May 15-20 竹笋生 Bamboo Shoots Appear

I went to see the Osaka equivalent of the Takarazuka Revue (the all female musical theatre production group) to do a compare and contrast.

I can't make a good comparison since the show I saw was not a play-based performance, but a dance-based performance, and I've only ever seen the play-based performances of Takarazuka, but it was still interesting nonetheless.

For starters, they don't have 5 (6?) different troupes of performers, and I have not yet had a chance to confirm this, but I believe there is only one main group, and therefore I saw them. This particular dance show had a first half HEAVILY based on traditional Japanese dance, i.e. Nihon Buyoh, a.k.a. the type of dance I've been studying for the past few years.

They were really good dancers. I recognized a lot of the

standardized movements (kata), so there was that. The stage was the Shochiku-za in Osaka, so there was not specialized stage like at Takarazuka, and there was not live band. All the music was pre-recorded, and the giant towering speakers flanked the stage. They did incorporate the hanamichi for entrances and exits, which meant that the dances that happened on the hanamichi had to be reversible and visible for audiences on both sides of the walkway, something I did notice they accommodated.

Perhaps because it was their dance show, but there was not a lot of singing from the chorus, and it was mostly pre-recorded vocals on playback.

There was one dance sequence that I really enjoyed, where they had a dancer enter from the hanamichi 7/3 spot, and a screen was flown in that had divided the stage into 3 frames, like a tri-fold mirror. The dancer downstage would dance and move normally, but there were 3 dancers in each of the 3 frames, dancing mirror images of the main downstage dancer, including the tie of their obi knot. So as the main dancer moved left and right, the 3 dancers behind would also move

accordingly, and walk out of "mirror angle" as appropriate. I really liked that.

Another interesting performance of note: they did a piece featuring Youkihi, or Yang Gui Fei, and it was an Otokoyaku who danced her part, instead of a Musumeyaku. Now I'm curious to see a full production of her story. I wonder if it's because her character is such an important part that they'd rather entrust it to a audience-drawing Otokoyaku rather than a Musumeyaku.

The first half of the performance made such an impact on me that I left the venue during intermission to try and find a bank machine so I could grab cash to order the stupid DVD of the performance.

Man, I should really reconsider my research topic b/c this is costing a crap-tonne of cash.

The second half was more western based, and I sadly do mean that literally. Yes, they were dressed in suits and modern dresses for the dances, but there was also the main can-can kick line and they were dressed in "western" fringe-skirts and boots and cowboy hats for

that.

All in all, it was a good experience. Feel no need to pay that kind of money to see it again.