Ashizawa Jin is an illustrator/columnist who seems to have worked for GRAPH since the 1960s (yes, you read that right). His interview column generally gets a new title every year but has been fairly consistent format-wise in recent years. I’m giving him his own tag in the Staff category since he is one of the few interview conductors to be credited by name in the publications.

This interview with Aizuki Hikaru was published in the June 2017 issue of GRAPH (while she was still a Cosmos Troupe member) and seems to have been recorded during the production of Chateau de la Reine/VIVA! FESTA!.

Time to Soar! #5 – Aizuki Hikaru

When Aizuki Hikaru showed her true face as an actor in her performance as Lucheni in Elisabeth, it was very moving. My excitement to see how her experience of overcoming such a huge role causes her to blossom is unbounded. Cosmos Troupe’s handsome supporting man is polishing her style and appeal.

Kanezawa Kan’ichi, in Chateau de la Reine, is a comedic character, but it must be difficult to get the audience to laugh, right?

It’s hard. The Kansai dialect is a struggle as well. I’ve been in Takarazuka for so many years so I felt I was accustomed to it, but somehow when I tried to put the emotions of the role into it the intonation of the Kansai dialect would go all off. And then, it’s an uncool role, character-wise, and it was hard to tell exactly how far to take his slovenly posture and things like that. I watched lots of different films to research. Establishing his age was also hard, and I know it’s a strain for me to say ‘older guy’ but my girlfriend Michiru (Hoshikaze Madoka) is young, so compared to her I try to perform with the nuance of being an older man.

Did you find it awkward in rehearsals, playing a comic role?

It was pretty embarassing. In rehearsals, we did it over and over, and there wasn’t any laughter during the pauses, so my mentality became stronger (laughs). When we opened on the first day, I was really happy to have the audience laughing at me. And on the other hand, when they don’t laugh, I’ll get down wondering what I could have messed up (laughs).

Your first comic role was Alberto Beddini, in TOP HAT, correct?

That’s right. I’ve always loved the Yoshimoto Comedy Theatre, and currently I’m watching their recordings practically every day; when I was playing Beddini I would also watch them all the time in the dressing room. Just watching naturally imparts that same ability to use pauses and that same sense of pacing. But in the end, I always think that if you go into it thinking you will make someone laugh, you’re going to fail. You can’t just play the crowd; the audience will laugh more if you play your role and deliver your lines earnestly.

You’re a very diligent sort of person, aren’t you.

It might be more accurate to say I overthink everything… Even though, when playing a comic role, it would be better to just plunge in rather than thinking everything over, I still think about it seriously, so… Though in reality I tend to be a bit of a joker, when it comes to expressing that on stage I keep overthinking it.

Performing as Lucheni in Elisabeth during your tenth year must have been your ultimate trial so far?

For Lucheni, as well, I overthought everything, and got tangled up in so many things, so every day I was putting more and more pressure on myself… It was really painful, I could cry now just thinking about it.

As Lucheni, you showed a new face as an actor that Aizuki Hikaru hadn’t shown before.

Director Koike told me off a lot in rehearsals. It was painful at the time, but if I had to say why it hurt, I suppose it was because not a single word he said was wrong, so it all struck home. But, I didn’t know how to combat that, so I just cursed myself for my lack of stage ‘sense’. I didn’t know how ‘free’ Lucheni was beforehand. There really isn’t any direction. “During this, Lucheni crosses through here, otherwise, it’s up to you.” – at first, being told that, I didn’t understand the meaning at all, so I was totally adrift. If I had created the role within myself, even if I was just dropped there I would naturally have been able to behave in character, but at the time I wasn’t able to do any of that internally… It was the second half of the Tokyo run by the time I felt satisfied that I was able to naturally perform as Lucheni and as an onlooker onstage. Moreover, I was told “Lucheni isn’t something you perform as an otokoyaku: you have to become a real man.” I realized that wanting to show myself as the otokoyaku ‘Aizuki Hikaru’ in a certain way was actually hobbling my performance as Lucheni. Of course I love Takarazuka, so my feelings of wanting to be a certain way as an otokoyaku, or wanting people to see me a certain way, were very strong, so that really got in the way when I was performing as Lucheni.

