumeyaku bit. The faster, harder bit towards the end is the intense part of the pair dance.

I am so amused.

Lets pray that they don't cut the audio for this from the DVD

Hate Hate Hate actually being responsible and ordering fewer tickets than I want because I'm worried about affording it.

So...only ordering tickets to the 4 shows Im seeing with people plus kumisouken. Dont know when kaisouken is yet

Others I figure I can get toujitsuken for or see if my club has extra tickets after I get paid again

Hate being responsible

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥Mattsssuuuuuuuuuuuuuu♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

That is all.

Takawiki rambling for anyone who cares... Not that most of you do.... and it's not worth the effort to take it to the editor forum there anyways, I don't think, when you all pay more attention to LJ

*sighs* Okay, I've had a text document with half of a page for </i>Cafe Carnival / Yume Fragrance</i> (Tsukigumi 1992) sitting on my hard drive since I moved here to Japan and was internet-less and picked up the program out of the free bin at Takarazuka-An.

I'd actually kinda forgotten about it... but the fact that Sky Stage aired the play a week or so ago reminded me of it.

I have to finish it, but it makes me wonder....

At what point do we stray from the "Official" English titles given in the program and what the title of the show actually IS (when it's written in, say, katakana).

Here's the example here

Japanese Title: 珈琲（カフェ）カルナバル / 夢・フラグランス
Direct English: Cafe Carnival / Dream Frangrance
"Official" English: Romance in the Coffee Plantation / Dreamy Fragrance

Okay, that one isn't so bad.

A worse (better?) example.... Yukigumi 1990
Japanese Title: ブライド・ディライト・タイム
Direct English: Bright Delight Time
"Official" English: A Time of Bright Delight

What was even the point of changing that one?

Kaze no Nishikie is going to be... interesting, it seems O_O I was expecting something more buyou-ey X_X Not a rockette in kimono...okay, yukata

Well, off to work. Today is graduation for the 3nensei. *dons her suit*

TThe Taidan Report is up on the official site. I'm too tired to deal with Japanese right now, so have no clue what it says yet. All I know is that Touko looks BEAUTIFUL.

So... some of the flash elements in the Elisabeth special site don't seem to much care for Firefox on the Mac. To try and figure out what the new news update was about, I opened it in Safari.... and was treated with my new wallpaper.

In case anyone else is having problems with the site:

1280 x 1024
1024 x 768
800 x 600

*edits* I should add for the Gyakuten Saiban people that it seems as though several of the songs (among other shows of course) will be added to itunes/whatever other music sites on the 14th. Don't know if anyone wants to pass that news on to anyone. I'm lazy.

*in shock*

Wow...

I...

My deepest regards to sora fans...

Especially kirakira_sora. All I can offer is love hugs and support to our local Eriko devotee...

*edits to add*
The only comfort - though it be only a tiny bit of it - is that, considering she was obviously star-tracked and coming off of an amazing run in Gyakuten Saiban, it was likely her own choice.

I was observing to muffin_song that this is the first person in that amorphous yonbante area to retire unexpectedly since, what, Sararan? Kazu was a bit of a surprise, but she still had others ahead of her.

*edits again*
It's 8:05 pm. Could this be the first shuugoubi that I can recall in recent times where we DON'T get a cast list?!

Wow....I hope that anyone watching Takarazuka News this morning didn't mind being spoiled for Gyakuten Saiban.

I can see WHY they gave everything away in the raku digest like that, given the upcoming sequel...

but...

wow.

*Edits*
Neooooooooo. She looks so happy ;_;

*Edits again*
The annoucement! It was so wonderful and dramatic and fun and .... awesome!