Cleverly Disguised as a Responsible Adult

I suppose I should warn my friends list that I will be blogging about hoshigumi's upcoming Scarlet Pimpernel obsessedly in the coming months. In high school I really fell in love with the Broadway musical. It inspired me to read the books, which I also fell in love with. As soon as I got into Takarazuka, I (like many others) said that this would make a perfect Takarazuka show. And really...aagh, Touko is going to be so awesome. As will Chie and Asuka and all of the rest of the hoshigumisei <3 <3 <3  In any case, I think several people have linked to this already, but I feel the need to comment on it anyway.  Am doing this in bullet points because I am lazy:

• I'm trying to adjust to the sight of Blond Hair!Touko, but I think it'll definitely grow on me.   (Besides, it would be a little strange if Percy didn't have blond hair, now that I think about it).  *scratches head* Except she wasn't blond on the first publicity picture that went up on the site earlier...oh well, I guess that wasn't a final design anyway.
  

• According to the article, Touko sang 「ひとかけらの勇気」 (I think this is "Into the Fire") and Touko, Chie, and Asuka sang 「謎解きのゲーム」 (The Riddle).  I am praying that this is on the news tomorrow, or at the very least that it shows up on the website soon. 

• The casting of Chie as Chauvelin doesn't surprise me, and I think she'll be wonderful.  The only thing is I always got the impression from the books and the Broadway musical that Chauvelin wasn't supposed to be younger than Percy... Oh well ^^;; I'm really curious about where Tatsuki You and Suzumi Shio will be cast.  I'm guessing they'll end up as either Armand (Marguerite's younger brother), Andrew (Percy's best friend), or Tussaud (a guy who Percy ends up saving).

• For those of you who aren't familiar with Pimpernel, there's an absolutely wonderful number in the middle in which Percy teaches the other members of the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel how to be fops.  They wear some pretty outrageous costumes in the process.  I always wondered how Takarazuka would deal with this, given that even "normal" costumes in Takarazuka tend to be pretty outrageous.  My idea way back when was that originally everyone would be costumed very starkly, so then when Percy begins to dress like a fop there would be a contrast.  Judging from the pictures on ENAK this may be the route they're taking (because really, Broadway!Percy would never wear black ;) ).  Have I mentioned how happy I am that Koike "I Made Luna, Bara no Fuuin, and Many Other Beautiful Pieces of Crack" Shuuichiro will be directing?

Tragically The Scarlet Pimpernel doesn't come to Tokyo until after I've left.  Therefore, I'll be making a trip down to Takarazuka in July.  In between this and Kiriyan's MiiMai in Kyushu, I don't exactly have a lot of extra money these days >_<