Silver Rose Chronicle
Oct. 26th, 2007 12:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
matataku_hoshiI should be taking care of some e-mails. I should be cleaning my apartment since I have a friend coming in tomorrow from out of town. Instead, I'm writing my review of Silver Rose Chronicle, which I saw tonight.
I went into this show without knowing a whole lot about it and a lot of things were pleasant surprises. From now on, I want to do this as much as possible. I think I ruined my initial viewing of Mahoroba for myself by going into it knowing too much (I bought the Le Cinq, the Daigekijou program, read other people's reviews, listened to some of the music...) From now on I think I'm going to try to limit myself to the TakaWiki summary and maybe a few promotional pics.
I went to Kiriyan demachi at the Tokyo Gekijou afterwards. According to my fellow cultists, Asako, Kiriyan, and a bunch of other tsukigumi-sei went to see the show on Wednesday (when they had a day off). *grumble* I could have had a Kiriyan sighting if I went yesterday. Oh well, at least by going tonight I got to go to demachi afterwards...
This one grew on me. It took me a while to get into it, but by the end of it I decided that it fell into the "thumbs up" category.
If I haven't said it already, I love the Nippon Seinenkan. It's a much more intimate atmosphere than the Daigekijou or the Tokyo Gekijou. Since usually top stars don't play there, I can also get a much better seat (I was in the 7th row. I think I actually may have been in the same seat I sat in for one of the times I saw Osaka Samurai). Moreover, I like Theater Drama City/Bow Hall shows. They tend to more often be sung-through rather than dialogue heavy, they feature younger siennes, and there's more time to develop the characters.
The music was mostly your typical Takarazuka Music Factory fare, with maybe one or two that stood out. I thought this was the show's biggest weakness and that it really could have been enhanced by a better score. That being said, some of the tunes grew on me by the time they were reprised. The dancing was also "typical Zuka fare" with the exception of a few sequences (however, "typical Zuka fare" is a compliment for dancing. For the score...usually not).
The sets were slightly more elaborate than your typical Bow Hall show and were mostly put to good effect. There was a black and white silent movie at the beginning which I thought was pretty cool.
I have a weakness for vampires, particularly Zuka vampires. They're all the sexiness without the angst (or at least not on the level of say, Angel). The story appealed to me, even with all of the usual Bow Hall crack. (Er. I like Bow Hall crack, but...oh, never mind, will go into this in another post). I was really proud of myself for actually following the Japanese in this one. Or at least I think I did...other people are probably going to write up reviews and I'll realize I don't know what I'm talking about -_-; However, they picked sort of a weird place to end the first act. At intermission, my thoughts were "An enjoyable enough time and I'm glad I went, but not great." I thought the second act was better and that was what changed my mind. I really liked the ending. I thought it was very sweet, although I think it could have just ended without the very last pre-finale scene. (For the people who have seen it: You know, the one with the moon in the background...)
I guess the central plot was serious, but there was still room for lots of Zuka crack and silliness which made me laugh.
Onto the performances...
Yumiko: I've seen her here and there in hana shows, but never in a big role until Elisabeth. Her Franz-Joseph didn't do much for me, but at the time I acknowledged that I usually didn't like Franz to begin with and that I should give her another chance. I can now say that she's growing on me. She didn't give me the same "Oh my God, this girl needs to be promoted now" that I got with Kiriyan in Osaka Samurai, but I definitely thought she had potential. Hopefully she will continue to ripen over the next few years. (Note: Er...that comment obviously has a lot of bias -_-;) Somehow I never noticed in Elisabeth that she has a very pretty voice. This is what I mean when I said that I felt the show could have been enhanced by a better score. Her geeky Elliot was a little too over the top at times, but I liked him anyway. Sexy Elliot was very easy on the eyes. She showed a range of emotions over the course of the show that I thought was impressive.
Otsuki Sayu: I went into the show knowing almost nothing about her. I've now put her on my list of Musumeyaku to Steal. I don't know how to put it into words, but there was a presence about her that was very appealing. In order for the show to work you had to believe that Annabelle had something special that stood out to Elliot, and she successfully portrayed this. She was innocent and sweet without becoming annoying or a stereotypical musumeyaku. Also, she and Yumiko worked well together. Given that this is a romance, that was important.
Kaname: How did I never notice how tall she is? I mean, I knew she was tall, but somehow I never noticed it in comparison to Yumiko in Elisabeth. To be honest, I liked her Rudolph better, but I'm sure that Kaname fans will find plenty to squee about. Did I mention that she tangos with Yumiko at one point? It was hot. I will say that I had a hard time remembering during the show that she had played Rudolph before this. This is a good thing, as it shows flexibility in her acting.
Ozuki Tooma: Another very tall sienne. Er...honestly, I didn't have much of a reaction to her one way or another. She was solid. Um...don't kill me?
