Our second trip to Takarazuka was for a play based off the classic
“Beauty and the Beast”; seen here is Mr. Tiger (the parallel to Lumiere
from the Disney movie) first appearing in front of Belle.
As a way to
celebrate being able to stay in Japan, Nicky, Erin and I all went to
Takarazuka a couple of weeks ago to see a rendition of Beauty and the Beast, with
a theme of “One.” I think the play was alright. It could be because I
really liked the Disney version of this story and was attached to the
characters and the way they were presented in that version, but, in
general, I think the translation of the plot was pretty weak, and there
was literally no character development.
One of the things I found annoying was
that Belle and the Beast just sort of... fell in love. There wasn’t any
real trigger for it; they just did. In any case, the play was sort of
weak, but it was made up for by a brilliant after show: the man
attraction- flare and cancans, sparkles and sequins- in essence, the
flamboyance that has made Takarazuka famous throughout the world. We got
to see dancing unicorns in space, Uncle Sam whip women in cat suits,
flamenco, down on their luck gamblers hitting the jackpot, among other
wildly lit-up performances. It was a blast, and at one point, our row
was laughing so hard that everyone else in the theatre could hear us.
I’m looking forward to going to see the Phantom of the Opera show later this year!