some thoughts about musumeyaku-san and Moon Troupe

Maihane-san announced her retirement. finally what a pity

now that I recall talking with my friend, who knows about Zuka only from what I've told her, she liked Snow the best, judging by their looks. somehow I am frustrated... I mean, even if she started watching Zuka performances, she would prefer Snow, at least in the beginning. and so, we would have nothing to discuss because I do not know even a single bit of information about Snow... >___< 'tis not as if I regretted this fact, but... I feel annoyed. just thinking that she was hesitating between Snow and Star, and praised Cosmos makes me think what a HUGE difference there would be if only...

well, on the other hand - those were only photos. actual performances are different

well, not for me. while I agreed that Aono-sama looked a bit cold and 'too perfect' - therefore, a little faraway and unreal, I liked her from the very beginning and I hoped that she would crush that impression of hers on the photos. and she DID. and how glad I was..... *____*

well, enough of that. my initial purpose of writing this post was to think of Manaki-sama

if we asked her about her roles we would certainly hear that she is grateful to perform in any play and take any role. she is too young to say anything different. well, I can understand that Juliette is a classical heroine and RomiJuri is a modern and bright musical, or something like this could came to mind of Manaki-sama and make her eager to play in RomiJuri. I wonder if she has the same interest in 'Too short a time'? 

I was against this performance from the very moment 'twas announced, but that 'against' was based purely on the fact that Star had already performed the play 2 times, and my impression of Yuzuki-sama and Ryuu-sama. this time I thought of the other characters. making a tragic hero of Ryuu-sama is understandable (though I hate it), but making a tragic heroine out of this cute tiny shiny baby who radiates Moon energy around her is unforgivable

and in the end I come to a very sad conclusion. I do not want to come to Japan and watch either RomiJuri, or 'Too short a time'. moreover, seeing Mirio paired with another girl but Manaki would also make me feel awkward (just like I feel when I see Kiriya-sama with other musumeyaku-san) - in other words, I am not willing to watch 'Spring Snow' Bow. and moreover, skipping classes of my last year in the university when they have just started in October is not a good idea. what is left there, then? watching another Troupe

stop. searching for a BAITO. earning money. saying goodbye to buying shoes I wanted so much. organizing a trip to Japan, and this time - taking my friends with me, which is a thing I dreamt of, but which means additional burden of scheduling, searching for a hotel, buying tickets, etc. - all this for watching another Troupe??? nonsense

meseems, some more reasoning like this - and I am not going anywhere. but then, what about my discs??? buying them with the help of internet? and paying additional 4000 roubles for delivery? nonsense

sh*t

my humble opinion on the next performances of Moon Troupe

the worst thing I anticipated really happened...

some time ago I noticed that Ryuu-sama's voice sometimes reminds me of Yuzuki-sama's voice a bit. this fact led me to think over their images and I thought there is a slight resemblance, though I did not think of them as similar actresses, or anything

after RomiJuri was announced, I thought 'twas a performance suitable for Snow and Star, not for Moon, but well, in the end I almost changed my mind and started thinking - what if the Moon cast will do it differently so that I could even like RomiJuri in general?

still, when thinking about the dates of my possible new visit to Japan, I decided to wait until the National Tour is announced, because while feeling guilty that I am not entirely happy for the first performance of the new Moon, I vaguely hoped that the national Tour would be more interesting for me than RomiJuri and that would be an excuse to not go and watch RomiJuri

and the Tour was announced. and 'twas announced that Moon..... copies Star again. moreover, they do not revive an old classical performance, as 'twas in case with last year's 'My love lies over the mountain'. no, they repeat 'Too short a time to fall in love' which was performed twice in the last 5 years, and even during the same National Tour. and I wonder if anything can make Ryuu-sama original in such a performance? of course they are different with Yuzuki-sama, and the difference will be obvious. the similarity will be too, as 'twill be only emphasized by the play

I am not a too brave girl, so I shall not write an angry letter to Takarazuka board of directors expressing my disappointment. still, I am on the verge of complete sadness about the new Moon style. only doing what others already did. what for??? 

moreover, the performance itself irritates me greatly. I almost hate that kind of stories, full of inevitable despair. still, performed brilliantly by wonderful actresses of Star in 2011, the performance deserved my respect as a realistic tragedy. why, I want to understand, why does Moon have to repeat such kind of a play when it had an unlimited number of other performances to choose, both old and new, and also unwritten before ones...

this fact might be not as acutely painful as 'tis if not for the fact that Mirio will play a part in a performance based on Mishima Yukio's novel. this was the last straw... are you kidding???

is it only me or are they desperately trying to change the Top images? Masao, who was as nibante frequently portraying 'villains', or enemies, or rivals, or something like this - suddenly turns into considerably week and effete type. Mirio, seeming so caring and deep, suddenly starts to develop her Z-Boy side. I might have understood something wrong, but... becoming more tender and mild for Masao could be accomplished by becoming herself. the same goes for Mirio applying a stronger image. they both went too far. as for Manaki-sama, I know too little of her to state something, but ohhh, just look at how confused she is every time she speaks. 'Dancging Heroes' - a crybaby, RomiJuri presentation - red faced, trembling voice and repeating the same line for 3 times because of nervousness and shyness. and they try to make a womanly woman out of that cute little girl
why... who is the one who decided to do this... what for...

