希望を捨てるな！The Count of Montecristo / Amour de 99!! (II)

On Sunday the 17th, Monday the 18th and Sunday the 24th of March I went to watch  the new Cosmos troupe show, The Count of Montecristo / Amour de 99!!

I loved it so much! And I must say, I liked it more the second and third time. The first time I was a bit taken aback by the fact that they changed quite a bit the story compared to the novel. I understand it was necessary in order to turn a novel which is over a thousand pages long into a one hour and a half musical, though.

At any rate, the music is first class! The songs got stuck badly in my head, so now I am really looking forward to the DVD and CD!

WARNING: from here on there might be SPOILERS!

The first act, The Count of Montecristo, was a bit difficult to follow at first, but extremely well done. Not only the songs were great (one of the songs actually makes me want to cry every single time I listen to it), but the setting was also really really good. In particular, the scene in which Edmont Dantès is in prison, the stage is really awesome: there are two levels, and on the lower level you can see Dantès getting more and more desperate by the day, while on the upper level you see scenes of what happens in the lives of those who are free (Mercedes, Danglars, Fernand etc).

There were a few extremely dramatic scenes, but also a couple of really funny ones. The scenes in which appeared Bertuccio (Ozuki Toma) and the pirates were often the stress releaf. In particular, there is one scene with Bertuccio, Vampa and the pirates/smugglers which is really funny. I am not an expert of Japanese accents, but I have a feeling that the pirates speak with a Kyushu accent... which would make sense since I believe that Kyushu was an area with quite a lot of pirates in the past. And that was also funny. (I might be wrong though, so feel free to correct me!)

It goes without saying that Ouki Kaname was amasing in the role of the count: every time I see her on stage my admiration towards her increases. Not only is she extremely beautiful, but she's an excellent actress. Her singing might not be one of the best among the top stars, but she conveys such emotions that I get lost for words. She's the best ;)

I must say I was also really really pleased with Misaki Rion: her Mercedes was spot on. In several scenes she moved me to tears. Thumbs up for her! I'm ashamed to say I don't usually pay much attention to musumeyaku (unless they annoy me) but she was so good that I feel it's my duty to spear a few words for her. Just as I thought, I think that Kaname and her make a great combi.

Yumi Hiro, Ozuki Toma, Asaka Manato, Nanami Hiroki, Hasumi Yuuya... there are so many awesome actresses in the current cosmos troupe that I can't possibly talk about all of them. Honestly, great GREAT job sora gumi!!!

The second act, Amour de 99!!, was full of energy and interesting. It was a celebration of Takarazuka which followed its history. The actresses performed dances from several old shows.

Some of the dances were really amasing (there was one with blue costumes which I particularly loved, but I can't remember the name right now, and I don't have the program at hand... sorry).

The most notable part was probably the "pineapple queen" dance, in which Kaname wore the pineapple queen costume and showed her bare legs. She was awesome! I am always amased by the fact that she looks gorgeous both as a man and as a woman. 

I also really liked the tuxedo dance. It was actually very simple, with plain black tuxedos and red roses. I liked the fact that Kaname wore a tuxedo just like everybody else, with no rhinestones on it. It was really very very elegant. At the end of the dance Kaname gave the rose to one of the spectators... and I died of envy ;) every single time!

Another important part was probably a dance in which Ozuki Toma danced with Kaname dressed as a musumeyaku. I must say though that I don't think that Ozuki Toma pulls off the musumeyaku role too well. Somehow, I kept on seeing a man dressed as a woman on stage XD

On a side note, there is one scene in which Kaname has to take off a wig and a fake beard on stage. On the 18th, the beard got stuck and the mic fell off. I was impressed by her reaction: she didn't show any sort of emotion, she went on with her lines as if nothing had happened, and as soon as she could turn around so that the mic side of her face was hidden, she put it back on swiftly. She did so well, that my friends who were not looking through the opera glasses at that moment didn't even notice it. Congratulations Kaname, you really are a pro!

This is about it. Awesome show, definitely a must see. I'm glad I got to see it three times, and I wish I could watch it again. This show is really special to me, not only because I like it, not only because my beloved Ouki Kaname stars in it, but for one more reason... it's going to be my last Takarazuka show in quite some time. :(

Unfortunately, I had to leave Japan on Monday... so now I'm stuck in Europe and I'm missing Takarazuka (and plenty of other stuff) already. I wish I could have stayed, but I like to think of this as destiny: there must be a reason why I had to come back to Europe.

At any rate, even though I'm not in Japan any more, I will do my best to keep this blog updated with interesting news and curious facts.

Unfortunately I only have access to a rather bad Internet connection at the moment, so I cannot upload photos. I am really very sorry, but I don't have a choice. I hope to be able to get a better connection within a couple of months (which sounds like a hell of a long time...)

Thank you so much for reading my blog! :)

P.S. 希望を捨てるな！(don't throw away hope) is a line in one of The Count of Montecristo's songs. Since I was feeling down about having to leave Japan, it touched me deeply...
It also is sort of the message of the whole show :) Great, isn't it?