This invitation talk feature was published in the May 2017 GRAPH issue. Rei and Senna were in TMS at the same time (one class apart) and this took place shortly after Senna became the new Top Musume of Flower Troupe, so they talk a lot about those things.
Continue readingThis talk is from the April 2017 issue of Kageki.
chemicalperfume assisted with editing and filling in trouble spots!
Continue readingThis is a long interview with Sena Jun that goes into her TMS years and her journey to becoming Top Star. It was originally published in Smart Flash on August 10, 2017. (Archive link here.)
This was translated with some editing and assistance from chemicalperfume.
Smart Flash is…a bit of a tabloid, but this is direct text of an interview so I felt comfortable translating it. There are other articles about Takarazuka they have done but they feel more invasive, so probably you won’t see any other Smart Flash content unless they do more interviews like this.
Please note that many of the rules discussed have since changed due to reforms in TMS discipline guidelines.
Continue readingThis is a Q&A session with brand-new Top Star Aran Kei on her arrival in Tokyo for her debut there with Sakura/Secret Hunter. The original transcript was published in ENAK Sumire Style on September 13, 2007. (Archive link here.)
Continue readingIn this feature from Kageki, siennes look back at their career and pick out roles that had an effect on their growth as a performer. This one was originally published in the November 2015 issue.
Stage Turning Points: Yuzuka Rei (Flower Troupe)
Yuzuka’s Turning Points
April-May 2009: Love, That Is… – debut
May 2012: Chikamatsu: Journey on the Road of Love (Bow Hall) – Tokubei
‘A role where I felt a sense of ‘space’’
In this production, I didn’t play a human, rather the puppet Tokubei, the main character of Love Suicides at Sonnezaki. However, the part sometimes required me to dance as if I had been endowed with human life. It was an abstract role, where I did not speak and only communicated through dancing, so if I was not aware of the mood and ‘space’ around me, I felt as if it wouldn’t work.
Since I had not had many chances to perform traditional dance in Japanese-style productions, when I was onstage the lights and music gave my performance strength. That performance changed my sense of ‘space’ and my onstage presence. It was that kind of role.
February 2013: Ocean’s 11 (junior performance) – Terry Benedict
‘A performance that changed my methods of character-building’
I thought this was a really appealing part, so when I was told I would be able to perform it in the junior performance I was really happy. Up until then, I had always thought ‘I suppose I’ll have to do it this way’ or ‘I guess I’ve got to do it that way’ about my roles, but with Benedict, I thought ‘I’d like to do it like this’ or ‘I want to perform more this way’, so it changed my character-building methods.
This was my first performance in a sharp-cut suit, and while until now I’d had mostly young boys’ roles, the part of Benedict was a strong, manly, grown-up villain. I learned a lot about how to stand and such from Fuuto-san, who played him in the main production.
September 2013: A Song of Love and Revolution: Andre Chenier (junior performance) – Carlo Gerard
Carlo was a part I really liked. I liked Asumi-san’s performance even right after she transfered to Flower Troupe, so being able to play that part made me really happy. I found the various aspects of this role really appealing: he was a boy who became mixed up in something as he went along with his ideals and sense of justice, so he’s a really human, passionate individual.
June-July 2014: Nocturne: Memories of a Long Ago Summer Day (Bow Hall) – Vladimir
‘A part I felt I lived as’
This was my first Bow Hall lead, and Director Harada considered things that only I would be able to do when he put together the script. Even without considering things too hard, I was able to take the stage as Vladimir, and sometimes I felt I was living as him. I enjoyed the show and each day I felt more enjoyment for performing onstage.
August-September 2014: Elisabeth: Rondo of Love and Death – Rudolf (switch role); Der Tod (junior performance)
‘Tons of pressure’
Elisabeth is such a big show, and it’s extremely famous, yet somehow I was able to play Rudolf, as well as Der Tod in the junior performance. This was my second junior lead role, but I felt way more pressure for this part. Of course the songs were really hard, and I struggled with the technical scenes, but the music and the intensity of the performance gave me energy so I felt like that really saved me. When I was in character onstage, I had the sensation that I ruled it all: I had never had an experience like that before with a role. In the main production, I played Rudolf. He’s vulnerable and desperate, kind and honest…I found the character of Rudolf really appealing, and it was a part I liked performing.
July-August 2015: Rose of Versailles: Fersen and Marie Antoinette (Umeda/Taiwan Tour) – Oscar Francois de Jarjayes
‘A performance I felt a lot of power from’
Oscar is the role that represents Takarazuka, and anyone who knows anything about Takarazuka knows about it, so before starting rehearsals I was really worried about how it would turn out. I read the original work and fell in love with Oscar all over again, so even though there was only a short time for rehearsal, I tried to get as close as possible to the original Oscar as I put together the character.
