This article on the opening of the new Moon Troupe show and Ueda Kumiko’s achievement in directing BADDY was published in Daily Sports Online on February 9, 2017. The original article with photos can be found here. (Archive link here.)
For the first time in Takarazuka’s 104-year history, a woman directs a revue – a succession of startling scenes
The Takarazuka Revue Moon Troupe production Company: Lesson, Passion, and Company/BADDY: The Bad Lot Came from the Moon, opened on the 9th at the Takarazuka Grand Theatre in Hyogo. BADDY, written and directed by Ueda Kumiko, is the first revue show created by a female director1 in the 104 year history of Takarazuka.
Ms. Ueda made her Grand Theatre debut in 2015 with the Snow Troupe production One Night of Stars, and has followed it by writing and directing other dramas: Flower Troupe’s Golden Desert and Cosmos Troupe’s Land of the Gods. She is especially skilled at precisely constructed dialogue, and her works often show the profound aesthetics of destruction. However, she originally joined Takarazuka since she longed to create revues, and now she has debuted as the long-awaited first female revue director.
Her first revue, typical of Ms. Ueda’s style, is created with a storyline. It is an unprecedented humorous revue that unfolds around ‘Baddies’ from the moon and ‘Goodies’ living on the peaceful earth, but also involves contemporary issues such as smoking and LGBT identities. Top Star Tamaki Ryou said “it was totally different from what I had pictured,” unable to hide her surprise at the content. “Though I play a villain, there are comical parts as well. I wanted to convey a sense of freedom.” She hurled herself into the role, ending up covered in sweat. In the finale’s duet dance, she and Top Musumeyaku Manaki Reika (who plays the detective ‘Goody’) dance holding pistols, and even perform a one-handed lift. An even more shocking creative decision is having Tamaki wear sunglasses as she descends the Grand Stairs in her feathers. “Director Ueda said ‘If I make a flop here, no woman will ever direct a revue again,'” Tamaki said, describing the atmosphere in rehearsals.
In addition, the play, Company, tells the story of Aoyagi Seiji, an office worker at a pharmaceutical company who is transferred to a ballet troupe and tries to help the dancers put on a successful performance. But it also portrays the real lives of dancers, showing them unable to make a living through ballet alone, as well as struggles with ticket sale quotas, idols dealing with the stress of bashing on Twitter, a dancer who rejects accusations that she uses her wealth to get roles and comes back stronger, and even a shotgun wedding – it is full of lines that have never been heard on the Takarazuka stage before. Top Star Tamaki Ryou expressed how she relates to the show, saying “Of course tons of people come to see Takarazuka, but I think any theatre company has its struggles.” Besides that, she described the main character’s appeal: “Aoyagi is a very warm person at heart, and he conveys whatever he’s thinking to other people frankly. His words save them by giving them encouragement.” Combining Tamaki’s personality with Aoyagi’s, the show becomes a heartwarming story of personal growth.
Both the play and the show are ambitious works. “Right now, people are saying Moon Troupe is ‘really cool’. If people see my partnership with Manaki Reika and think they want to try a new adventure with us, that makes me really happy. I desire to be an actor who can stir the imagination,” Tamaki said, swearing to continue taking on new challenges.
Company/BADDY plays in the Grand Theatre until March 12th. It then moves to the Tokyo Takarazuka Theatre from March 30th to May 6th.
1 – Women have directed a couple revue shows in the past, for example Kasugano Yachiyo (a prominent otokoyaku of the 50s and 60s) and Sha Tamae (an OG choreographer who occasionally writes/directs), but Ueda is the first resident Takarazuka director to create a revue for the company.