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yukinojouI am not a fan of the Rose of Versailles musicals for several reasons (more of them below), but for all that my seito of choice was Yukigumi nibante for almost five years, few of them are out on DVD or VHS. So I'll take what I can get, even if it has too much pink. Yukigumi of that era was far too brilliant to be wasted in any musical. Case in point: BeruBara '89.
I've been a fan of the original Ryoko Ikeda story for years, though I've only recently seen the full anime with subtitles in a language that I can understand. Decades after it was made, the story holds up, the drama, the historical elements, the deft playing on the viewer's heart to squeeze out the maximum number of tears. Oscar's struggle between her martial occupation and her emotional side, her chivalrous idealism clashing with the politics of the era, the star-crossed lovers playing out in terms of class - it's one of those stories that's larger than life. In 40 episodes, there's not a single filler story, not a single scene that doesn't advance the plot in some way.
Which brings me to the first reason I was initially not able to enjoy BeruBara musicals fully. There's just no room for 800 minutes of story in a 140-minute stage show. I think that no-one who doesn't know the original manga or anime can fully understand everything that happens onstage, and it's an additional handicap for someone like me, who understands maybe one word in four. Now that I've seen and fully understood the anime, I get most of it, but still sub-plots escape me. (For example Jeanne in Andre to Oscar Hen. I totally didn't get what she was plotting.)
I actually appreciate some of the plot changes, which make it flow better, the many skeins of original stories woven into one rope. Some are improvements, like Oscar's mother not disappearing offstage mid-plot. But I do object to the whole wine-poisoning plot, because that's not Andre. Andre is a puppy, and while he could get drunk and yell at Oscar that she is not getting married, and throw her around in suggestive ways - which would accomplish the same purpose of completely stunning Oscar - he would never be able to kill her. Kill Girodelle, that misguidedness I could believe. Kill General Jarjayes, even. But not Oscar, never Oscar.
(I feel strongly about Andre, if you haven't guessed.)
My other gripe isUeda-S the music and direction. I actually like most of the songs - they're Melodrama, but they're awfully catchy and by now, classic. But there's not enough of them. This is a personal preference, but I like a lot of songs and/or dancing in my Takarazuka musicals, as opposed to a single solo per principal. And the choreographic / blocking choices for Andre and Oscar scenes in Oscar's study in particular are painfully stiff for scenes where they're each supposed to be overcome first with despair and then with passion.
And then there is the ending. I could live with the fight choreography, if the music were different. But in a scene that's supposed to be triumphant and tragic, the music is - blah. Bland happy music as people get shot and rally and die and win. Takarazuka can do wonderful dramatic music, and this doesn't fit the mood at all.
And then there are the pegasuses. I must confess I'm a sucker for happy endings in the white misty ever-after, but I always expect Oscar to start off by stabbing these papier mache monstrosities :P
Griping out of the way, the 1989 show is surprisingly enjoyable. And I'm not just saying that because of Miss Maki Ichiro ♥
I generally approve of the set and costume choices, which apart from the prologue and epilogue lack excessive quantities of pink. They actually manage to look a little like Versailles in the appropriate era, and the costumes recall the anime. I think Rosalie can be excused a pink dress, even if it does make her look like a cupcake. (I do like the fact that when Andre hears that Marronglace thinks Oscar will wear it, he loses it laughing.)
Yukigumi is amazing as always, and the ensemble moments were full of passion. There are quite a few minor roles that caught my eye as well.
Sara Kei as Duke of Orleans - it was her taidan, and her presence was amazing. Mind you, in all her scenes she had Ebira Kaoru to bounce off of, and that was a pleasure to watch. The duet song they got sent chills down my spine.
I don't have to expostulate about Hoshihara Misao as General Jarjayes, do I? She had a great rapport with Maki's Oscar, and the warm scenes in the first act really offset the beginning of Act 2.
The musumeyaku were amazing, and they stole quite a lot of stagetime. The whole Versailles clique including Masaki Keiko and Yashiro Kou, and the way they all fangirled on Oscar. Hayama Michiko's Marronglace was very true to the original. But the ones that made the most impression were three strong ladies: Nishina Yuri as Marie-Antoinette (grown, here, and tragic), Hokuto Hikaru as the villainous Madame de Polignac (with a great evil laugh), and Saotome Sachi as Jeanne. I mentioned that I didn't understand Jeanne's plotline at all, but the moment Saotome Sachi showed up on stage, her sheer intensity was blinding.
Ayu Yuuki, the top musumeyaku of the time, got a bit of short shrift with Rosalie - while she has some major scenes in the first act, most of them with Andre, she's gone in the second act. Pity, because it was the first time I'd seen her. But she got great partners in both Hokuto Hikaru's Polignac and on a different note, Sahara Miyuki as Charlotte. The change of Charlotte to someone who chooses Rosalie as a confidante is one I approve of, and Miyuki was brilliant in it.
