This interview about the Snow Troupe national tour was published in Sankei News on August 19th, 2017. (Archive link here.)

Nozomi Fuuto and Maaya Kiho’s pre-debut performance: ‘Hope’ for a mutually encouraging relationship

The pre-debut performance for new Snow Troupe Top Star, Nozomi Fuuto, and her partner, Maaya Kiho, opens August 25th. It is a national tour of Drenched in the Amber-hued Rain (written by Shibata Yukihiro and directed by Masatsuka Haruhiko) and “D”ramatic S! (written and directed by Nakamura Satoru). Nozomi says ‘I want us to all put as much energy as we can into what we’re doing.’

This is the debut voyage of the ‘reicarnated Snow Troupe’, which is full of highly skilled stars who supported the former Top combi, Sagiri Seina and Sakihi Miyu. “While I’m gradually feeling [responsibility as Top] more and more, it still hasn’t sunk in yet that Chigi-san [Sagiri] has actually retired,” she laughs.

The play is a classic work from Flower Troupe that was first staged in the 59th year of the Showa era [1984 by Western reckoning] and has been restaged over and over ever since. The setting is Paris after the First World War. The story is a romance centering around a young nobleman, Claude, and a devilish woman, Sharon, and their interactions with another girl who tempts the protagonist and a gigolo who is attracted to the heroine. The tango in the prologue has created an especially deep impression.

When first watching a recording of the play, she thought “it’s an adult romance.” On watching it again her impression has changed. “I watched it considering how the development of the story is changed by Claude’s actions.”

A key moment is the protagonist’s first meeting with the heroine, where his heart is captured instantly. Nozomi also thinks his background as a fighter pilot during the war is important to constructing the character. “He’s been flying without any idea when he might die, and constantly vying emotions of excitement and stress, concern and relief. If I can get hold of his ‘root of personality’ from the time in the war that’s not written about much in the play, then I think his feelings will follow naturally.”

Her musumeyaku parner, Maaya Kiho, “[is] maybe the type who puts in so much effort that it actually makes everyone else in the rehearsal space calm down,” she says with a laugh. Maaya is playing “a new type of Sharon,” she says, adding, “when I look at her, my feelings are like Claude’s.”

In this production, she’s reconfirmed the passion of the original cast and staff, as well as making many new discoveries. Otokoyaku [currently] are focused on outward appearance and exaggerated performances, but the recordings of past stars Takashio Tomoe and Ooura Mizuki were different. “They’re natural and not fancy, but still cool. It made me realize once again that it’s a matter of having substance.”

At the same time, she realized the importance of visualization. Currently, with the internet in common use, it is easy to find information and images. “However, back then, they took an idea and worked from there to perform from their core as if they really were French.”

The revue show is based on the one from Sagiri Seina’s retirement performance, but with portions changed. A new scene has been inserted, taking one character each from Maaya Kiho and Nozomi Fuuto’s names to create the theme of ‘Hope’¹.

As a Takarazuka fan herself, Nozomi has an image for her ideal Top pairing. “I want the musumeyaku to be stunning.” Like the previous Top pairing, she hopes “to have a relationship where we can mutually encourage each other. ”[I discuss] what I’m currently feeling” with Maaya, who is now in her 9th year with the company. “[I tell her] about unforseen discoveries, or if I see a new world. I think it’s more reassuring to have two people, rather than going it alone.”

Nozomi transferred from Flower Troupe in Heisei year 26 [2014 by Western reckoning]. She has absorbed some of Sagiri’s powers of concentration, which had a deep affect on her. “I want to keep what I learned from Chigi-san and the path I believe in in my heart as I immerse myself in this production with my companions.” Openminded but still with a strong sense of self, the new Top Star sets out on a new path.

The performance runs until September 19th in Utsunomiya, Fukushima, Sendai, Kanazawa, Tokyo, Kanagawa, and other locations.

1 – The Japanese word for hope, 希望 (kibou), takes the first character of  希帆 (Kiho) and the first character of  望海 (Nozomi).