I'm afraid that I really don't know my yukigumi underclassmen at all, but a lot of people had fun little roles and the cast seemed to be enjoying themselves.
Recommended for: Fans of the actresses involved (particularly Yumiko), vampire fans, yukigumi fans
If I haven't said it already, I love the Nippon Seinenkan. It's a much more intimate atmosphere than the Daigekijou or the Tokyo Gekijou. Since usually top stars don't play there, I can also get a much better seat (I was in the 7th row. I think I actually may have been in the same seat I sat in for one of the times I saw Osaka Samurai). Moreover, I like Theater Drama City/Bow Hall shows. They tend to more often be sung-through rather than dialogue heavy, they feature younger siennes, and there's more time to develop the characters.
The music was mostly your typical Takarazuka Music Factory fare, with maybe one or two that stood out. I thought this was the show's biggest weakness and that it really could have been enhanced by a better score. That being said, some of the tunes grew on me by the time they were reprised. The dancing was also "typical Zuka fare" with the exception of a few sequences (however, "typical Zuka fare" is a compliment for dancing. For the score...usually not).
The sets were slightly more elaborate than your typical Bow Hall show and were mostly put to good effect. There was a black and white silent movie at the beginning which I thought was pretty cool.
I have a weakness for vampires, particularly Zuka vampires. They're all the sexiness without the angst (or at least not on the level of say, Angel). The story appealed to me, even with all of the usual Bow Hall crack. (Er. I like Bow Hall crack, but...oh, never mind, will go into this in another post). I was really proud of myself for actually following the Japanese in this one. Or at least I think I did...other people are probably going to write up reviews and I'll realize I don't know what I'm talking about -_-; However, they picked sort of a weird place to end the first act. At intermission, my thoughts were "An enjoyable enough time and I'm glad I went, but not great." I thought the second act was better and that was what changed my mind. I really liked the ending. I thought it was very sweet, although I think it could have just ended without the very last pre-finale scene. (For the people who have seen it: You know, the one with the moon in the background...)
I guess the central plot was serious, but there was still room for lots of Zuka crack and silliness which made me laugh.
Onto the performances...
Yumiko: I've seen her here and there in hana shows, but never in a big role until Elisabeth. Her Franz-Joseph didn't do much for me, but at the time I acknowledged that I usually didn't like Franz to begin with and that I should give her another chance. I can now say that she's growing on me. She didn't give me the same "Oh my God, this girl needs to be promoted now" that I got with Kiriyan in Osaka Samurai, but I definitely thought she had potential. Hopefully she will continue to ripen over the next few years. (Note: Er...that comment obviously has a lot of bias -_-;) Somehow I never noticed in Elisabeth that she has a very pretty voice. This is what I mean when I said that I felt the show could have been enhanced by a better score. Her geeky Elliot was a little too over the top at times, but I liked him anyway. Sexy Elliot was very easy on the eyes. She showed a range of emotions over the course of the show that I thought was impressive.
Otsuki Sayu: I went into the show knowing almost nothing about her. I've now put her on my list of Musumeyaku to Steal. I don't know how to put it into words, but there was a presence about her that was very appealing. In order for the show to work you had to believe that Annabelle had something special that stood out to Elliot, and she successfully portrayed this. She was innocent and sweet without becoming annoying or a stereotypical musumeyaku. Also, she and Yumiko worked well together. Given that this is a romance, that was important.
Kaname: How did I never notice how tall she is? I mean, I knew she was tall, but somehow I never noticed it in comparison to Yumiko in Elisabeth. To be honest, I liked her Rudolph better, but I'm sure that Kaname fans will find plenty to squee about. Did I mention that she tangos with Yumiko at one point? It was hot. I will say that I had a hard time remembering during the show that she had played Rudolph before this. This is a good thing, as it shows flexibility in her acting.
Ozuki Tooma: Another very tall sienne. Er...honestly, I didn't have much of a reaction to her one way or another. She was solid. Um...don't kill me?
I'm afraid that I really don't know my yukigumi underclassmen at all, but a lot of people had fun little roles and the cast seemed to be enjoying themselves.
Recommended for: Fans of the actresses involved (particularly Yumiko), vampire fans, yukigumi fans
I went into this show without knowing a whole lot about it and a lot of things were pleasant surprises. From now on, I want to do this as much as possible. I think I ruined my initial viewing of Mahoroba for myself by going into it knowing too much (I bought the Le Cinq, the Daigekijou program, read other people's reviews, listened to some of the music...) From now on I think I'm going to try to limit myself to the TakaWiki summary and maybe a few promotional pics.
I went to Kiriyan demachi at the Tokyo Gekijou afterwards. According to my fellow cultists, Asako, Kiriyan, and a bunch of other tsukigumi-sei went to see the show on Wednesday (when they had a day off). *grumble* I could have had a Kiriyan sighting if I went yesterday. Oh well, at least by going tonight I got to go to demachi afterwards...