Back to otokoyaku - even if Bernard just breezed through, I appreciated Kodai Mizuki :) She's one of my special people, the ones who first caught my attention in Elisabeth, and she's a great actress.
Kaikyou Hiroki made a very quiet and earnest Girodelle. She was Andre in the 1991 tour, and I would like to see that - she had that Andre feel to her role.
I did a double-take and then a triple take, but yes, a ken-4 Todoroki Yuu played Alain in her one and only BeruBara ever. Tom got all of four lines, but I had the feeling she got Alain (yes, this is also a favourite character), the gruffness and the affection for Oscar, and the layers to him. Good Alain, definitely.
And now to the principals. The TakaWiki says the laserdisc and VHS should feature Saki Asaji as Fersen, but my Sky Stage copy has Shion Yuu. It was my first time seeing her, and I definitely saw the future-top-star spark, with a strong voice and good acting (I especially liked the confrontation in Versailles, you could see Fersen stopping himself forcefully from braining someone with a candelabra). Her dancing in the finale didn't grab me, but that might have been the mechanitronic choreography.
Mori Keaki is stunning. She has the acting chops and the voice, but most of all she gets Andre, from the goofiness to the passion and respect for Oscar. There's a palpable warmth in the interactions between Andre and Rosalie, and her rapport with Marronglace is amazing. She will make an amazing Sophie, I know, and I can't wait to see her.
But most of all, Mori Keaki and Ichiro Maki sizzle. I've seen some BeruBara pairs with good chemistry, but they take the cake. It's in some ways a function of the lack of control of Karincho's Andre combined with how much Ichiro's Oscar trusts him and reveals her weaker sides, but they're perfectly attuned to each other and together, they're on fire. (That pair dance at the end - seriously amazing.) They both pull out all the emotional stops, which results in heartbreak even when shoved into Ueda-S's stiff poses.
And ah, Ichiro Maki. Miss Maki and her Oscar, who "onstage" (in front of an audience, in Versailles, among her men) plays the male role to the hilt, with determination and anger or indulgence as the occasion calls for, but in private is a fascinating mixture of male and female mannerisms and social patterns. In Versailles she's plotting with Rosalie and being the perfect gentleman, but the moment she hears Fersen's name, she moves her leg just so, her expression shifts a fraction, and without moving or speaking she's a desperate girl with a desperate crush. She's delicate inside her strong shell, and smart without being calculating (the matter with Bernard, where she spins a tale from whole cloth while swaying drunk - I like that plot change, too), and seeking affection. Maki's acting made me believe Oscar's emotional journey here, the shift from the crush on Fersen, to the perfect soldier, to Andre's betrayal and then their reconciliation. And it doesn't hurt that when called for, her glares can pierce steel ♥
(I may have been in a fangirl daze whenever She was onstage, but it was only a soft pink fog. I could see most things. Really.)
In conclusion: for BeruBara, this was good.
General griping
I've been a fan of the original Ryoko Ikeda story for years, though I've only recently seen the full anime with subtitles in a language that I can understand. Decades after it was made, the story holds up, the drama, the historical elements, the deft playing on the viewer's heart to squeeze out the maximum number of tears. Oscar's struggle between her martial occupation and her emotional side, her chivalrous idealism clashing with the politics of the era, the star-crossed lovers playing out in terms of class - it's one of those stories that's larger than life. In 40 episodes, there's not a single filler story, not a single scene that doesn't advance the plot in some way.
Which brings me to the first reason I was initially not able to enjoy BeruBara musicals fully. There's just no room for 800 minutes of story in a 140-minute stage show. I think that no-one who doesn't know the original manga or anime can fully understand everything that happens onstage, and it's an additional handicap for someone like me, who understands maybe one word in four. Now that I've seen and fully understood the anime, I get most of it, but still sub-plots escape me. (For example Jeanne in Andre to Oscar Hen. I totally didn't get what she was plotting.)
I actually appreciate some of the plot changes, which make it flow better, the many skeins of original stories woven into one rope. Some are improvements, like Oscar's mother not disappearing offstage mid-plot. But I do object to the whole wine-poisoning plot, because that's not Andre. Andre is a puppy, and while he could get drunk and yell at Oscar that she is not getting married, and throw her around in suggestive ways - which would accomplish the same purpose of completely stunning Oscar - he would never be able to kill her. Kill Girodelle, that misguidedness I could believe. Kill General Jarjayes, even. But not Oscar, never Oscar.
(I feel strongly about Andre, if you haven't guessed.)
My other gripe is
And then there is the ending. I could live with the fight choreography, if the music were different. But in a scene that's supposed to be triumphant and tragic, the music is - blah. Bland happy music as people get shot and rally and die and win. Takarazuka can do wonderful dramatic music, and this doesn't fit the mood at all.
