Cleverly Disguised as a Responsible Adult

So lately I've been thinking a lot about dual-casts.  I'm not talking about revivals like Elisabeth where there are a few years in between, but rather when there are two casts of the same production going on at the same time (or at a very close time).  For example, the Tsukigumi and Hanagumi productions of Ernest in Love following one after another, or the recent Bow Hall workshops in which two different leads were cast for two different runs.

I'm wondering lately if this system just sets up one of the casts for failure.  Take, for example, Ernest in Love.  I think most people will agree that the Tsukigumi version was an extremely well directed show with very strong performances from the entire cast.  I also think I'm not the only one who puts it among their favorite Takarazuka productions ever.  The Hanagumi version, in comparison, tends to get overlooked.  I've seen it, and while it's still pretty good, it's just not the perfection that the Tsukigumi version is.  But At the same time, that kind of judgment isn't really fair to the hanagumi production.  Would Hanagumi's "Ernest in Love" be so overlooked if there wasn't the Tsukigumi version standing right next to it?

Okay, maybe that's a bit of an extreme example.  But recently wao_wao and I were talking, and according to her the same thing happened with the 2006 productions of Copacabana (both Hoshigumi and Soragmi put on productions at the same time).  I haven't seen either so I can't comment, but Julie said something along the lines of being annoyed that the Hoshigumi version overshadowed the Soragumi version when there was still a lot of merit to the latter.  (Julie, I hope I'm not misquoting you, I think you said something along those lines).

I don't know, maybe I'm taking a few examples to make too large of a generalization.  You would think/hope that having two casts would allow for them both to do things differently, but sometimes it just seems like one outshines the other and the weaker cast ends up becoming (sometimes undeservedly) completely overlooked.  So, I ask you dear friends list, does the whole system just set up one cast for failure?  I'm curious.

What brought all of this up was when I was talking to a friend of mine about the Hakataza MiiMai.  I was really relieved to hear that so many people were saying that both the Daigekijou and Hakataza casts were strong.  (Granted this was coming from a bunch of Kiriyan fans, but they still had a lot of good things to say about everyone in the Hakataza cast).  Then again the kind of people who got cast in major roles differed so much between the two productions that in this case it doesn't really count as a dual-cast.  (Because for example, would Magee have ever been cast as Parchester in a Daigekijou production?  Or Sonoka and Sir John?  This is why I love smaller shows).

I hope this late-night rambling makes some sense -_-;;;