This season’s hottest play is the Takarazuka’s rendition of Romeo &
Juliet. We were lucky enough to get tickets to go- they sold out in
under twelve hours!
The long-awaited day has
arrived. Nicky and I went with Erin to see a well-known Japanese
peculiarity and national sensation- Takarazuka.
For those that don’t know Takarazuka,
you can imagine the more traditional art form of Kabuki, but now, with
only female actors. Now, imagine sequins, and feathers, an obligatory
can-can dance, and Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, and you have one of
the craziest, fantastic shows I have ever seen.
Takarazuka takes its name from the
town it started in, Takarazuka, of Hyogo prefecture, in 1913. The
troupe’s production style is much like Broadway, taking many western
plays (An Officer and A Gentleman, For Whom the Bell Tolls) and adapting
them into their own lavish style. This season’s most long-awaited play
was Romeo and Juliet, a play they haven’t done since 2007. I honestly
didn’t know what to expect, going in, but I am so happy I went.
I
had never seen a live, theatrical performance of Romeo and Juliet
before, and from my days in the ninth grade, I seem to remember it being
quite cliche (even though it was where those cliches were born from).
However, I was absolutely stunned to see it live, and in the manner that
Takarazuka did it. Throughout the entire play (which had been turned
into a musical) there were two characters in particular that I fell in
love with. Love and Death. They had no dialog. They only danced, or
lurked around the characters in their more intense moments, and at
times, Death would be beaten by Love, but.... ‘he’ won in the end- when
he was the one disguised as the apothecary that gave Romeo his poison.
It was a gorgeous play, and very
moving- however, no show can end without a can-can.... so.... after the
orchestra had calmed the final scene to silence, suddenly a disco ball
fell, and forty women in 40s style can-can costumes came out to dance in
a line and giggle. It was disconcerting for a moment, until we realized
that they had put their famed dance into the final bow of the
production.
I loved it so much, and funds willing, I would jump at the chance to go to another one.
