Long Review of La Esperanza
Written: January 2005
(Review of "La Esperanza/Takarazuka Maimu!" live at the Tokyo Theater in Fall 2004)
"La Esperanza" is another play that seems to have been created by the Instant-Takarazuka-Plot-Generator: Argentina. Characters with weird names. Tango dancing. Guilt. A "spunky" heroine with practically no personality. I kept waiting for the gigolos to show up - don't these shows always have gigolos??
Meanwhile, "Takarazuka Maimu!" has a theme of Greek mythology, which I didn't really expect them to take too seriously. I mean, I've seen plenty of revues that supposedly had a "theme" in which I could never figure out what anything had to do with that theme... At intermission, I cheerfully told my husband he could relax now, because there was no more plot to keep track of.
After reading the plot description, I didn't have very high expectations of "La Esperanza." I mean, the main characters Carlos (a dancer) and Mirva (a painter) "both have an affinity to see penguins freely living in nature." Huh?? But, this play was actually pretty cute. The whole penguin thing worked well in the dialogue. And I liked that this didn't become one of those "Person goes from beginner to expert just in time for the big contest!" stories. I hate that. (Although, "Mirva" whips out a pretty good tango in the first scene for someone who claims never to have danced before. Having taken some very basic ballroom dance lessons, I can speak with authority on the fact that IT'S NOT THAT EASY! Guess it really is a "dream world.")
I really enjoyed the music- I don't often find Takarazuka-written plays to have very catchy themes, but I liked the "Penguin no Yume" song and "La Esperanza" wasn't bad either. Actually, I thought these two numbers were "catchier" than the revue theme was. I also enjoyed that this play didn't take itself too seriously, or get all overwrought. There were some quite funny moments - and several decent musumeyaku roles! I haven't seen many shows during the last two years, so I can't tell if this is the new standard or not - but it was nice.
On to the actors.
Haruno Sumire: I last saw Flower troupe live while Osa was substituting for Takumi Hibiki before becoming topstar. She didn't really have that "top star" vibe yet then, but she's really got it now. And she still has that powerful voice! I really like the power and depth of Osa's singing voice and she's also a beautiful dancer. I thought "Carlos" was a typical Takarazuka hero - that is, flat and kinda boring, but Osa was good at playing him.
Fuzuki Miyo: I really like Fu-chan and though this wasn't what I'd call a "meaty" role, I thought she did really well with it. She has a pretty good singing voice - not the best musumeyaku I've heard, but far from the worst. I really enjoyed the way she could use her speaking voice for effect. I'm not quite sure how to explain this... If I say she can do funny voices, people will think I mean that she does impressions or something. It's more... she would make her voice a little rougher, or raise or lower the pitch. Osa likes to do the same thing. It was nice that she had a couple singing numbers without Osa, I felt like the play really gave a lot of time to all the musumeyaku.
Mizu Natsuki: Makes a great tango-dancer. This was basically a "best friend" role, although she got some funny moments. I don't really have anything strong to say one way or another.
Toono Asuka: She's matured a lot as a performer since I saw her in "Kohaku no Ame" and "Gone with the Wind." In particular, her singing voice is much, much better. Boy, but that girl used to screech! I used to like her in spite of her rough edges, so it's nice to see them getting smoothed out.
Kiriya Hiromu: I didn't recognize her at first! They were hiding her behind that hat and the rough "older" demeanor - and I was way in the back at the top of the theater. I couldn't see that Kiriyan smile until the revue! (No, it didn't take me that long to recognize her...) I was really impressed by how well she played an older character - I seriously thought at first that it was one of the "mature" troupe members!
Ayabuki Mao: Ah, my second-favoritist star. :) I kept thinking, where's Yumiko, where's Yumiko? She'd wander across stage through the first half of the play as someone in the crowd, or join in the chorus in a song or dance number... *Finally* in the second half, she came on as Juan, a.k.a. "Doormat Boy." This was one of those "sweet young lad with a health problem" roles. Basically, her job was to get sick and then beg Osa's character to dance in her place. Uh, what real person would do this? Luckily, Yumiko is great at cute and sweet. And her dance number with Osa and Mizu was SO MUCH FUN (I was really impressed by how well the other actors played the pots and pans, too!)
Ranju Tomu: Had practically nothing to work with, so I won't blame her that she was a pretty boring documentary filmmaker. She was mostly there to forward the narrative flow, going "And then what happened?" and commenting on the story. Yawn.
I also really liked: Yo Natsumi as Mirva's (Fu-chan's) art teacher. The musumeyaku who played Mizu's dance partner - I *think* it was Sakura Ichika as "Inesu". The actress who played Juan's dance partner - who was a great dancer, but if her character had a name, I can't figure out what it was, much less who the actress was.
Now on to the revue!
So, I was feeling all complacent and relaxed going in to watch "Takarazuka Maimu!" The hard part is over - no more plot to decipher, no more characters to keep track of... Oh, sweet bliss! I can sit back, relax, and enjoy the fluff...
But, no! This revue has a plot (sort of)! And consistent characters (sort of)! If Toono Asuka was representing Aphrodite in one scene, she was *still* Aphrodite in the next scene. What's up with that?? Do these people not understand what I need and expect from a revue?? Namely: Fluffiness! Sparkles! Feathers! Really heinous lime green costumes with bellbottoms! If I have to listen to the lyrics of a song in a revue to understand what's going on, I'm working too hard!
Seriously, folks... I did like this revue. It's hard to say *what* exactly I liked so much... other than just the overall execution of the theme as a whole (although the costumes were not at all Greek...) None of the music was all that catchy.
...And, worst of all, this revue inflicted the most heinous of all crimes a revue can inflict on a top musumeyaku.
No matter how much she is ignored in a play or revue, a top musumeyaku has a god-given (or at least a tradition-given) right to one thing... And that is a top star pair dance at the end.
This revue committed the capitol offense of denying Fuu-chan her pair-dance (she instead danced *very* briefly with Osa, then walked up the grand staircase while Osa danced with Kiriyan and Mizu) and for that I absolutely CANNOT forgive it. For shame, writers/choreographers of "Takarazuka Maimu!" Now you must live with my eternal ire!
Now that everyone is a-gasp with shock and horror at the indignity of it all, shall I move on to the high points?
High Point #1: The Trojan war... in less than 10 minutes... and set to Latin music. As my husband pointed out, it was "West Side Story" ... only with Troy. Mizu as Hector, Kiriyan as Achilles, and my own darling Yumiko looking cute-as-a-bug as Paris... It's like the universe wanted to make it up to me for the three hours I sat through "Troy" the movie (And believe me, that is three hours of my life that I'll never get back...)
High Point #2: The intro. Gorgeous! And boy can that Maishiro Nodoka dance - so pretty and elegant. *sigh*
High Point #3: The approximately four minutes each that Toono Asuka and Fuu-chan got to spend on stage as Aphrodite and Hera, respectively. They were both funny and suited their characters - with those super-high, bubbly voices. But come on, let's spare a little more time for our top musumeyaku folks! She didn't get anymore scenes than Toono! Through the whole revue I kept waiting for Fuu-chan to come out again. Do these people not know what a top musumeyaku is for???
High Point #4: Vast quantities of Ayabuki Mao!!!! She even got to be "Hermes" in one scene, who was always my favorite Greek god. Yumiko's getting more stage time now, which is nice for me. She did the vocals for several numbers.... Though, as it happens, I didn't feel like her voice has improved much in the last two years. She actually sounded better in "Elisabeth" than she did here. She's one of those otokoyaku who usually sounds very good, but loses her notes when she tries to go too low.