Talk DX is a GRAPH talk feature with the otokoyaku leads of a recent Grand Theatre show. This one was recorded during the run of Guys and Dolls, and published in the November 2015 issue.
Talk DX: Guys and Dolls (Hokushou Kairi and Kurenai Yuzuru)
Hokushou: It’s nearly the middle of the run now. All of the costumes in the show are so amazing, even right when the curtain rises, and with the orchestra there to it’s really a different intensity from the rehearsals.
Kurenai: For sure. In the rehearsal room, for all the props it’s more like ‘just pretend it’s there, ok?’ but even so…
Hokushou: Especially with the phone booth (laughs)
Kurenai: Right (laughs). I never could figure out where the door of it was supposed to be (laughs). But when I came on stage for real and saw the set for the Prologue for the first time, I really felt ‘Oh, this is all on a street corner in New York!’ really strongly. It was really fun to dive into that world.
Hokushou: And especially in a story like this, the responses from the audience become energy for us. I feel a lot of excitement even as a performer.
Kurenai: The reactions are different with every show, and Sky (Hokushou) and Nathan’s (Kurenai) conversation is a little different each time, so those changes are really fun.
Hokushou: But I’m always so nervous going into that conversation~ Nathan is already in the story from the previous scene, but…
Kurenai: But the scene together is totally different! It starts off the plot and everything.
Hokushou: It’s really important to convey my entrance into the story to the audience clearly, so since so many ‘keywords’ come up in the conversation it makes me really nervous.
Kurenai: Right, I see.
Hokushou: Sky and Nathan respect each other as fellow gamblers, and they good friends. But their ways of thinking towards women are really different (laughs).
Kurenai: (laughs)
Hokushou: Sky respects him as a man, but Nathan’s way of dealing with women… (laughs) ‘I’m not like that, Nathan~!’ he says. But when he ends up diving in and going on that trip, he sees Nathan before he leaves.
Kurenai: Right, you come to see me!
Hokushou: I guess I really like Nathan a lot (laughs)
Kurenai: (laughs) From Nathan’s side, he feels like he’s the one who understands Sky the most of all. So much so he’s like ‘If you think you don’t know Sky Masterson, I’ll give you a master class!’
Hokushou: Right, right.
Kurenai: ‘Look how amazing MY friend is!’; he’s really proud of himself for it (laughs)
Hokushou: There really are people just like that (laughs)
Kurenai: (laughs) The closer he is to Sky, the prouder he feels, and the more confident he is. He’s like ‘he trusts me~!’ (laughs).
Hokushou: Hahaha (laughs)
Hokushou: My favorite number in the show is 🎵 Nathan, Nathan De~tro~it 🎵
Kurenai: What!
Hokushou: I’m always singing it before my entrance (laughs). It had a big impression on me when I saw the movie too. I love those songs that feel like a real ‘musical number’! How does it feel having everyone singing your name like that? (laughs)
Kurenai: Somehow I feel like I’m being really being put under a lot of pressure… (laughs) They say it feels good to have people praising you, but in that they’re not really doing that, are they? I’m like, hang on and listen here a second! (laughs)
Hokushou: (laughs) That’s right. It’s more like ‘Why can’t a man like you even manage to find a place for our game!’, right?
Kurenai: Exactly, they’re all saying ‘why can’t you do something so simple?’ (laughs) Although he acts like it’s all fine, inside he’s thinking ‘this sucks!’ (laughs)
Hokushou: (laughs)
Kurenai: So there are those two angles, and the other gang members really show a lot of character, so it’s a number with a lot of depth, don’t you think?
Hokushou: Yes, yes.
Kurenai: My favorite song is ‘My First Love’
Hokushou: You say that so much~ You must really like it a lot~ (laughs)
Kurenai: I love it! I really like how the song says you didn’t mean to say you were in love just on a whim. 🎵 Won’t you forgive me 🎵 for having these feelings, it says.
Hokushou: Ah~
Kurenai: Sky is really pure and like his real name, Obadiah, he says everything honestly and it’s just too much. I’m like ‘Damn it, what a man!’ (laughs) It makes me want to come out from the wings and tease you (laughs).
Hokushou: (laughs) In that scene, Fuu-chan (Hinami) makes the most amazing ‘first love’ face.
Kurenai: Ohh!
Hokushou: She looks like she’s never had any experience with love before (laughs) so it’s really fun.
Kurenai: Ahh~ And then before that when Sarah (Hinami) gets drunk in Havana and Sky says ‘You’re going home!’ that bit is really good too. Although it looks like it’s going to end up like ‘Well, let’s stay the night’ he does the right thing even though he’s a bit rude about it (laughs). Even though he’s kind of forceful – ‘What are you saying, we’re leaving!’ – he seems like he’s enjoying himself somehow.
Hokushou: (laughs) When I’m saying ‘Come on, we’re going!’ I’m trying not to look at her face. I have a lot of internal conflict going on, you know. I’m thinking ‘I might be falling in love with Sarah but I mustn’t do anything! It all started because of that silly bet with Nathan…’
Kurenai: Right, right.
Hokushou: Fuu-chan’s drunken act is really amazing on stage (laughs). Sometimes she can’t even get the lyrics out so she’ll just sing 🎵 La la la~ 🎵, and she’s even fallen over on stage when her legs wobble too much (laughs)
Kurenai: Right, she did (laughs). In rehearsals she seemed a bit nervous about it, but…
Hokushou: Once she gets on stage she’s so high-energy and really letting loose, so it’s really fun! (laughs)
Kurenai: (laughs)
Hokushou: I like the back-and-forth between Nathan and Adelaide too~ Adelaide wants to get married but Nathan keeps tricking her out of it (laughs)
Kurenai: (laughs)
Hokushou: No matter how many times I listen to it it’s still fun! It’s the sort of conversation that would be believable to hear in real life, and it really shows how devious men can be.
