#elisabeth JAPAN

[beccalendsahand]

Toho Elisabeth 2022: Der Tod Comparision Analysis

After years of being a fan, I finally had the opportunity to see Elisabeth live for the first time this autumn. Me and a friend managed to defeat the odds and nab tickets for not just one but two dates, each with a different Der Tod (It's customary for most Toho musicals to have double, triple, or sometimes quadruple casts of its principal characters in their musicals). It was such a fantastic opportunity to see different actors' interpretations of such an iconic character, and seeing as the last Toho-beth was not filmed and previous recordings have not included every cast member, I thought I'd write up a report here for those curious!

Both Tods, Furukawa Yuta (Silver Tod) and Yamazaki Ikusaburo (Purple Tod) brought new and interesting things to the character that I’m really excited to discuss!

Here we go!

What is Toho-beth?

Toho is a big musical theatre company in Japan who are best known for bringing Broadway, Westend, and other foreign musicals to the country. They have been performing Elisabeth for 22 years now! Their production came off the back of the popularity the musical had with Japanese audiences thanks to the Takarazuka version which was first staged in 1996. The show is directed and translated by Koike Shuuichiro, the same writer and director for the Takarazuka version, but with many changes. The Toho production is praised by fans as striking the right balance between the gothic romance of the Takarazuka version, and the darkness and serious themes of the original Vienna production, whilst still managing to keep Elisabeth the main character of her story.

Disclaimers before we begin:

I have not watched every Elisabeth so my knowledge of previous versions is: Takarazuka: 1996, 2014 and 2018, Toho: 2016, Vienna: 1992 and 2006.

Each of the days I saw Der Tod was starring alongside Manaki Reika as Elisabeth, I do not know how their performances differed if at all when they costarred with Hanafusa Mari

This production had stage kisses instead of real kisses which may have influenced the actor's portrayal of the famous Rudolf x Der Tod kiss scene. I think this must have been a covid related choice, however, it's hard to tell as other Toho productions I've seen recently have had real kisses and Der Tod still walks through the audience in act one… But Lucheni does not walk into the audience or interact with them during Kitsch, so make of that what you will, I guess we won't know for sure till future productions!

Day 1: Furukawa Yuta as Der Tod

My first performance was with Furukawa Yuta. Furukawa's Tod is the most soft, gentle, human Tod I've ever seen. I wasn't sure what to think at first of his portrayal as its so different from other versions, but as the show went on I really became captured by his performance. I left the theatre with so many thoughts, trying to analyze the motivations and psyche of his character, it really made me think about Der Tod in a new way, and just made me more obsessed with the show. I'll try and put my thoughts into words here.

From his gentleness, its very clear that Furukawa plays him as genuinely in love with Elisabeth, however this does not mean that his Tod is not without his dark sides. I think what makes his Tod so good is he lulls you into a false sense of security. He speaks to Elisabeth as a pleading lover and baby Rudolf as a caring adult, but every now and again a flash darkness or anger will appear, reminding you that underneath his human appearance is Death himself.

