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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nAran:<\/em> I read the original manga before the El Halcon rehearsals started, but I couldn’t read it as an unbiased observer at all (laughs). I just kept thinking, how would I perform this\u2026 So while I was reading the character emotions were already\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki:<\/em> You were already getting into character?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran:<\/em> Yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki:<\/em> Wow! I just read it like normal (laughs). Tyrian (Aran) is so terrible (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran:<\/em> Yeah. Terrible (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki:<\/em> But you can’t help but fall for him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran:<\/em> Right (laughs). The way he’s drawn is so cool too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki:<\/em> Speaking of appearances, there’s a scene in the show where you come out in a brown dressing gown, right, Touko-san (Aran)? Where you kill Penelope, I think. You looked just like the Tyrian in the manga during that scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran:<\/em> Apparently I was the model.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki:<\/em> What, really? (laughs) You mean Tyrian was drawn based on you? (laughs)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran: <\/em>Exactly, the manga was created afterwards\u2026not! Obviously!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran and Yuzuki:<\/em> (laugh)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran: <\/em>Do I look that much like [the manga]?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki:<\/em> You super do. I always end up coming to the wings for standby really early so I can get a glimpse of you in that costume (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran: <\/em>I know you’re watching, Chie (Yuzuki). And not just that part, right. When Tyrian sets up Red’s (Yuzuki) father (Ema Naoki) for a crime he didn’t commit and he’s sentenced to death, you’re always watching from the wings, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki: <\/em>I am. Tyrian’s expressions in that scene\u2026 He acts completely normal. As if he doesn’t have anything to do with it at all\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran:<\/em> And then you think “Damn you, Tyrian!!” and rush out onto the Silver Bridge full of that anger, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki:<\/em> You can tell!? You can read me that well!?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran: <\/em>Like a book (laughs). Red is just like ‘Father~!!’, he’s so innocent (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki: <\/em>(laughs) And then, on the Silver Bridge, you grab me by the chin\u2026 That’s just\u2026mean\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran:<\/em> I’m not mean~ (imitating Yuzuki’s voice)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki:<\/em> (laughs) And Red even thought when Tyrian first came to the house that he seemed to be quite a nice person\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran:<\/em> Oh?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki:<\/em> Well, to be honest, Red actually found him a little frightening. But his father would always talk about him as if he was really nice: ‘Sir Persimmon (Aran) this and that\u2026’<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran: <\/em>Red’s father seems so proud of him he doesn’t know what to do with himself. When he introduces Red to Tyrian he says something like ‘(proudly) And he’s studying law at Oxford!’. He says it with as much energy as if it was ‘And I’m actually studying law’ (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki: <\/em>Yes (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran:<\/em> And Tyrian totally freezes him out (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki:<\/em> There too? (laughs)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran:<\/em> Yeah. Like ‘Why are you going on about such boring stuff’ (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki: <\/em>(laughs) Tyrian’s eyes don’t smile at all in that scene, right (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran: <\/em>(laughs)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki: <\/em>He’ll never look at Red with the kind gazes he uses towards Nicolas (Ayaka), will he\u2026 He’s completely different. Completely cold eyes. ‘Hmph, this damn little fly’ his eyes seem to say\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran: <\/em>(quietly) ‘This big fly, actually\u2026’ (laughs)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki:<\/em> (laughs)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki:<\/em> The first time I saw Tyrian and Gilda’s (Toono’s) sex scene in rehearsals, internally I was just “Aaaaaaaa!! [covers face with both hands]” (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran:<\/em> (laughs)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki: <\/em>Everyone felt like that at first (laughs), but after a while most of the cast seemed to get used to it, but somehow I just\u2026 (laughs). I keep breaking into a smile before I notice (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran: <\/em>Cut it ouuut (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki:<\/em> (laughs). When you were learning the choreography for the scene where Tyrian strips Gilda’s clothes off I also ended up with a fangirly grin (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran:<\/em> (laughs)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki: <\/em>I love that string of scenes (laughs). But currently I can’t watch past the first part of my favorite scenes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran: <\/em>You’re going to get on standby, since Red appears at the climax of the scene with his pirate friends through the lift, right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki: <\/em>That’s right. So unfortunately, I can only watch through the bit at the beginning where Tyrian tells Gilda ‘Sit over there’. Even though I love that scene\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran: <\/em>I’m glad you like it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki:<\/em> (laughs)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran:<\/em> And then, as Tyrian and Gilda vanish through the lift, Red and his crew enter on a platform above the larger lift and the pirate number starts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki:<\/em> Right. The lift comes up with the peppy intro, and I start singing with ‘To avenge my father~’, but looking at the audience’s expressions it seems like there’s still echoes of the sex scene remaining (laughs). I know myself that the atmosphere is ‘couldn’t you let it go a bit longer’, but I still have to intrude (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran: <\/em>(laughs)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran:<\/em> For the revue choreography, before Choreographer Oscar [Araiz] taught it to us, they said ‘this is the kind of thing you’ll be doing’ and showed us a DVD recording of him dancing, right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki:<\/em> God (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran: <\/em>You went dead white (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki: <\/em>Yes (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran: <\/em>You were like ‘Huh? This is\u2026not something we can do, right. We aren’t doing\u2026this, right?’ (laughs)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki:<\/em> I really wanted to think that. Like, ‘Surely it can’t be this’ (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran: <\/em>A man was dancing the male part and all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki: <\/em>Yes. And instead of the heeled shoes we have onstage he had serious dance shoes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran: <\/em>Yeah, yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki:<\/em> After watching it through for the first time I gave up on watching it for a while (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran:<\/em> Me too (laughs). I was scared to watch it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki:<\/em> Really, ‘dead white’ is exactly how to describe how I felt before we got the actual choregraphy (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran:<\/em> During the prologue of the revue, me and Asuka (Toono) appear disguised as a little old couple, right? I wonder if people who haven’t seen Takarazuka understand we’re the same people who were just playing Tyrian and Gilda?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki:<\/em> Since it’s like “Wait, they were THEM?” (laughs). You both look so cute (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran: <\/em>That scene is especially fun to perform, too (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki: <\/em>And of course the scene in the prologue where Touko-san teaches the audience the ‘Orchis Dance’ is so fun. Recently you’ve also started putting in adlibs\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran: <\/em>Just a bit (laughs). In the bit where I say ‘By the way, who am I? My name is\u2026’, recently, sometimes I won’t go right into ‘Lagerara!’, but after I say ‘My name is\u2026’ I’ll try putting my hand to my ear as if waiting for an answer. And then the audience responds a lot (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki: <\/em>(laughs)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran: <\/em>Today, when I asked ‘My name is?’, I got answers like ‘Touko-chan!’ or ‘Aran Kei!’<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki:<\/em> (laughs)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran: <\/em>The other day, you know, before I could say ‘What is my name?’ somebody in the audience had already answered, so I was like ‘I haven’t had a chance to ask yet over here!’ (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki: <\/em>You said that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran: <\/em>I did (laughs). ‘I haven’t asked the question yet though?’ (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki: <\/em>(laughs) Touko-san, you’ve achieved unity with the audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran:<\/em> I love stuff like that (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki: <\/em>You were so funny in the chartered performance yesterday, Touko-san (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran: <\/em>What was funny?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki:<\/em> In the scene where we’re dancing in green suits, you said ‘Life!’ at one point, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran:<\/em> You heard that? (laughs)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki: <\/em>I heard it (laughs). Some of the choreography there looks just like the pose comedy duo TIM1<\/sup> would do in that routine they did a lot where they wear green fullbody stockings and use their bodies to portray the kanji for ‘life’. And Touko-san, you exclaimed ‘life!’ in a really cool way just as if you were calling out ‘Ha!’ as an energy boost (laughs). It didn’t seem like everyone dancing around you noticed but I understood it clearly from backstage (laughs). And then, even after you said ‘life!’ you kept goofing around a lot (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran:<\/em> (laughs)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki: <\/em>And after that! I was on the side stage so I was able to see, in that bit where the otokoyaku spend a while behind the side panels, suddenly you slipped your jacket off down to your shoulders, ‘Bam!’, right? Like what I do in that bit when I’m wearing the blue suit, where I slip my jacket off just past my shoulders, you did that, right? (laughs)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran:<\/em> I just wanted to try doing that once (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki: And then, while you were still like that, you looked all across the stage with a little wrinkle in your brow like you were thinking ‘Did anyone see that?’ right? (laughs)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran:<\/em> I did (laughs)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki:<\/em> And then after THAT, ‘Bam!’ you slid the jacket back on again, once again really cool (laughs). It was all so cool and also so funny (laughs). I went to report to everyone backstage right away (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran:<\/em> (laughs)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki:<\/em> Touko-san, after the black tailcoat ensemble dance, you remain onstage to sing, right. I respect you so much, doing that right after such an intense dance number. Is it not hard for you\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran:<\/em> There was a scene in the Hakata show where I sing in the same situation, you see. So I think comparing them, this time was less difficult (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki: <\/em>This time, I have a scene in the prologue where I sing right after an intense dance number. Right after the opening, I had so much trouble getting my breathing under control\u2026 Thinking about that up until now, I felt so much respect for Touko-san thinking about how incredible you are, and the respect keeps going up and up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran:<\/em> (laughs) I think I might just be used to it. I think you’ll get used to it by next time, Chie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki: <\/em>After you finish dancing, do you take one really deep breath or something? Do you feel like you want to go into the wings and just breathe? That is\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran: <\/em>First I get my breath under control as much as I can at once. I let my breath out slowly, like, ‘Suuuuu’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki:<\/em> Are you able to control your breathing while you’re singing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran: <\/em>Of course. In an extremely short time it’s impossible to do it perfectly, but I gradually get my breathing under control by adjusting the breaths I take as I sing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki:<\/em> It doesn’t sound like you’re doing that at all. It sounds like your breathing is completely under control as soon as you start singing\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran:<\/em> It is though? (laughs) I actually have it perfectly under control from the first moment (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki: <\/em>Ah, I see. How could anyone imagine Touko-san would get out of breath\u2026 (laughs)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran: <\/em>I’ve never been out of breath (laughs). I don’t sweat either (laughs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yuzuki: <\/em>Exactly as I’d expect of Touko-san!! (laughs)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aran: <\/em>(laughs)<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 – A comedy group founded in the mid-90s and very popular in the 2000s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Talk DX is a long-running GRAPH talk feature where Top Stars and their main otokoyaku co-stars discuss their current Grand Theatre performance before the shift to Tokyo. The El Halcon\/Revue Orchis talk was published in the February 2008 issue. Some … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/IMG_20220621_195905445-3.jpg\")
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