Kurenai: Yes, definitely.
Hokushou: Even though Makottsan (Rei) is an otokoyaku as a rule, she’s perfect in the musumeyaku part, without any sense that it’s not normal for her~
Kurenai: I know. At the very beginning of rehearsal she was like ‘Oh! Sorry about that!’ but now she’s like (clasping hands in front of her chest) ‘Is there anything you need me to do?’ (laughs)
Hokushou: In that husky voice?
Kurenai: Using her high range… (laughs)
Hokushou: Hahaha (laughs)
Kurenai: She even put a photo of Nathan and Adelaide on her dressing table.
Hokushou: Wo~w!
Hokushou: ‘Sit down, you’re rocking the boat’ was really so~ hard, wasn’t it. The chorus was hard to sing already, and then adding the choreography in just made it even worse (laughs).
Kurenai: Right! The choreography was based around the main melody Micchan-san (Hokushou) was singing, so for us in the chorus we had such a struggle following that (laughs)
Hokushou: Right (laughs)
Kurenai: It has so many layered parts, and there’s a dialogue going on, so it was re~ally hard, but everyone watching it says it’s really fun.
Hokushou: It shows what a big number it is that it took so much work.
Kurenai: You’re right!
Hokushou: Star Troupe has so many great characters, so all the gamblers have a lot of personality which makes, not just that ‘Sit down!’ scene, but the whole show really fun. It makes me really happy to be in this troupe. Being able to act with a group of performers like this gives me a chance to reach new achievements myself. I feel like I’m learning a lot from all of you.
Kurenai: Nononono! It’s us! We’re the ones learning from you~!!
Kurenai: In the finale, I come out with Adelaide in the middle of the rockette. It’s like we’re looking after the rockette girls (laughs).
Hokushou: They’re all Nathan and Adelaide’s children, aren’t they? (laughs)
Kurenai: Hahaha (laughs). Right! Papa and Mama watching their children! (laughs)
Hokushou: (laughs)
Kurenai: After that, there was my scene with all the musumeyaku that was choreographed by Nakura-sensei; even though there wasn’t a lot of choreography, within that the lingering feeling and nuance was really important… I learned that by listening closely to the music and making it feel as if I’m trailing behind the rhythm just a little bit it makes it looks cool.
Hokushou: Yes, yes.
Kurenai: I had some trouble showing the right maturity, but I really wanted to make that scene match up well with Micchan-san’s scene following it.
Hokushou: There’s a baton-touch, as it were, with the musumeyaku dance scene, and then there’s the otokoyaku dance.
Kurenai: An otokoyaku ensemble dance.
Hokushou: It’s not like the typical dance in black tailcoats, but it’s more like all the gamblers dancing after the happy ending (laughs). There’s still a lot of individuality, and I also want to express that maturity from Choreographer Nakura. Although I’m really busy due to the fast tempo (laughs), I want to keep dancing while enjoying the music.
Kurenai: I’ve really been struck by a lot of things about Micchan-san. In the rehearsals, you kept up your enthusiasm all the time, even though there probably were dull days.
Hokushou: ‘Probably’ (laughs)
Kurenai: ‘Probably’ there were (laughs), but even so watching you keep on going… I want to keep learning from you, so please continue helping me.
Hokushou: What’s up with that? I was so nervous when I first came to this troupe, so I’m really glad Sayumi-san (Kurenai) was there for me.
Kurenai: Oh~?
Hokushou: The troupe has a really strong structure under Sayumi-san, so I was able to join in confidently.
Kurenai: That’s…you’re too nice…
Hokushou: Also since you’re good with adlibs, it’s really nice to act with you, and it makes me feel really confident.
Kurenai: Thank you so much…
Hokushou: It makes me so happy to put on the shows with everyone, so much so that I’m like ‘why did I ever have any doubts about this?’
Kurenai: Wah~ I’m sure that you must have so much difficulty, but you don’t show it at all! I’m always thinking ‘I’ve got to do whatever I can do help!’ but I’m not reliable at all…
Hokushou: That’s not true!
Kurenai: And even more than that, during rehearsals you were trying to learn everyone’s names, so you always had Takarazuka Otome1 sitting at your chair (laughs).
Hokushou: Ahaha (laughs).
Kurenai: Even though I’d been in the troupe the whole time, you’d point out things about people I never knew – ‘she collects OOO, apparently’, and such. That made me really happy, and so did getting advice from you. Everyone was so fascinated by what Micchan-san had to say, and so I thought ‘this is so nice’.
Hokushou: Thank you~
Kurenai: I hope we can keep up this energy for the Tokyo performance as well. But of course we want to achieve even more awareness of each other as a troupe. As a debut performance, I want the audience to be satisfied with us and think ‘So this is the new Star Troupe!’, so I want to give it my all in each and every performance!
Hokushou: Yeah. Since it’s a Broadway musical with a happy ending, I want to make it uplifting and pass on that energy to the audience more and more.
Kurenai: Right.
Hokushou: And also as the new Star Troupe, I want to take the troupe Yuzuki (Reon)-san and all the other prior stars built up and demonstrate that we can go even further. Everyone, even the junior actress, are all sparkling as performers in their own right, so I want the audience to be able to see that we have such fun performers here, and support and look after everyone in Star Troupe as a fellow performer. I won’t let anyone regret coming to see us! I’d be so happy if everyone came to enjoy the shows. Please continue supporting Star Troupe!!
1 – Takarazuka Otome is a yearly publication of all the current Takarazuka actresses; basically a field guide of Takarasiennes.