Lucheni bursts in at the very start in both Act 1 and Act 2. How did you feel at those times?

In the wings I was practically drunk on nervousness. For the prologue too, but especially before act 2 I would feel like ‘Somebody help me!’ (laughs) The kind-hearted junior actresses would listen to me practicing my adlibs and say “You’re going to do fine!”, so they’d send me off with some confidence.

After that, in The Eagle With Two Heads (Bow Hall, KAAT Theatre), you played the Comte de Foëhn, so you must have learned a lot performing with Todoroki Yuu.

So, so much. I can’t even express in words how it felt, and at first I was so nervous that I couldn’t even look at her beautiful face properly. But no matter what I did, she would play off of it, and every time she would come out with something different, so it was fun seeing how I changed in response to that. She also gave mea lot of advice, and I learned so much, not just about the stage, but about ordinary life as well, such as how a person should act, or how to create connections with other people, consideration towards those around you, all kinds of things like that.

Last year you reached ‘Ten Years to Otokoyaku’, so was there anything that made you feel fully accomplished?

A lot of people have played Lucheni in their tenth year. When I met Kozuki Wataru-san, she told me “I played Lucheni in my tenth year too, and since I encountered that role at the time I was thinking most that I wanted to change myself as an otokoyaku, it was a great opportunity to rethink my own appeal.” The role of Lucheni makes the individuality of the actor obvious, so in rehearsals I would worry “What kind of individuality do I have?” I couldn’t find anything for a long time, but gradually, as the performance went on I started to think ‘oh, maybe my individuality is in this physique of mine’, so I thought that if I brought out more of that manly part of me it would add to the appeal of my Lucheni.

In your Bow Hall lead, SANCTUARY, you played Henri de Navarre. You brought out a new charisma with that hairstyle and costume, didn’t you.

At first, when I heard I would be playing a prince, I assumed it would be like a fairy-tale prince, but then it was that wild hair and costume (laughs). It was around that time I realized that that kind of role suited me surprisingly well.

The ‘wild side’ in you was awakened?

Since normally I speak like this (laughs), when I was a junior actress I’d often get told ‘Please be more firm!’ ‘Try to be more masculine’, and even now I’ll be told ‘your way of speaking!’ (laughs). I think that when I am trying to get into character for a wild role it flips a switch inside of me.

What aspect is most difficult for you when you are expressing a man’s emotion?

When I have to cry while acting, if I perform with my own emotions it will turn out feminine, right. A man will try to hold it all in. But in Takarazuka, they’re men played by women, so I think there’s more in it that women can sympathize with, and I think that’s one of the great things about Takarazuka, so getting that exact balance is difficult.

You love Japanese-style shows, don’t you.

I really like Japanese dance, but in Cosmos Troupe I haven’t done many Japanese-style shows; I’ve only been in A Beautiful Life and the Takarazuka Traditional Dance Recital, that’s it. I really want to challenge myself with Japanese-style shows while I’m in Takarazuka. One of the plays I like is Director Shibata’s Revolt of a Gallant Poet. I want to try playing Fujiwara-no-Mototsune (Kouju Tatsuki/Shiokaze Kou in Tokyo). That kind of ‘how deep will his evil go’ kind of person (laughs). But Japanese-style performances are really hard if you don’t practice regularly. A while back, for my ‘Takarazuka First Photobook’, I was able to dress up as Hikaru Genji, but I couldn’t get the makeup right at all, so I practiced over and over, and had Makaze-san, who had more experience with Japanese-style plays, sit next to me while I was doing it. I also like traditional-style revues, not just plays. I thought Flower Troupe’s Snowflake Anthology was so wonderful when I watched it…I wanted to be in it (laughs). Because of that, I’m really excited about the ‘YOSAKOI Soran’ scene in VIVA! FESTA!. The sound of the taiko drums makes me feel Japanese, and hearing the Soran song or anything like that stirs my blood. I’ve always loved festivals, since I could carry the mikoshi shrines (laughs).

How do you want to advance as an otokoyaku in the future?

I’ve always wanted to be an elegant, handsome leading man, but more ‘wild’ men are fin too, and I’ve taken on comic roles too… I don’t want to be trapped by anything, but take on whatever role I’m given with all my energy, and I want to be an otokoyaku with broad skills who can do anything.