Sometimes I had trouble when things didn’t go as I wanted, but after the Umeda performance ended and the final performance of the Taiwan tour came closer, I was so moved by the final scene at the Bastille that I almost felt as if I had Oscar’s soul. It was a performance I felt a lot of power from: the power of the original work, the power of the music, the power of the script, the power of the characters, and the power of all Oscar’s fans.
In the end…
Looking back on all my roles like this, I’ve realized just how many wonderful characters I’ve encountered. Some of them I would like to try taking on again, but I think all the sensations from when I first performed them would just come over me once more. From now on, I’m sure I will get a lot of roles that I can only perform in that time, so I’m even more determined to give each role my all so I don’t have any regrets afterwards.
This coverage of the press conference for the 2016 production of Elisabeth was published by Crank In on April 15, 2016.
Cosmos Troupe Top Star Asaka Manato deeply moved by “Elisabeth” lead role: ‘This is the first show I had lines in’
The press conference for the Takarazuka Revue Cosmos Troupe production of Elisabeth: Rondo of Love and Death took place on the 15th, with Cosmos Troupe Top Star Asaka Manato and Top Musumeyaku Misaki Rion in attendance. Asaka is enthusiastic about the role, saying “this show is definitely going to challenge me. I want to completely change my image to perform as Der Tod.”
The original musical uses beautiful musical themes to follow the unfortunate fate of the astoundingly beautiful Elisabeth, who, despite only wanting to live a free, uninhibited life, becomes Empress of Austria. In the Takarazuka version, the lord of the underworld, Der Tod (‘death’), who loves Elisabeth, is made the main character. Since the first performance in 1996, 899 shows have been performed, with a record-setting audience of 2,160,000 people.
Asaka is the 9th actress to play Der Tod. Her black hair gives a sharp impression, and her makeup is reminiscent of a Visual Kei bandmember. Director Koike Shuuichiro said “her Der Tod feels more aggressive than any until now. She will express the violence that ‘death’ is really capable of.”
In her first year as a member of Takarazuka, Asaka took part in the Hanagumi production of Elisabeth, and it was the first time in her career that she was given lines. “I just had one line, ‘People are sick!’1 but I couldn’t even say just that one line well…” When talking about her memories of the show she shows her eagerness to play as Der Tod.
In addition, Misaki Rion, who plays Elisabeth, said “while there is a high barrier in front of me, I want to do my best to perform a new Elisabeth.”
“I’m usually playing cheerful roles,” Asaka said regarding her part of Der Tod, “so generally I would say brightly ‘I want to show a sunny personality’, but this is the exact opposite type of role. I’m going to access my negative side even in everyday life, so I hope I don’t bother anyone…” Asaka’s description of the secret side of role-building gained a lot of laughs.
1 – In the leadup to the song ‘Milch’.
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..
This interview with Flower Troupe Top Star Matobu Sei took place to promote her upcoming Rose of Versailles Side Story: Alain, and was published in mainstream musical theatre magazine Musical in their September 2008 issue.
Continue readingBackstage Journal is a short Kageki feature where very young cast members write anecdotes about what’s going on behind the scenes of the productions. They’re not very deep, being full of emojis and more like blog entries than articles, but they are a good way to get to know the newest actresses in each troupe.
This one is by Star Troupe member Kitori Mariya (of the 91 Class), and was published in the August 2008 issue.
Backstage Journal: The Scarlet Pimpernel – Kitori Mariya
Hello everyone! Kitori Maya, writing a Backstage Journal for the second time!
Here I’m going to present some fun episodes from the performance of The Scarlet Pimpernel which started on June 20th.
The too-mischievious Sir Percy ❤️❤️
In this production, Touko-san [Aran] plays an elegant ✨ British gentleman, but every day she would do tons of ad-libs onstage. One of them was a scene where Percy would offer to loan Chauvelin, played by Chie-san [Yuzuki],some of his clothes. Of course!! Touko-san ✨ would do really fun adlibs every day!
One day she said “you should wear a bunny suit~” and hopped towards Chie and Asuka-san [Toono] (who were already on stage) in a bunny pose ❤️❤️ she’s so mischievous 😍
Another time, she said “you should wear a disco ball on your head~” while spinning round and round!!1 Even when she was heading into the wings she kept spinning like a disco ball ❤️
Everyone, make sure you don’t miss out on the rest of Touko-san’s wonderful adlibs!!
M. Grapin is from Kansai!?
In the Miquelon scene in Act 2, there’s a part where Touko-san, who is disguised as Grapin, is kicked away by the captured Marguerite. From opening night, Grapin’s adlibs gradually escalated!
