Beth Winter

We got toujitsuken (same-day tickets) to see this show, and I was surprised to find them still available when we arrived at the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater at 10 AM, since it was only a few days before the end of the run and the joint graduation/retirement of both Top Stars and eight other performers. The same-day tickets are the very back row of the balcony, and I can confirm that even from there, the view is stellar - binoculars helped, of course.

( And here I thought it wasn't possible for me to be impressed by a Cosmos show )

Out of all we saw during our stay in Japan, this was the show for which I had the least expectations. I'm happy to report I was very pleasantly surprised.

So, not only am I in Japan for Tanabata (and I have the Google!Japan logo to prove it), but I just saw my favourite musical in the world, with the one performer that a, I adore in every role on account of his voice making me melt, and b, that I was never expecting to see because, well, Japan.

Yuichirou Yamaguchi, live, is enough to make your brain melt with the first note. For most of the show, he's a Japanese demon, a bunraku puppet, inhuman and only moving when he chooses to. Then came Unstillbare, and the way he came out and leaned on a gravestone, suddenly human, broke my heart even before he sang. And he did sing, and it left me gasping for breath. The stage presence alone, and that voice!

(Yes, I did have my faithful Olympus gadget. And I wasn't the only one melting. We were on the balcony, among an all-female crowd, and we all gasped in unison. As fyrie put it, that voice bypasses the brain altogether to lodge much lower.)

( The rest of the Tokyo version of Tanz der Vampire was also much improved )

We're going back to Osaka tomorrow, via Nagoya and Cirque du Soleil (again, this time for free in 12,000 yen seats). I think I may have trouble sleeping long enough today. Falling asleep at Me and My Girl would be embarrassing.

Cirque du Soleil Corteo = wonderful. And may have a follow-up.

We only showed up for toujitsuken at 10, but we got B seats at a steal of a price :) BaraAme - not as confusing as people make it out to be. Tani impressed me with her fire, and Micchan's hair was messily adorable, but Tomu stole the show for me. She needs to do more comedy ♥

And then there was the revue, in which Ume-chan rocked the house. You have to respect a musumeyaku who can dance with a stage-ful of otokoyaku and pwn every single one of them. (Also, was Tomu speaking in sign language while singing? It looked that way.)

Also, Takarazuka-An is very dangerous for fans of OGs. I am now the proud owner of an autographed photo of my girl ♥

Next is Tuesday. Tanz der Vampire. With a guy I've been starry-eyed about for over four years.

This is a good trip :D

So, they finally revealed the costumes and some more of the casting. And dear me.

Sena looks like a gorgeous Death.

And a scary one too.

Kacha looks cute - she suits otokoyaku makeup better, but I love what they did with the eyes, and she looks like she's got a boatload of attitude.

Their attitudes in Wenn Ich Tanzen Will seem to be the correct ones.

I even like the idea of Kiriyan as Franz-Joseph. It's shaping up to be an interesting show.