This article about the COMPANY shinjin kouen was published by Hoshi News on February 27th. The original article with photos can be found here. (Archive link here.)
100th class Moon Troupe hopeful Kazama Yuno in the center spotlight – ‘It was so bright it made me dizzy…’
The junior performance of the Takarazuka Moon Troupe production Company – Lesson, Passion, and Company took place on the 27th at the Takarazuka Grand Theatre in Hyogo.
This is the first junior lead for Kazama Yuno, a young hopeful who will be entering her 5th year in the company this spring. She is the 3rd member of the centennial 100th class to take center stage, following in succession after Kiwami Shin of Star Troupe and Seino Asuka of Flower Troupe.
She confidently and convincingly portrayed the lead of Aoyagi, a corporate worker who is transferred to work on a ballet production, and his struggles with this unwanted task as he leads the performance to success. In the curtain call, Kazama said “like my character, I want to take on the rest of the main-cast performances earnestly as well.”
Kazama is the eldest daughter of pro golfer Odate Toshiaki. She has also attracted a lot of attention as the niece of legendary actress Natsume Masako, and member of super-star idol group Candies, ‘Sue-chan’, also known as actress Tanaka Yoshiko (both deceased). However, even at her young age, she has clearly evident skill in acting.
After the performance, during an interview on stage, Kazama said “It’s not a show you can get through on passion and energy alone; it needs careful calculation. While I was nervous, it was a good experience in the importance of living as the character.” She seemed very relieved.
While Top Star Tamaki Ryou had advised her ‘just don’t lose your focus,’ when it came to her first experience in the center spotlight… “It was really bright, so much it made me dizzy… I just felt ‘it’s that much of a difference!?’ I totally lost to the spotlight. While I was determined ‘don’t be shaken up’ by the unfamiliar surroundings, I was unable to handle that properly on stage. I need to work on picturing what my character would be seeing while I’m performing.” She promises to work even harder for the Tokyo Takarazuka Theatre junior performance (April 12).
The ballerina Minami is played by Misono Sakura, who is one year Kazama’s senior in the company. While this is her second junior heroine role, she has already been given two heroine roles in Bow Hall productions. Misono said “my goal was to feel very close with Kazama-kun. Kazama-kun is someone I could really rely on.” When she said this, Kazama nudged her senior, looking like she was about to blush.