This edition of Tokyo Shinbun’s column on Takarazuka features Akatsuki Chisei, talking about her current performance in Frenesie a Pigalle and WELCOME TO TAKARAZUKA. The original column was written by Yamagishi Toshiyuki (estimated name reading) and was published here on November 26, 2020. (Archive link here.)
Full speed ahead to being ‘An intense otokoyaku’ – Akatsuki Chisei (Moon Troupe)
Moon Troupe’s Fenesie a Pigalle – From Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night (playing until January 3 next year in the Tokyo Takarazuka Theatre) is set in Pigalle, the pleasure quarter of Paris during the Belle Epoque era. Amidst the love story of Jacques (Tamaki Ryou) and Gabrielle (Misono Sakura) who both have their various secrets, Akatsuki plays Leo, a dancer working at the ‘Moulin Rouge’ music hall.
“He has a bit of a narcissistic side,” so every day onstage she constantly considers “how can I show the character in my movements” among all the dancers and can-can girls. Though the opening was delayed 5 months due to the coronavirus, when the curtain opened for the first day “I honestly felt like I was going to cry.”
The revue, WELCOME TO TAKARAZUKA – Snow and Moon and Flower, was created with executive oversight from kabuki actor and Living National Treasure Bandou Tamasaburou. It features traditional Japanese dance set to classical music such as Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight Sonata’. “I hope we can convey a new beauty with the western music combined with traditional style.”
In middle school, Akatsuki saw then-Flower Troupe Top Star Matobu Sei’s back1. This had a huge impact on her: “My whole body was hot and I thought ‘there’s something like this in this world!’ She decided to try out for Takarazuka.
Next year will be a turning point for her as it will mark her tenth year in the company. During the break in performances she said “I had more time to come to terms with myself, and as I watched recordings, and things like that, I realized once again how happy I am to have encountered Takarazuka.” Her goal, to become the ‘intense otokoyaku’ she envisions, was solidified.
Three Questions:
If you could only bring one thing to a deserted island, what would it be? A survival knife. I thought about a lot of stuff, but I think I’d be in real trouble without that.
When do you think “I’m so happy”? When I make eyecontact with people in the audience during the parade (in the finale).
If you had a week-long vacation what would you do? I’d travel abroad. I’d especially like to go to Broadway in New York or France.
1 – this performance seems to have been the national tour of Sorrowful Cordoba and RED HOT SEA II.