TakaHana News

We heard on Thursday afternoon (late in the evening in Japan) from the Wao fan-club that Takachan has withdrawn from Super Monkey because of “ill-health, etc”. This was followed by a message from Taka-chan herself expressing her enormous regret, and saying she hoped to see her fans soon.

This news has caused a great stir in the fan community. Many people have expressed fears for Taka-chan’s health. There has been speculation that the acrobatics demanded by Super Monkey were too strenuous for her, and that they might have caused her hip injury (from her fall in 2005) to trouble her again. Knowing that it was partly to please her fans that Takachan took on this role, the first male acting role since she left Takarazuka, and well acquainted with her courage and ‘ganbaru’ philosophy, the fans are very upset to feel she might have risked her health for their sake.  Everyone is writing letters of support. If you wish to send her a letter or card, please send it to the WFC office at 4-14-4-1002 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0061.

We believe that as yet there has been no official announcement; the news made the papers by Saturday, but the source seemed to be the fans themselves. At first it was not clear whether the Super Monkey show would be cancelled or whether a replacement could be found to play Taka-chan’s role , but it seems now that it has been cancelled. What a shame!

We went to the Chicago WFC party on Sunday 26th, and it was great fun! Unfortunately, reporting all that was said is a hopeless task (particularly since I didn’t understand 100%), but I will try and write what I remember. Apologies in advance for any mistakes.

Also, there are CHICAGO SPOILERS in here, so please watch out!!

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We saw “Chicago” six times in the end, thanks to the kindness of Taka-chan’s fans, who provided us with extra tickets, including two for the final performance in the ACT theatre.

The more we watched the show, the more we loved it, but the best part was seeing Taka-chan. We went to irimachi and demachi as many times as we could, trying to fit them in with our other engagements. The only problem was finding something new to say in each letter! These occasions are always exciting. When there aren’t many people one feels privileged to be among the devoted core of supporters; when there are hundreds of people, the collective excitement creates a special ambiance, and Takachan herself is more lively and, like the true performer she is, plays to the crowd.

Among the fans we met innumerable friends from past events, and we spent whole mornings in coffee shops talking about Taka-chan. We begin to feel we have acquired credibility as genuine fans now, having been around since the Takarazuka days, and coming over specially for shows, even though we do not appear very often. Everyone, including the fan-club staff and Taka-chan herself, was very kind to us. It was a most memorable holiday.

Here we are at last in Japan, having seen “Chicago” three times, and grovelling at Taka-chan’s feet!

How was “Chicago”? Fabulous!! In fact, it is difficult to comment objectively, but here are my reactions.

First of all I should say I haven’t seen the stage show before, though I have seen the film. I found the show simply amazing; the set, the music, the choreography, and the ideas were stunning. The Japanese production is a perfect copy of the London production, as Clo can attest (having seen it), and, presumably, of the original Broadway production. The New York staff came to Japan to direct operations, and everything was pre-determined to the centimeter, according to Taka-chan. So a great deal of what makes this show so good is inherent in the production.

Against this, of course, the lead players give their roles an individual character, their own personal flavour and appearance. In the current Japanese production Roxie is a cute, sparkling red-head, Billy Flynn is a suave and fresh-faced smart talker, and Velma is a dark-haired - Taka-chan!
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Several clips of the press conference have appeared, edited slightly differently. Here is a rough translation of what was said in the Kyodo Tokyo clip, with some extra bits from this one.

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Chicago opened on Wednesday 8th. Congratulations, Taka-chan!!!

There was also a premiere and press conference on Tuesday 7th, which happily resulted in quantities of articles and photographs on the net!

Best of all, there is a video clip of the press conference here. It’s interesting, but sadly there isn’t a great deal of Taka-chan answering questions.

Looooads of photos can be found here: Mainichi.
Scroll down for a large collection of the premiere performance and some of the press conference - be sure to check it out!

And more photos can be found here:
Sponichi
Sanspo
Asahi
Zak-zak
My Com Journal
Oricon

Plus, I have managed to dig up one article in English! (But it fails to mention Taka-chan - boo!)

Anyone living within reasonable distance of central Tokyo can go and check out this here poster promoting the latest issue of High Fashion (October 2008) and displaying the familiar yet highly unfamiliar figure of Taka-chan in a dress.

It is up only in Omotesando subway station until Thursday 4th.

Alternatively, you could just buy the magazine.

Sponichi article (Japanese)

Next February, Taka-chan will play the title role in a new stage version of “Super Monkey: Saiyuuki”, which was a popular television series and recent film. The story is loosely based on the ancient Chinese tale “Journey to the West”, which also inspired “Dragon Ball Z” (Wikipedia article).

Takachan shares the role of Songoku with Nakagawa Akinori, a 25 year old singer, who has been in several stage musicals in Japan. While Nakagawa will play Songoku, Taka-chan will be Songoku’s alter ego, Bikoutousen, who embodies his evil side.

Both Nakagawa and Taka-chan are fans of “Super Monkey”, and are looking forward to this production. The two had never met before, but they have a high opinion of each other. Nakagawa went to see Taka-chan in “Castel Mirage” in 2002, on the recommendation of Koike Shuichiro, while he was playing in “Mozart”.  It seems that Koike-sensei also told Taka-chan how good Nakagawa was in “Mozart”.

This will be Taka-chan’s first male role since retiring from Takarazuka! Taka-chan commented that when she played a man before it was in an all-female cast, but this time it will be against a cast of men, so it is wholly new territory.

The choreographer will be Rin Yonpyou, who has worked on Cirque Du Soleil, so the show promises to be full of circus moves and acrobatics.

Two years today since Taka-chan and Hana-chan retired from Takarazuka!
Also two years since Taka-chan, out of the blue, said…

“Please don’t forget our combi!”

Well, we haven’t indeed! But I wouldn’t mind seeing more of it.

== Three cheers for Taka-Hana! ==

And, incidentally, this blog celebrates its first birthday today, since we started up on this day last year! Hopefully, there will be a revamp at some point, to jazz it up a bit.

The long-awaited Dinner Show DVD has arrived at last (in spite of the French post office) and we have been able to watch it together. After Taka-chan’s latest concert, we didn’t quite know what to expect, though we had heard that there were Christmas songs and Takarazuka numbers.
Well, it is all we could have hoped for! It is a real pleasure to see Taka-chan and Hana-chan performing together again dressed in Takarazuka-style sparkles! This is not a mere rehash of old numbers to keep the fans happy, but the Golden Combi taking the stage again with concentration, precision and grace.

Apart from VIVA! and SMAP’s Yozora No Mukou, the songs are an assortment of Christmas songs and the old repertoire from Takarazuka days. In her introduction, Taka-chan talks about the dinner show planned for January 2006, which she was obliged to cancel after her accident in WING. On that occasion, she had intended to sing all her main Takarazuka songs. Now, two years later, having moved on, she felt it was important to strike a balance between her old Takarazuka days and her new self. When she was offered the part of Chacha, such a new project in so many ways, she decided that the Christmas dinner show would be a nice opportunity for herself and for the fans to revisit some of the old favourites.

We highly recommend buying this DVD. It is available through the Shop section of Taka-chan’s official website, as well as through Takarazuka An and Rakuten. Both these links have a list of the musical numbers.