And then there are the pegasuses. I must confess I'm a sucker for happy endings in the white misty ever-after, but I always expect Oscar to start off by stabbing these papier mache monstrosities :P
Andre to Oscar Hen 1989
Griping out of the way, the 1989 show is surprisingly enjoyable. And I'm not just saying that because of Miss Maki Ichiro ♥
I generally approve of the set and costume choices, which apart from the prologue and epilogue lack excessive quantities of pink. They actually manage to look a little like Versailles in the appropriate era, and the costumes recall the anime. I think Rosalie can be excused a pink dress, even if it does make her look like a cupcake. (I do like the fact that when Andre hears that Marronglace thinks Oscar will wear it, he loses it laughing.)
Yukigumi is amazing as always, and the ensemble moments were full of passion. There are quite a few minor roles that caught my eye as well.
Sara Kei as Duke of Orleans - it was her taidan, and her presence was amazing. Mind you, in all her scenes she had Ebira Kaoru to bounce off of, and that was a pleasure to watch. The duet song they got sent chills down my spine.
I don't have to expostulate about Hoshihara Misao as General Jarjayes, do I? She had a great rapport with Maki's Oscar, and the warm scenes in the first act really offset the beginning of Act 2.
The musumeyaku were amazing, and they stole quite a lot of stagetime. The whole Versailles clique including Masaki Keiko and Yashiro Kou, and the way they all fangirled on Oscar. Hayama Michiko's Marronglace was very true to the original. But the ones that made the most impression were three strong ladies: Nishina Yuri as Marie-Antoinette (grown, here, and tragic), Hokuto Hikaru as the villainous Madame de Polignac (with a great evil laugh), and Saotome Sachi as Jeanne. I mentioned that I didn't understand Jeanne's plotline at all, but the moment Saotome Sachi showed up on stage, her sheer intensity was blinding.
Ayu Yuuki, the top musumeyaku of the time, got a bit of short shrift with Rosalie - while she has some major scenes in the first act, most of them with Andre, she's gone in the second act. Pity, because it was the first time I'd seen her. But she got great partners in both Hokuto Hikaru's Polignac and on a different note, Sahara Miyuki as Charlotte. The change of Charlotte to someone who chooses Rosalie as a confidante is one I approve of, and Miyuki was brilliant in it.
Back to otokoyaku - even if Bernard just breezed through, I appreciated Kodai Mizuki :) She's one of my special people, the ones who first caught my attention in Elisabeth, and she's a great actress.
Kaikyou Hiroki made a very quiet and earnest Girodelle. She was Andre in the 1991 tour, and I would like to see that - she had that Andre feel to her role.
I did a double-take and then a triple take, but yes, a ken-4 Todoroki Yuu played Alain in her one and only BeruBara ever. Tom got all of four lines, but I had the feeling she got Alain (yes, this is also a favourite character), the gruffness and the affection for Oscar, and the layers to him. Good Alain, definitely.
And now to the principals. The TakaWiki says the laserdisc and VHS should feature Saki Asaji as Fersen, but my Sky Stage copy has Shion Yuu. It was my first time seeing her, and I definitely saw the future-top-star spark, with a strong voice and good acting (I especially liked the confrontation in Versailles, you could see Fersen stopping himself forcefully from braining someone with a candelabra). Her dancing in the finale didn't grab me, but that might have been the mechanitronic choreography.
Mori Keaki is stunning. She has the acting chops and the voice, but most of all she gets Andre, from the goofiness to the passion and respect for Oscar. There's a palpable warmth in the interactions between Andre and Rosalie, and her rapport with Marronglace is amazing. She will make an amazing Sophie, I know, and I can't wait to see her.
But most of all, Mori Keaki and Ichiro Maki sizzle. I've seen some BeruBara pairs with good chemistry, but they take the cake. It's in some ways a function of the lack of control of Karincho's Andre combined with how much Ichiro's Oscar trusts him and reveals her weaker sides, but they're perfectly attuned to each other and together, they're on fire. (That pair dance at the end - seriously amazing.) They both pull out all the emotional stops, which results in heartbreak even when shoved into Ueda-S's stiff poses.
And ah, Ichiro Maki. Miss Maki and her Oscar, who "onstage" (in front of an audience, in Versailles, among her men) plays the male role to the hilt, with determination and anger or indulgence as the occasion calls for, but in private is a fascinating mixture of male and female mannerisms and social patterns. In Versailles she's plotting with Rosalie and being the perfect gentleman, but the moment she hears Fersen's name, she moves her leg just so, her expression shifts a fraction, and without moving or speaking she's a desperate girl with a desperate crush. She's delicate inside her strong shell, and smart without being calculating (the matter with Bernard, where she spins a tale from whole cloth while swaying drunk - I like that plot change, too), and seeking affection. Maki's acting made me believe Oscar's emotional journey here, the shift from the crush on Fersen, to the perfect soldier, to Andre's betrayal and then their reconciliation. And it doesn't hurt that when called for, her glares can pierce steel ♥
(I may have been in a fangirl daze whenever She was onstage, but it was only a soft pink fog. I could see most things. Really.)
In conclusion: for BeruBara, this was good.