Furukawa Tod and Elisabeth

His love for Elisabeth is perhaps the first time I've fully understood their relationship. Despite being a big Takarazuka fan I've always found the ending very jarring, as one scene ago Elisabeth says she doesn't love Tod and then suddenly she's running into his arms at the end and singing about their love for each other. Even in previous Toho and the Vienna versions despite the lyrics for the song being different, I've still found it a strange ending, but Furukawa and Manaki did it incredibly. I think as Furukawa's Tod is more gentle, already it is easier to understand why Elisabeth is drawn to him. Elisabeth is seeking independence and comfort, so why would she fall for a Der Tod who is literally pushing her around? When Furukawa comes to her it is always like an infatuated man hoping for his love to be returned, but because he is Death he doesn't know how to express his feelings, and things become muddled for him. I got the impression that he wanted to give Elisabeth his love but sadly he couldn't help who he was, and that part of him that is Death manifested itself still in his actions. Like creating chaos amongst the people, and killing baby Sophie and Rudolph. My favourite scene between the two of them was the doctor scene in Act 2. When Elisabeth says she wants to die, Furukawa says the line “おお、エリザベート、待っていた！” “Oh, Elisabeth! I’ve been waiting (to hear those words/for this moment)!” he says it with such happiness and almost child-like excitement it’s both creepy and sweet at the same time. His happiness in dark contrast to the reality of what he will do to her. Also, this is the first scene where we have Tod do more than just hold Elisabeth in his arms, as he runs his hands up and down her body, a very bold move for Furukawa Tod who until this moment has been relatively reserved around Elisabeth. This really added to the unsettling feeling of the scene, Tod is so carried away in this moment, running about the stage excited to take his bride back to the underworld, all the while Elisabeth is just stood there rigid in shock. Such an interesting moment in the show. I really liked how Tod’s emotions toward Elisabeth felt very consistent throughout the show, it was refreshing to see such a genuine feeling of love from Death towards Elisabeth, even if he did not act on his love in the right ways. The song before Elisabeth’s death again really gave us this message. When Franz Joseph says that Elisabeth is his, I feel that usually, Tod's reply that no, it's in fact him that she loves, is very confident, he knows he has the upper hand over Franz, but Furukawa sings it like a human cry, like he's trying to convince himself. There's this uncertainty in his mind but he is willing it to be true. When he and Elisabeth are together finally it is not a big romantic gesture, it's a very small moment and he gently kisses her and sets her onto the coffin and looks on sadly. He finally got her, but only for the briefest moment.

Furukawa Tod and Rudolf

The Rudolf arc has always been my favourite part of Elisabeth, so I was excited to see how it was performed in this version. This was definitely the part where I fully got on board with Furukawa's Tod and started theorising in my head about what his interpretations meant. As said above, Furukawa Tod talks to baby Rudolf like a caring adult, there isn't the usual sinister undertones that you feel with most other Tods in this scene. Furukawa stretches out on the stairs, propping his head up with his arm, and listens intently to Rudolf when no one else does. A part that I found particularly interesting is how when Tod takes the gun from baby Rudolf and Rudolf faces away from him, standing at the front of the stage looking at the audience, Tod looks on at him, with his arm outstretched, gun laid on his palm as an offering. This is in stark contrast to Shirota and Yoshio in the 2016 version who both pointed the gun at him as if about to shoot him.(something else I just wanna mention is his hilarious reaction to the "I killed the cat" line, Furukawa first raises his eyebrows in shock, then narrows them in confusion and then smiles and nods like a proud dad, brilliant) When we get to “yami ga hirogaru/Fie schatten werden langer”, and the famous kiss scene, it's a very interesting moment. Usually, at least in the takarazuka and Vienna versions i've seen, the kiss is a very aggressive and/or possessive move from Tod. In the 2016 Toho version, it is Rudolf that kisses Tod after Tod gives him the gun. This time Tod kisses Rudolf, but it is, like everything Furukawa does, a gentle kiss. As said in the disclaimer stage kisses are used this time so perhaps that contributed to this direction, but what makes it even more striking is that after he kisses him, he slowly steps back and watches on with a sad, almost regretful look on his face as Rudolf turns to the audience and slowly raises the gun to his head. A moment that is usually interpreted by previous Tods as a victory moment, is painted as one tinged with sorrow by Furukawa. As I said before I get this impression that his Tod is fighting with his duty as Death and this human emotion he's feeling for Elisabeth. And this scene really made me think that. Perhaps he came to care for Rudolph too, but he befriended him for a reason and now he has to see it through. Or maybe in this version Tod isn't even doing these things to get Elisabeth, perhaps Rudolph's death was always his fate and Tod is just doing his duty.

It’s questions like these that really made me fall in love with his Tod. Well done Furukawa!

Day 2: Yamazaki Ikusaburo Der Tod

2 weeks later I was back in the theatre for Yamazaki Tod! Ever since Yamazaki got cast as Der Tod back in 2020 I have been so intrigued as to how he would play him. I consider his Lucheni as my favourite out of all the ones I’ve seen so I was wondering if his Der Tod could live up to his Lucheni... AND IT DID!

