In this feature from Kageki, Nanami talks about some of the roles she finds most memorable and how they’ve affected her.

Stage Turning Points: Nanami Hiroki (Star Troupe)

Nanami’s Turning Points

April-May 2003: Takarazuka Floral Diary – Debut

June 2005: Le Petit Jardin (Bow) – Paul
This was the first time I had the same part through the whole show¹, so during this performance I learned a lot about how important it is to inspire the audience while still enjoying myself.

November 2007: THE SECOND LIFE (Bow) – Mark White
I’d never had a part that was so important to the overall story before, so I was really happy that I was allowed to have a chance at performing this role. In any case, I decided I’d really give it my all, but by the time rehearsals were over I still hadn’t managed to grasp his character… At that point, Michiko-san [Hokushou] said “If you don’t just go for it you’ll never get it, so why don’t you try it once the way you want to do it?” Those words gave me a lot of courage, and when I tried performing without overthinking it it became much more fun, and as a result that was a very memorable performance for me.

May 2009: Raindrops Fall on Roses (junior performance) – Justin Belzac
My first junior lead
This was my first junior lead, so even while I was struggling with the large amount of lines, of course this role also required me to do more dancing and singing: it was a performance I almost felt I wasn’t going to survive. To make it through performing for 90 minutes I knew it would require tons of concentration, so I respect the Top Stars from the bottom of my heart for managing to do that and then perform in the revue show afterwards. On the day of my performance, I was somehow defiant and thought “This is everything I’m capable of at this point,” so I wasn’t really nervous and just had fun with it.

March 2011: Valentino (Drama City) – Natacha Rambova
Aiming to communicate my performance
I learned a ton of things from Director Koike. In particular, I learned that just thinking on the inside won’t come across to the audience, so I felt like I had to work hard on studying ways of showing and communicating my performance. I wasn’t really prepared for a female role, and I’d never had a very feminine life, so understanding a woman’s heart was difficult (laugh). But Yuuhi-san [Oozora Yuuhi] gave me a lot of advice about how important it was at this stage to experience both male and female roles and such, so it was a performance where I really expanded my horizons!

August-October 2012; January 2013: Legend of Galactic Heroes – Wolfgang Mittermeyer; Paul von Oberstein
A performance without which I feel I wouldn’t have made it here now
I feel like without this performance, I wouldn’t be at this point now, because of all the experiences I gained from it. I really liked the original work, so I wanted to perform in a way that would satisfy both Takarazuka fans and fans of the original work. While performing I also worked on how to show how cool the main character Reinhardt was. And then when I received the role of Oberstein in the Hakataza production, I thought, “I’m definitely going to do it like this!!” and had a furious discussion with Director Koike about the image I had for it (laugh)—I was aiming for an interpretation of the character that was faithful to the original work. During that performance, I realized that if I were to do things the way I wanted them I had to take responsibility for that, so I decided to keep myself together and take the stage with confidence.

July-August 2013: the WILD Meets the WILD (Bow Hall) – Benjamin Northbrook
First Bow Hall lead
Putting together the double-lead production with Hasumi [Yuuya]-san was really fun, and our parts allowed us to let our real selves go so we were able to perform cheerfully on stage without many concerns. While it was my first Bow Hall lead role, I really felt like I was living as my character onstage, and to tell the truth I didn’t really feel much pressure. Even as I enjoyed having the chance to perform on center stage, I also had to consider during each performance how, as the lead performer, I would please the audience.

October 2013: Gone with the Wind – Scarlett (switch role)
Performing the part of Scarlett in “Butler Version”² is always difficult, and in this production I had so many things to do that I was constantly wondering “should I do it this way? Should I do it that way?” That was all I could think of when it came time to go onstage. The first day as Scarlett, I was the most nervous I’ve ever been in my life. If I ever became any more nervous than that I think I’d die. I also had to do a pair dance on the Grand Stairs so I was feeling more pressure than ever before, but I decided “in any case I’ll follow along with Rika-san [Ouki Kaname]”. As that thinking came through on stage, I think my performance made Butler seem even more appealing.

June 2015: Catch Me If You Can (Akasaka ACT Theatre) – Carl Hanratty
First performance after moving troupes
Although this was my first performance since moving troupes, Sayumi-san [Kurenai] and I have similar personalities and ways of dealing with things, so from the very start I felt like I could perform naturally. This impression might be unrequited, though (laugh). When I’m with Sayumi, it’s really easy to communicate “this is how I want to perform” so during this performance I really enjoyed my self as an actor while seeing those cues and responding to them. My feelings about changing troupes was that, no matter what troupe I’m in, I want to perform in a way that entertains the audience, so I’ll take on any challenge in order to accomplish that. Thanks to that I was able to dive into this role just after joining Star Troupe and be really happy every day of this production.

1 – Junior performers start out playing multiple background roles.

2 – There is a variant script to Gone With The Wind where Scarlett is the lead role, though it is no longer performed..