There’s a section in Kageki called ‘Words and Pictures’ where one sienne from each troupe is chosen quarterly to write about behind-the-scenes episodes from their troupe. (It’s slightly similar to Troupe Report, but longer and with more turnover.)
Top Musumeyaku Maaya Kiho was the Snow Troupe writer for the first quarter of 2018. In March, her final column, she talks about her personal favorite things about the production of Passage Through the Light/SUPER VOYAGER!
Maaya Kiho’s Listen to This 💖 – March 2018
Snow Troupe’s Passage Through the Light/SUPER VOYAGER! has safely finished its cruise, and next the good ship Snow White ❄ will be setting out to tour Japan!!
‘Maaya Kiho’s Listen to This 💖 ’ has also reached its third edition in the blink of an eye 😌 🙏 This performance was full of all kinds of emotions. Did everyone who came to watch also fine various different key aspects for yourselves??!
…So, this time, I’ve changed the setup, and I’ve arbitrarily chosen what to include according to my, Maaya Kiho’s, biases ✨ I’m going to tell you about my favorite parts of Passage Through the Light/SUPER VOYAGER! 💖 and can’t-miss things about the show 👉 ✨
Starting with Passage Through the Light…
1) The theme song ‘Passage Through the Light’
After the end of the scene of the king’s execution, the stage rotates. The backdrop changes to a sky with light breaking through. And then, Robespierre appears! That moment as she comes up through the lift, with the spotlight on her face making her eyes shine with light! And then how the stage becomes more filled with light as the song continues! The way the lights progress along the Silver Bridge! I love how the stage mechanics were used perfectly to match the path Robespierre goes down in the song ‘The Path of Light’ 😊 If you are going to sing ‘The Path of Light’, why don’t you try shutting down all of the lights in your room, and gradually turning them on again one by one ✨
2) Marie-Anne’s daggers
When I asked Director Ikuta about Marie-Anne at the beginning of the rehearsals, he said ‘She has a swordsmanship instructor’ 😲 ! Apparently there was someone tutoring her in self-defense while she was at home… (I took the liberty of imagining Riisha (Tooma) as my tutor 😊) As you all know already, Marie-Anne uses dual blades. They are in different designs ⚔ As for why she uses dual blades…allow me to present my way of thinking a little bit. The first blade contains her feelings from when her blood family was killed. The second blade contains her feelings from losing the new family (or comrades) she created after coming to Paris, and so this expresses her resolution, and her love and hatred perhaps…this is how I think of it. However, different people think of it in all different ways. Why do you think Marie-Anne uses dual blades…I’d love to hear it ⚔ ✨ Please take a look at the difference between her two blades on the DVD!
3) In this play, Passage Through the Light, I think it would be great if you paid attention to the pieces that were being used as background music during the acting scenes as well. For example, in the scene about the Victims of the Revolution, the BGM when Marie-Anne and Francois are dancing is ‘Ideals and Hopes’. In the scene between Maxime and Antoine, ‘Drinking Song for Young Revolutionaries’ was arranged for the background, in the scene where Marie-Anne is trying to kill Maxime ‘Now’ is playing, in the Thermidor scene the melody line of ‘Drinking Song for Young Revolutionaries’ appears again, and in the final jail scene ‘Now’ and ‘Ideals and Hopes’ are playing. It’s a play full of wonderful music. I wonder if you all have a favorite scene 😃
Next is SUPER VOYAGER! I’m not going to hold myself back here, so I’ll just start at the beginning~! 🔥 1
First, the opening curtain. From the moment all of the ‘legends’ come out, the dream world begins!! It’s totally! Takarazuka!! And then as you’re wondering what’s about to start, Nozomi-san appears in the gondola. Those “power words” ‘my sea’ and ‘hold you tight’ 💖 And then everyone in the troupe wearing such cute sailor outfits ✨ The moment when I lift up my leg with Nozomi-san in the ‘Song of Hope’ scene! The cute rockettes! Aya-san looking like a white daruma doll! Everyone dancing so nimbly wearing those colorful costumes in ‘A Town with an Ocean View’. I love Saki-san’s (Ayakaze’s) dynamic dancing and Hirame-san’s (Asazuki’s) way of using her skirt! ✨ And then in the Provence scene, the moment when Nozomi-san comes up through the lift!! She has a cigar in her mouth, and the way she blows smoke is so beautiful…That white coat is just too cool! Aasa-san’s (Asami’s) beauty as Marianne and the creases between Ayanagi-san’s brows as Georges. How lovely Kari-san (Kiraha), Jun-chan, Hai-chan (Manomiya), Mame-chan (Sakuraba) were in those pair dances. …I was so surprised that their names were Marianne and Georges! 😲 How the middle ensemble number rotated between everyone. The sharpness of the otokoyaku group dance, and Nozomi-san’s passionate shouts! 😊 💖 ✨ I loved Asami-san’s scene after that, where she was with all the cool and beautiful senior musumeyaku. And then in the journal scene, the way Nozomi-san clutched her journal to her chest ✨ and Ayami-kun’s sparkling eyes ✨ The ‘mass games’ ensemble dance scene was so full of emotion for me, and I love it 🎩 ✨ Koma-san’s (Saou’s) voice filled with love in SAILING DAY 💖 The intensity of The Blizzards ✨ 😊 🔥 I would always look forward to that final adlib, and my favorite was ‘I’d rather have you than chocolate’ 💖 ✨ And then, Saki’s scene with all the musumeyaku, ‘One Night of Passion’!! Saki-san in that matador costume and the musumeyaku in black outfits! In ‘Longing for Andalusia’, the way Nozomi-san rotates her shoulders while she’s standing on the stairs, the relaxed way she calls out, the way she says ‘eight thirty’ while looking at her watch, and the way she shows the lining of her jacket when she says ‘I might be a little bit late~’ ✨ Etc., etc., there’s too much, I can’t even take it all in!! And also, Nozomi-san is just like a prince… ✨ My heart would pound every show from the start of the stand-by time 😊 💖 I love, lo~ve the moment when we welcome her during the parade ✨ ❄ Nozomi-san’s sparkling smile 🙏 💖
That’s all! All I did was list out all of Maaya Kiho’s favorite points, but…did any of you have overlap with your own favorite points? 😊 SUPER VOYAGER! Is going to go on a national tour, so by all means come to enjoy the show ✨
This third edition…really did end up as ‘Listen to This 💖 ’…but I’d be so happy if you agree with any of my feelings! Well then! I’m looking forward to meeting with all of you again someday ❄ ✨ Thank you for reading this for the past three months!!
And now I’m setting out from the world of Kageki—Bon voyage!!
1 – The entire following passage was also a text block in the original magazine. I decided to respect Maaya’s choice and replicate the reading experience as closely as possible, rather than adding paragraph breaks.