Yamazaki put David Bowie back into Der Tod, he had so much command over the stage, strutted around like a rock star and went full commitment to the glam rock androgynous style. The long purple hair, eyeliner, and amazing costumes (black mesh billowy shirt HELLO???!!!!) a bi-icon. I think whilst Furukawa made a completely new version of Der Tod I feel that Yamazaki took us back to the origins of role but added in the Japanese influence. My first impression was a man playing Der Tod like a Takarazuka actress, but as it went on a realised that wasn't quite it. If I was to compare him to any other Tod I’d probably mention Kim Junsu from the Korean production, whilst I haven’t the full show, from the few clips of it I’ve seen I instantly thought “this is the KPOP der Tod”, I feel like Yamazaki did a similar thing, but instead of KPOP it was JRock. He was really reminding me of Visual Kei Rock bands like The Gazzette and SID with his performance. His vocals were out of this world, merging visual-kei sound with undertones of musical theatre training creating this ethereal and at times sinister sound. I think this was so cool to see as originally Der Tod was inspired by David Bowie and Glam Rock which Japanese Visual Kei music was inspired by. This influence has been absent from the Toho and Takarazuka versions with more of a focus on the fantastical elements so it was nice to see that added back in. I must say when watching the show before I had found Furukawa and Kuroba Mario's pop/rock style high notes endearing (affectionate), like they were trying but couldn't quite get there, so it really was amazing hearing Yamazaki sing them like a true rock star would. In terms of acting, his take on the role is a lot more classical, in that this is definitely a Tod that loves chaos, someone who takes pleasure in toying with people's lives.

Yamazaki Tod and Elisabeth

Unfortunately, Yamazaki’s Tod does fall back into my problem with Tod’s I’d seen before, where at the end of the show I was left thinking “yeah but why is Elisabeth with him?”. Yamazaki’s Tod is definitely more obsessed with her on a surface level rather than being in love with her. His take on Tod is much darker in comparison to Furukawa’s, he has much more of an eerie presence and quite vacant expressions that make you wonder what he is thinking. Whilst Furukawa's darkness is hidden by his gentle exterior, Yamazaki’s is all there for you to see. He is very in control of his movements, everything feels very precise, whilst Shirota gave us an in-human Der Tod by playing him with animal-like gestures to make him seem almost like some kind of "creature", Yamazaki achieves this in-human Der Tod by being completely devoid of feeling. There was just something incredibly unnerving about him like you could tell something was not quite right behind the eyes. I think this feeling is best described by this Twitter user who did these beautiful Der Tod illustrated head cannons saying “I feel like he sleeps upright in a coffin…I’m not sure if he actually sleeps though”.

A moment I particularly liked was when he appears to Elisabeth in her chambers and pops up from behind her chair. Whilst most Tods seem to play this as a quick jump scare before stepping out from the shadows straight after, Yamazaki just stays there, arms draped over the top of the chair like “oh you poor thing”. It reminded me of a cat toying with its pray. I think that moment sums his Tod up very well. 

To compare his Tod to the moments I liked from Furukawa, the doctor scene also feels very different, Yamazaki’s Tod feels very confident, he isn’t running around the stage with glee, and he surprisingly isn’t as heavy handed as Furukawa was. Though he stilll runs his hands over Elisabeth it’s a much more subtle moment, perhaps in his eyes, he’s had her from the start so doesn’t feel like he needs to act so desperately.

The song with Franz Joseph is again more classic Tod, he sounds very confident that he has her. I don’t have any analytical things to say about this scene but I think it's worth mentioning that he licks the knife before giving it to Lucheni, make of that what you will...

