日本のファンドーム、私の人生の一部

Slight cast change.

Cast List [December 18 Matinee]:

Death – Takeda Shinji
Elisabeth – Suzukaze Mayo
Franz Joseph – Ishikawa Zen
Lucheni – Takashima Masahiro
Rudolf – Irei Kanata
Sophie – Kotobuki Hizuru
Young Rudolf – ?

First, Takeda Shinji stole the show. Almost every point will be made back to him.

Takeda Shinji
This guy. Was. Amazing. Sure his singing was mediocre at best, while he was on pitch 95% of the time, he sometimes does this ‘thing’ with his voice that irked the crap out of him. BUt overall, I actually quite like his voice tone. It’s tolerable. I’d listen to him again. And again. But his acting, was crazy fantastic. There’s no other words to decribe it. You’re drawn into his Death just by watchimg him – forget about the singing, everything was forgiven once he started moving across the stage. I’ve always known he was a great actor (many Japanese movies over the last 3 months starring him), but never did I expect such a fierce Death from such a small figure. It was almost cute – Takeda had to wear platforms to elevate his height. Even so, he was barely taller than Suzukaze.

His really small frame led to almost mistake him as a female character more than once. But I love it. His Death is one word – feisty. But the way he moves across the stage, it’s brilliant – he’s so comfortable as Death. And his Death is crazy demanding, and he’d do anything to get what he wants. Such a different intepretation, but a really good one nonetheless. Also, Takeda growls a lot as Death, which is one of my favorite points about him. This came out fantastic during Franz Joseph’s Alptraum.

Did I mention that his Death is crazy good looking? Now I have. /shallow. Also, Takeda is just plain gorgeous. During ‘Elisabeth’, he starts off sprawled across the desk, whereas Yamaguchi just sits. Afterwhich he cradles Elisabeth in his arms (and gropes her – he’s insanely gropey), but it was really hot.

Suzukaze Mayo
What a difference in their voices! Suzukaze’s voice is very much mellower (?), and pleasant to listen to. She makes a better Empress than Asami did, but Asami’s younger Elisabeth was certainly much more believable. Her voice played off Takeda’s almost perfectly, although you could still hear his vocal issues, but Wenn ich Tanzen Will is very nice – especially the cheorography on stage. I don’t know if it’s the two of them or just Takeda Shinji, but the Death/Elisabeth pairing came across really strongly. Suzukaze played off him very well too, she responses convincincly to all of Takeda’s actions. Very nice. I very much preferred her over Asami.

Ishikawa Zen
My previous opinions still stand, but he did appear to have fantastic chemistry with Suzukaze. I almost didn’t want her to go to Death in the end. Almost. ;)

I’ll talk about Franz Joseph’s Alptraum here:
I love the conducting. I don’t recall Yamaguchi conducting, but Takeda makes a huge scene of it. It was in a way rather cute, but also really fierce at the same time. Ishikawa played off Takeda here in a brilliant fashion, and you could almost hear the desperation in both of their voices and see it in their actions. It’s as though Death, although knowing that he would ultimately in, began to question his ability in getting Elisabeth’s heart. And you could totally see that Ishikawa’s Franz Joseph had no intention of giving her up, even though he knew that there was no way he could win.

This is a very visual scene, it has to be watched, preferably live. I can’t describe it. I thought this was the most amazing Takeda Shinji moment in the whole musical.

Takashima Masahiro
I’m happy to ship his Lucheni with Takeda’s Death. Takashima tried to take some liberties with his melodies this time, and it was actually much more fun to watch him. Plus, he totally plays with Takeda’s Death, as though he is amused with what Death is trying to do. I didn’t get that impression with Yamaguchi.

