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Written: July 2003

Finally got a chance to watch my new "Elisabeth" DVD. I watched it once, and then I went back and watched all my favorite parts again.

Actually, I hadn't meant to watch the whole thing all at once. But I just put it on for a few minutes while everyone was having breakfast and... I got sucked in. ;) I couldn't help myself!

The DVD itself is another two disk set - and All Region. I kinda wish they'd make up their mind whether they're going to release disks as "All Region" or "Region 2" - as it is we have no way of knowing until we actually buy it. Anyway, disk one has the complete show, the usual menu options of "by scene" and "by musical number" - and that's it. No alternate camera angles, at least that I could see, and those are one of my favorite DVD extras!

The second disk is "We Love ELISABETH" and has special DVD interviews with cast members - one with Haruno Sumire, another with Ootori Rei, Sakiho Juri, Sena Jun, and Ayabuki Mao, a third with the otokoyaku who played the revolutionaries, and the last with the girls who played the death angels. I watched the first two, but it was kind of noisy and I couldn't follow everything. It didn't help that the interviews were overlaid "Star no Kobeya"-style with scenes from rehearsal. I appreciate being able to see both, but I wish I could watch them at different times. With both on screen at once like that, I find it hard to concentrate on either one.

I have to mention how much I enjoyed seeing Yumiko (Ayabuki) out of character. It reminded me how nice it was seeing her at iri/demach in Tokyo. She's always so sweet. She was cute in her talk with her sempai. I couldn't follow her second story (stupid brothers being loud...) but her introduction made me smile. She said how much she enjoyed playing Rudolph, even though he was only on stage for 14 minutes in the whole show. But that she also performed a lot of minor parts in the first act - she was probably on the DVD somewhere, so please look for her. (I haven't been able to find her yet...)

They also told some blooper stories. Ootori Rei accidentally called Sakiho Juri "Rudolph" instead of "Franz" once - in the scene where Sophie is giving Elisabeth a hard time, Ootori cried "Rudolph, help me!" Sakiho told a story about accidentally putting Elisabeth's necklace on backwards during "Ayashi mo Kowakunai" so that the dull, ugly side showed. Apparently some people in the front rows let her know she'd messed up.

Okay, from now I'm going to get into reviewing performers so there may be some spoilers for "Elisabeth." I'm not going to describe the plot, because it's been done many times before.

This was the most overall solid production of Elisabeth I've seen. I'm going to make a minor complaint about the costumes, which weren't as good as some of the others - Star Troupe in particular had gorgeous costumes. A few of Flower Troupe's costumes seemed downright... cheap. Nothing too bad, just not as good as some of the others I've seen.

It was great seeing Ritsu Tomomi as Elisabeth's father. She's so awesome - they must really be missing her in Moon Troupe now that she's moved to senka. Natsumi You was good as Sophie, but not as good as... Oh, I can't remember the name of the actress who played her for Star and Cosmos troupes... Tono Asuka did a better job as the crazy woman than I expected, although hers wasn't my favorite of the performers I've seen. Her voice sounded better than when I saw her in "Cocktail" last year. Mochizuki Rise was a painless Child Rudolph - I still prefer Aran Kei, of course, and Tsukikage Hitomi was good in this role too.

On to the main roles:

Haruno Sumire (Der Tod/Death): I had heard some mixed reviews, and seeing Haruno last year she didn't seem quite ready to be top star, so I was prepared to be disappointed. I shouldn't have worried - Haruno is a top star for a reason and she nailed this role in every single aspect. I loved Asaji Saki as Tod for her acting, and I loved Shizuki Asato for her singing, but Haruno just gets the feeling, the voice, the dancing - everything. She is my favorite all-round Tod. When she does the intro to "Ai to Shi no Rondo," where Tod is welcoming Elisabeth to the world of the dead - doing his usual death-spiel - and then he looks at Elisabeth, really looks at her, and Haruno just gets this look on her face that made me believe Tod was really falling in love that abruptly and foolishly. Wow.

And, boy can that girl SING! I love the way she uses her voice and will deliberately send it down low and rough - and powerful. I heard her do this for effect in "Cocktail" and I loved it then, and she uses it just at the right moments in Elisabeth too.

Ootori Rei (Elisabeth): Her voice sounded so good! She really kept it under control well, and especially in the scenes where Elisabeth was older, and she could sing lower, her voice sounded wonderful. (Off topic: What is with that last note in "Watashi Dake Ni"? I'm not talking about any particular actress' way of singing it, just that they have to sing it at all. It sounds like the old emergency alert sound from the radio. I have to brace myself every time for that final "Watashi... niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" Ow!) I was particularly impressed because I've never been crazy about Ootori's singing style before. Her acting was great too - I knew she'd be good at the "regal" moments, but I was surprised by how well she pulled off the strongly emotional ones and the open, earnest, air of the young Elisabeth.

