Angel's Ladder (Pride and Prejudice)

I am a huge (really huge) fan of Jane Austen's.

I've read all of her books, some of them several times.

I've watched all known movie and TV series productions of her works.

So, honestly, I was really thrilled when I found out that star troupe's Angel's Ladder (天使のはしご, Tenshi no Hashigo) is a version of my beloved Pride and Prejudice.

A combination of Takarazuka and Jane Austen sounds enthralling to say the least!

I believe that its romantic atmosphere fits perfectly the Takarazuka style, and it could be really interesting to see what they come up with to render the intrinsic irony of the story.

Of course i am also really looking forward to find out how they render the characters.

One extra point in favour of this show: Suzumi Shio (who is unfortunately retiring in august) is the lead.

I liked her performance in Romeo and Juliette and I am really curious to see her in the role of Darcy.

I have high expectations of her.

Unfortunately I have not been able to watch the show yet (I think that the video might just not be available yet), but I have found a teaser video that has quite frankly made the wait even more unbearable than it already was.

I fervently advise you to have a look! Here's the link. ;)

DRACULA

Uff... it's been a while since I last wrote on here!

Sorry for the absence!

While I was away from the blog, I finally managed to watch a show that I had been wanting to watch for quite some time.

It's not actually Takarazuka, but it's linked to it: the Japanese version of DRACULA, starring Wao Youka and Hanafusa Mari (and also Natsumi Abe, who previously was part of Morning Musume).

The show was very good, though I must (reluctantly) admit, that I liked Wao better back in the Zuka days.

Still, the show is definitely worth watching.

I honestly think it's awesome that the golden combi Wao-Hanafusa is still active even though their Takarazuka days are over. No matter what the reason behind it might be, I love that.

I also found out something pretty interesting in an interview with Wao regarding this show: apparently Frank Wildhorn was keeping the part especially for her.

Since this is not a Takarazuka show, there wasn't any need for the main male character to be played by a woman... and yet he picked her.

Most of you probably already know this, but Frank Wildhorn and Wao had met in 2006 because of her last show as a top star, Never Say Goodbye (an incredibly good show in my humble opioion), which was written by Frank Wildhorn himself especially for the occasion.

That was already a great honour, but I believe it's an even greater honour that he kept the role of Dracula for her up til 2011. Apparently (according to the interview I mentioned earlier), Frank Wildhorn had already talked about having Wao as Dracula back in her top star days.

At any rate, Wao makes without doubt a pretty good Dracula and her skills are impressive, even though, as I already pointed out, I wouldn't put it among my favourite performances.

Still, I encourage you to watch it if you have not watched it yet!

Here you can find a video of one song of the show(WARNING: this might be a spoiler!)

And this is the first part of the interview I mentioned earlier.

If you feel like watching this musical, you can find it on tudou.com ... if you can't find it, let me know and I'll help you out!