Irei Kanata
Tenimyu standards still stand, although Irei’s voice is definitely stronger than before, but when you put Irei with Takeda singing Schatten, it is almost rather painful to listen to. Irei can’t hold the melody line, and there was no way in hell Takeda could back him up. It was very unlike the Takeda/Urai pair I watched, Urai has the ability to hold the line while Takeda sings the counter. Irei could barely hit the high notes in Wenn ich dein Spiegel wär, and I cringed at that.

BUT. All his vocal flaws, along with Takeda’s, were forgotten in a flash, during the first minute / chorus of the Schatten. Irei plays Rudolf slightly too wimpy for my liking, but he also plays Rudolf as helplessly in love with the mysterious Death – or so the impression I get from the way the two of them interact with each other, especially during Schatten (I may be mistaken, but I ship Death/Rudolf). Because of the massive height difference between Irei and Takeda (maybe just about 5,6 cm after the platform boots for Takeda. It’s more significant with Urai…) the cheorography for Schatten was completely altered. This new Schatten involved Rudolf on his knees for a good part of the song, and Takeda takes advantage of that, and his Death uses this opportunity to plan for a way to use Rudolf to achieve his goal – Elisabeth.

Schatten was incredibly hot. Incredibly gropey, and incredibly amazing. There were sparks flying everywhere, even if you get the impression that Death is only using Rudolf, and Rudolf was willing to let himself be sacrificed for Death (oh wimp). It was good that for every single action by Death, Rudolf would respond. When Death placed a hand on Rudolf’s face at the end of the first chorus, before leaning in to kiss him, Irei’s Rudolf actually wanted to, but he pulled away at the last moment. Picture.

Image from Elisabeth 2008 program, Imperial Theatre.

When Death pulls Rudolf around his body, Rudolf reacts in a way that he does not understand why he’s so attracted, and how he knows that Death is so far away – immediately after that Death tosses him onto the floor. But Death still tries to kiss him, once more, before telling him that he should take the throne (lyrics) – in a sense that if not, “you mean nothing to me”. Bastard.

Did I fail to mention that for Takeda’s Death, the Rudolf would be on his knees half the time? I love responsive Rudolfs, and Irei’s Rudolf is one of the most responsive I’ve seen.

Image from a musical magazine.

Also, even though his singing is less than impressive, you can hear the despair in Irei’s Rudolf during Wenn ich dein Spiegel wär as he discovers that everyone he loved once had forsaken him; Death, Elisabeth, Franz Joseph… If I actually understood Japanese fluently, I would have cried – the lyrics are heartbreaking too. ):

Takeda also ends up giving one of the longest Death to Rudolf kisses ever. And unlike Yamaguchi who practically envelopes Urai, Irei had to lean into Takeda’s body. Veeery hot. And at that point in time, as Death passes Rudolf the gun before turning away, I somehow felt from Death that, maybe, somehow, he did not want to kill this boy. And the (adhjkasdfrickingawesomeasdjhkasd) kiss? It was almost like Death was finally saying ‘goodbye’. *heart, pain!*

Also, today’s young Rudolf was remarkable. He gets the Sheryl stamp of approval.

And, for Mama, wo bist du?, if Uwe Kroger’s portrayal was considered pedophilic, I don’t know what Takeda’s would be called. I thought it was sweet though, after a few days of mulling over it, the way Takeda blows a kiss to Rudolf. It’s almost like telling him that, there is someone who loves you (whether or not for the damn wrong reason, I don’t care!)

To conclude, I originally thought that if I could overlap the sounds from day 1 onto day 2, except for Elisabeth, it would have been a perfect cast. But, I take that thinking back – It’s because of Takeda’s flaws that make him so endearing, and Irei’s emotional voice that gets to you (not forgiving the wimpy Rudolf yet, Rudolf’s my favorite character!), and the intensity of how each member plays their character that made this performance well deserving of the 5 curtain calls. Or was it 6? And the standing ovation was spot on.

Thus ends my Elisabeth journey. Perhaps they’ll reprise their roles again in 2010. I would want to watch Takeda/Urai, and Takeda/Irei again.