She started out on opening night saying “What are you doing! Hold on to her!” but this changed day by day to things like “What are you doing! That’s scary!” or “If she actually kicked me that would really really hurt, you know!” or “Ahh! Scary!” so they kept becoming more intense. But where would a Belgian spy employed by the French embassy have learned Kansai dialect!? That sort of incongruity is the best! Don’t you think? 😆
Everyone, don’t miss out on seeing Touko-san like this!! Perhaps you’ll end up thinking “Isn’t she like that comedian, ______-chan?”
Everyone’s idol ❤️ Mr. Jessup (Tenju)
I can’t talk about this production without writing about Tenju Mitsuki-san, who played the butler ❤️ One day, Mr. Jessup was working on something really intently in the wings. Then she came near where I was on stage. While we were singing “Tralala~ 🎵 Tralala~” she was raising her hands alternately. After doing that a few times suddenly she had flowers in both hands! That’s right, Mr. Jessup can also perform magic. But she had been working so hard to hide the flowers so her secret wouldn’t slip. It was so adorable ❤️ After that all the junior actresses raced to catch her and made her perform until they were satisfied!!
The Scarlet Pimpernel was so much fun, both onstage and in the wings. Did you all have fun too? Well, now it’s ‘adieu’ until we meet again ✨
1 – This adlib is on one of the recordings.
Kageki’s monthly feature for 2008 asked each Top Star which they would pick of 2 different options. This issue asked about summer fireworks and the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Which side are you on? August 2008
Q1: Which do you prefer when enjoying fireworks?
A: Firework displays
B: Handheld fireworks
Q2: How will you experience the Olympics?
A: On TV
B: On location
Matobu Sei (Flower Troupe)
Q1: B (Handheld fireworks)
When I was little, I really liked the fireworks that looked like octopus legs. When I set the one firework stick alight, bam! it would split into tons of different parts. But recently I haven’t really had the time to play with fireworks.
Q2: A (On TV)
I guess I’ll be watching on TV. I feel like we have similar mindsets with athletes. Especially in women’s volleyball, where the players are chasing after their dreams in a world of only women… I think their dedication and lifestyle is really cool. I’m fascinated by how intense the pressure must be since it’s a world where getting medals depends on how the game goes.
Sena Jun (Moon Troupe)
Q1: A (Firework displays)
I want to watch big fireworks being launched from a multi-story building. When I’m in town at the time of the Takarazuka fireworks display, I always watch from a high place. Since I don’t do well in crowds, I find a deserted spot in a multi-story building and have the fireworks all to myself.
Q2: A (On TV)
To be honest I’m really not that interested (laugh) but if I was going to watch it would be on TV. I watch figure skating since it’s pretty (laugh). I like watching TV documentaries about how it’s not just the results of a match, but in what way each person is striving, and the mentality they use to deal with the competition.
Mizu Natsuki (Snow Troupe)
Q1: A (Firework displays)
I want to watch fireworks being launched at a firework display. Recently, of course I really enjoyed the firwork display at the Muko river1. While I was watching it from a dressing room of the theatre, the noise and the synergy were so intense…I was really moved. I also feel like fireworks create a really good atmosphere, where people passing through who have never seen each other before come together to share the excitement over one thing.
Q2: A (On TV)
If I went to the stadium, all I would be able to watch was the soccer matches, so I’d rather watch on TV where I can see the highlight scenes that summarize a variety of events… This year I’ll enjoy myself just watching the good bits of the Beijing Olympics (laugh).
Aran Kei (Star Troupe)
Q1: A (Firework displays)
Handheld fireworks are fun, but of course I want to see big fireworks… When I’m watching fireworks being launched, I don’t care how far away I’m watching from as long as there’s only a few people there (laugh). When I was an upper student2 I went to see a firework display in Yokohama that was really amazing… It’s left the largest impression on me of any firework display I’ve ever seen.
Q2: B (On location)
Since I’ve never been able to watch the Olympics on location, I really want to experience what that feels like. My favorite event is gymnastics. While of course this goes for all the events, it’s something I absolutely couldn’t do, and it seems like for gymnastics the level of physical ability required is especially high… I’m most interested in the women’s floor exercises.
Yamato Yuuga (Cosmos Troupe)
Q1: B (Handheld fireworks)
For ages I’ve loved buying a big set of different kinds of fireworks and have tons of fun with it. When I was in elementary school I went to play with fireworks after a scary test of courage… I really like the kinds of fireworks where you’re not sure what it’s going to turn into and it ends up being something wonderful you couldn’t have predicted.
Q2: A (On TV)
While the idea of cheering from the stadium is appealing, it seems like it would be really time-consuming, and since on TV there are easy-to-understand explanations of what’s going on that would be better. I really like doing sports myself as well as watching them, so I want to gather a whole bunch of people in front of the TV to cheer.
1 – The Muko River runs directly past the Takarazuka Grand Theatre.
2 – Students in their second year at the Takarazuka Music School.