oh, please... do not let Moon become ordinary and boring...... I do not want it... please

*upd 02.05*
just read that Suzuki Toshiko is the new choreographer responsible for Moon's RomiJuri. will the new person change something, especially considering the fact she is a former Takarasienne...?

my humble opinion: ’Too Short a Time to Fall in Love’ by Star Troupe (2011)

introduction

this time it was not deliberate. I simply checked what I have in my Zuka folder and somehow I remembered that I was interested in the performance named 'Too Short a Time to Fall in Love' from the very moment I read its name for the first time. and somehow it turned out to be Star again. meseems, I shall watch all of the performances by Star available, to get acquainted with the troupe, as I have already began to do this. however, I am afraid I am actually too fond of the Yuzuki-sama-Nene-chan-Ouki-san group on stage. shall I be able to watch performances of the earlier Star?

I wonder how Yuzuki-sama became a Top after Aran-sama. is she (Aran-sama, I mean) not the 'affected' type, the one appealing to the public with her 'suffering' image? though her voice sounds too warm for that kind, I should admit (and actually, it was her voice what made me think better of her)

on the other hand, Yuzuki-sama and Ouki-san seemed to be such great partners. I begin to feel sorry Ouki-san was transferred...

the plot of the show

this time I feel much better. this is the kind I like, the one with many funny moments and characters destined to entertain the audience, as well as serious moments which really make my heart beat fast.

we are all fond of kissing-hugging-dancing-whatever, in terms of' 'rabu-shiin' but this time all this was replaced by a heart-gripping dialogue between the main characters. actually, after the dialogue in the middle of the show I already felt I did not need anything else. how surprised I was when I saw we have more of that! O____O

BTW, I have already mentioned it but Nene-chan seems to be apt to crying on the stage. though there are plenty of sad moments in the shows, methinks, I have seen such real tears literally falling down the musumeyaku's cheeks for the first time.

still, the end spoils it all. my honourable opponents may persuade me as long as they want, I shall never believe that those two should be separated. it is always up to thyself to decide, what is precious to thee, whether it is being with someone you love, or not. in other words, I cannot believe there was nothing they could do with the situation.

those arguments mean nothing to me. what is this? 'I shall never forgive myself' answers Claudia when Michael offers that he stays with her. she thinks he would be better becoming a rich owner of a company, having married with another woman, though he stats the opposite. hey, doth she even believe he loves her? if she doth, how can she say such things?

'for the sake of yours and the future that waits for you' sayth Anthony to Michael. he doth understand it well, of course, he is an expert, he knows better what Michael needs, eh? what a nonsense.

could anyone explain me what the good point of such performances is? the 魅力 of it, the appealing factors? why should I enjoy the story of people who make themselves suffer with their own hands? now with hands actually, with their decisions.

music

it hath been a whole day after I watched 'Romeo and Juliette' and I should admit I like the music in that show, as it is energetic and hath a lot of passion within. still, I cannot accept it as a Zuka's performance.

'Too Short a Time to Fall in Love', however, doth not sound that great and I am certainly not aiming to download it and listen to it with my walkman. at the same time, I like it much better than 'RaJ'. why is that? I am at a loss.

on the other hand, I suddenly remembered of 'The Scarlet Pimpernel' show, which was also a borrowed one - and sounded perfectly 'Zukish'. that makes me think, I was deeply wrong in thinking western musicals spoil Zuka.

where is the difference?

well, methinks the difference is the concept. the concept of the original SP book, the concept of the original musical seems to be very close to the one of the performances of Zuka. on the contrary, the concept of 'RaJ' seems to suppose too 'affected' performing. yes, there are strong feelings in the performances of Zuka, but they are of another kind. mehopes, they are.

the fact I dare to consider as a proof is that the end of 'RaJ' was so 'Zukish'. this means, they could not leave the musical as it was, they could not help making it more 'native'. and the ending really seemed to be in a contradiction with the main story.

what I would like to add is that the person who translated the name of the performance should face the shooting squad, or quartered, or...

now that was a joke. I am just angry about this variant of translation which affects the whole concept. it is NOT 'too short a time TO FALL IN LOVE' but 'too short a time TO LOVE', which means than the main characters had only 4 days to spend together, NOT that they were trying very hard to fall in love with each other and were not able to do this during such a short period. or did I get something wrong?

conclusion

having enjoyed so many sweet minutes of both the love scenes and the comedy moments, I was hoping so much to have a happy ending of a sensible people deliberately choosing the path of being together. I did not get it. if I were asked to perform in 'Too Short a Time to Fall in Love' I would refuse after reading the scenario. nothing could be more ridiculous. it reminds me of my lovely Moon performing 'My Love Lies over the Mountain' which was quite weak even in comparison with 'The Man from Algiers' which also had a bad ending, but seemed to be just a little more logical

to smoothen the bad impression, let us remember the cute moments. actually, I am too lazy to cut all of them, so let me show my favourite one. if only I got it right...
first, they are saying 'ka mo ne' which means 'maybe', and then we have the usual play on words - 'ka mo ne' turns into 'come on yeah, baby' and then goes even further - 'shake it out, babeee~' ^.^