This was a requested translation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This interview with Mirio was published in print magazine Aera <\/em>along with editorial photos, but portions of the interview was also published online.\u00a0The original interview, conducted by Kiyono Yuumi, can be found here.<\/a>\u00a0(Archive link here<\/a>; page 2<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n Takarazuka Top Star, Asumi Rio: Her past struggles with her \u2018baby face\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you ask about Asumi Rio, Top Star of the Takarazuka Revue\u2019s oldest troupe, Flower Troupe, you will be told that she is the embodiment of \u2018every girl\u2019s ideal man.\u2019 When she came on set and faced the camera, the flowers seemed to pale beside her1<\/sup>. In the Takarazuka Grand Theatre production The Poe Clan<\/em>, based on Hagio Moto\u2019s original manga, she plays the beautiful youth Edgar Portsnell, who lives forever as a ‘Vanpanella\u2019. We asked Ms. Asumi how she feels about playing a character who already has so many fans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Among all Hagio Moto\u2019s works, The Poe Clan has the most fanatical fans. You are now going to play the protagonist, Edgar. What are your thoughts on that?<\/em> Director Koike Shuuichiro, who adapted The Poe Clan for the stage, said that he had been longing to create this show for 30 years since joining the company.<\/em> How are you constructing your presentation of the character?<\/em> You have been prominent since you were a junior actress. Even in your 15th year in the Revue, you haven\u2019t lost your original sense of transparency.<\/em> While on the one hand you\u2019ve done many extravagant revues, you\u2019ve also been in traditional Japanese-styled dramas such as The New Tale of Genji and Spring Snow, where you beautifully portrayed the distorted point of view of the aristocracy. Is it because of being Top Star that you are able to achieve such charismatic performances?<\/em> In your first show of last year, Golden Desert, you took on a very challenging role, ‘the slave of a desert kingdom\u2019s princess.\u2019<\/em> 1 – The photoshoot for the magazine feature had Asumi against a wall of flowers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This was a requested translation. This interview with Mirio was published in print magazine Aera along with editorial photos, but portions of the interview was also published online.\u00a0The original interview, conducted by Kiyono Yuumi, can be found here.\u00a0(Archive link here; … Continue reading
Asumi:<\/strong> Personally, as a fan and a reader, I had already read the original comic, but after being given the role I read it over once again. I was impacted once again by the world full of swirling emotions that the comic lives in. To me, the protagonist Edgar is so special and so sublime that currently I have a lot of trepidation about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asumi:<\/strong> After being transformed into Vanpanellas, the characters have no choice but to live forever with the struggles and difficulties that come with being different from humanity. It\u2019s a work that has inspired so many different feelings in so many people – Hagio-sensei and Koike-sensei, not to mention it and Takarazuka\u2019s fans, that I feel a lot of responsibility and I\u2019m nervous about how I ought to play the protagonist of such a work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asumi:<\/strong> As I am not that tall for an otokoyaku, up until now I have been concentrating on using my voice and bearing to create an impression. For this show I definitely have to really rethink the voice I\u2019m using, so I am considering and working on that.
Although the protagonist, Edgar, lives over 300 years, he remains looking like a young boy. Thus there is a great difference between his appearance and his inner self, and he has a lot of complicated emotions hidden inside. I think the voice such a character has would be deep but mild. I think he has to have an air of having achieved great understanding, but still with a boy\u2019s air of openness.
As drawn by Hagio-sensei, Edgar has such lonely eyes, that delicate mouth, the aura around his head, the line of his posture\u2026there\u2019s a lot of appeal in those things, so while he\u2019s a boy he\u2019s still sexy – there\u2019s the sense of him being a very unique being, I think. I want to get as close as possible to that concept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asumi:<\/strong> At the beginning I had a lot of child roles and female roles, so I was really frustrated – I want to get taller, I want to do something about my baby face, I thought.
There was a time when I would worry ‘Maybe there\u2019s no future for me as an otokoyaku\u2026\u2019 After having so many female roles, when I returned to otokoyaku parts some fans told me ‘we like Asumi-san as an otokoyaku.\u2019 Those words made me so happy, and I was so grateful that I was able to look ahead and think ‘as long as even one person will say that about me I\u2019ll keep at it as an otokoyaku.\u2019 It was after that, that I was able to really able to get into my roles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asumi:<\/strong>\u00a0For this show, before I started rehearsing I was concerned about whether I was a good fit for this role. But once the rehearsals started for real, it turned out I became more and more absorbed in the part. A musical theatre company is going to have a lot of people who are like that, so when I\u2019m with other senior actresses I am performing with and we start getting really excited about our roles, that interaction also helps us get further into them I think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asumi:<\/strong>\u00a0That was a complex role so it was quite difficult, yes. I had to convey a slave\u2019s suffering and sadness but at the same time create that in the context of a Takarazuka-style production. I took the stage each time feeling as if it was life-or-death.
No matter what experiences I accumulate, I can\u2019t escape the nervousness and concern of being onstage. I think the only way to get over that is to put all my energy into each and every performance. After getting through one production with my sweat and tears, it\u2019s on the next one. It\u2019s a cycle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n