Sakiho Juri (Franz Joseph): I can't say I'm a fan of Sakiho, not because I dislike her but because I haven't seen her that much. But I liked her Franz Joseph.

That may not sound like much, so let me put it in context. Every other time I've seen Elisabeth I've found Franz Joseph boring. I have sighed heavily any number of times and yawned through "Arashi mo Kowakunai." I like Wao Youka, but she seemed bored by the role. Minoru Kou was fine but... I felt nothing. "Get over yourself, Franz Joseph!" was my strongest thought for this character until now.

It's not that I can point to any one thing that Sakiho did differently that I liked. It's just... she seemed to feel the role. From her I finally understood where the character was coming from and I had sympathy for his inner struggle. The responsibility for his country, wanting to follow love but always pressed by duty... I actually got all mushy during "Ayashi mo Kowakunai."

BTW, Sakiho can sing too. She has one of those voices that just makes you want to close your eyes, relax, and be swept away.

Sena Jun (Lucheni): Before anyone throws anything at me, I want to say that I like Sena, I think she's great, and she was good in this role. It's just that... I didn't feel like she brought anything new to it. Todoroki Yuu, Shibuki Jun, and Kozuki Wataru all had their own interpretations of Lucheni and they each gave him a different personality. Sena's was... Sena's was Kozuki's Lucheni. Only, Kozuki already did Kozuki's Lucheni, so we didn't really need Sena to do it too. You know? I had high hopes, which is probably why I was disappointed, but Sena is such a strong performer and so talented, I just felt she could have done more.

I thought it was sweet Haruno and Sena did the Finale dance number together, instead of with just Haruno. How unusual, and nice, that the two friends got to dance it together.

Ayabuki Mao (Rudolph): FAVORITISM WARNING: Ayabuki Mao is my second favorite star. Therefore, my opinions should be taken with an exceedingly large grain of salt. ;)

Okay, here's the thing. "Yami ga Hirogaru" is my favorite Elisabeth song and as far as I'm concerned, the performance was nailed by Shizuki Asato and Asami Hikaru from Cosmos troupe. I have seen every single Takarazuka version of this number (Except for Flower troupe's shinjin-kouen) and no one else gives this number the sheer intensity and power that these two did. No one.

Haruno and Ayabuki did fine, but they were no Shizuki and Asami. They went out, they sounded great, they did it. I felt the number, it worked. They just didn't throw themselves into the number in the same way. I do have to give them some credit for one thing though - this scene is highly choreographed and there's not always a lot of room to make your own mark on it. But the way Haruno practically dragged Ayabuki across the stage during the first chorus - that was good. I was all, "Whoa! Don't fall!" And their shoes didn't even squeak.

BTW, Haruno and Ayabuki's voices harmonize better than Shizuki and Asami's did. And there's no stage noise either, which makes this my favorite version of "Yami ga Hirogaru" in terms of the singing. (I'm complimenting the vocals in this show a lot, aren't I? Well, they were the best of any of the Takarazuka performances. I don't own an album version of Takarazuka's Elisabeth yet - Cosmos was my favorite, but there's so much stage noise. Now I'm thinking of buying Flower troupe's.)

I got off topic, but back to Ayabuki. She was a great Rudolph. For the most part, I'd put her on par with Emao Yuu - they both did best in the scenes other than "Yami." Ayabuki was a very earnest Rudolph, trying so hard to make his father understand that the world was changing... She (like Emao) didn't quite get her final dance number as strong as Asami did (Asami is such a great dancer, and she was always at her best when Shizuki was on stage too.)

Ayabuki's absolute best scene was "Boku wa Mama no Kagami Dakara" ("Because I'm Mama's Mirror"). This is the best version of this scene I've seen, and I was almost in tears. Ayabuki can just emote like crazy sometimes. She really expressed what it's like not to have anyone understand what you're going through and to be estranged from the very people who should know and love you the most. When Elisabeth tells Rudolph that he's an adult now, and can help himself, Ayabuki just smiles like, "You have no idea..." Heartbreaking. Way to go, Yumiko.

To sum up: This was a good production. It was missing some of the highs of the other productions (Star Troupe's costumes, Shizuki and Asami's "Yami ga Hirogaru"), but it was also missing some of the lows (Cosmos Troupe's Child Rudolph, mike problems and stage noise). My final thought at the end was that it was good, it was enjoyable, but it didn't bring anything new to the play and it didn't do anything that hadn't been done before. Yes, there was a new musical number, but that's not what I mean. The main actors used their skill and talent to make it exciting and fun to watch, but at the end I felt like - I've seen all this before. There was nothing new in the staging, nothing new in the feel of it.

Maybe that's just the American coming out in me, but to my mind the point of live theater is the fact that it's never the same. Every time the directors, actors, backstage helpers, and audience come together to create the show, and it can never be exactly the same again. Otherwise, just perform it once, film it, and leave it alone. ;)

Anyway, that's my way of thinking.