Yamazaki Tod and Rudolf

So after seeing Furukawa’s interpretation I was so intrigued to find out if this was unique to Furukawa or if it was a new direction the Toho production was taking Der Tod's character, and I'm excited to say, both actors had completely different interpretations! So let's start with baby Rudolf. Yamazaki sits beside Rudolf and intently listens to his story, the “I killed a cat” moment did not get any laughs from the audience this time as Yamazaki played it completely straight, continuing to listen, nodding along as if it's the most normal thing in the world to hear from a young boy. When Rudolf goes to and faces the audience, from behind him Yamazaki Tod puts the gun to his own head whilst watching Rudolph. His Tod is not subtle with where this story is going. The kiss scene was gentle like Furukawas but it felt much more sinister and instead of looking sad and watching him kill himself like Furukawa did, Yamazaki is cold and unfeeling, he turns his back on Rudolph and leaves him to kill himself, alone in his final moments. I re-watched the same scene in the 2016 production to see how it compared and it was very interesting to see that whilst both Yoshio and Shirota turned their back to Rudolf too, they were still stood beside him. Yamazaki turns his back and walks up centre stage and pauses with his black angles flanking him in 2 lines on either side as Rudolf slowly realises what he's about to do and shoots himself. I can't remember what the black angels did with Furukawa but it was definitely different as Furukawa chose to stay beside Rudolf in that scene. It's so fascinating to me how these interpretations weren't just individually chosen by the actor but were actually worked on to involve the ensemble cast as well, creating differently choreographed scenes depending on which cast you saw. Any similarities between them? I think I would have to see the show again to notice more similarities, but sadly that won't be happening unless we get a recording (please Toho we are BEGGING YOU) but the one thing that did stick out to me was they both do this same gesture. I don't know how to describe it. They do this thing where, -again I wish I could see the show again so I could work out if there's a pattern of when they do this gesture- they like take their hand and starting from wrist at their lips run their hand down, fingers caressing their lips, and they kind of have this fascinated/spark in their eyes? I have no idea if that makes any sense...actually that artist I mentioned earlier, drew it on Furukawa here. It's quite a creepy in-human gesture, I like to think maybe he's feeding on human emotions when he does it...Whatever it was I find it so intriguing that that's the one link between them. I'd also really like to know if either of them were inspired by any particular Takarazuka actresses. Yamazaki has a scar-like tattoo on his hand that makes me think of Mizu Tod and Furukawa's whole look with the wig and costumes and even some of his acting choices reminded me a lot of Asumi Tod at times.

Closing thoughts It’s so hard to know who was my favourite as they both had such completely different interpretations, it felt like I was watching two completely different characters. I think for me personally what one lacked the other made up for. For example, as a long-time fan going to see Elisabeth live for the first time Furukawa took me a while to get on board with as his human portrayal meant that he didn’t have the big bombastic stage presence that you expect from Der Tod (his singing is gorgeous by the way, I mean this more in the nature of his character choices mean his performance is overall much more subtle), so going back and seeing Yamazaki gave me that big showman performance that I had been wanting to see. However, Yamazaki didn’t give me the full satisfying gothic romance feelings that I've always felt missing from Elisabeth that Furukawa managed to really pull off. And his new interpretation left me with my mind buzzing. What they both did though was prove that there is still so much to explore with this character and this show and I love how Toho is still letting Der Tod be an androgynous fantastical being when it seems the Vienna productions have been trying to pull away from that in their recent productions. I really hope this production gets filmed so that everyone can see the talents of not just these men but the entire cast, seeing this show was a dream come true and I know it will give everyone so many new thoughts and theories about this wonderful musical!

#im SORRY this is so long #they really gave me brain worms #all i have been thinking about is elisabeth these last 2 weeks #blahblog #becca blogs #elisabeth #elisabeth das musical #yamazaki ikusaburo #ikusaburo yamazaki #furukawa yuta #yuta furukawa #musical theatre #musical theatre reviews #analysis #toho elisabeth #toho #japanese theatre #elisabeth japan #elisabeth the musical #der tod

[sovamurka]

A sentence that I cannot say among my musical circle because I'd be bullied immediately: European musicals are ten times better than Broadway ones 😔

#'it's a huge amount of proshots isn't it?' - WELL YEAH THAT TOO. #it's kind of funny how eurasia basically gatekeeps musicals from america... heh... or is it the other way around..? #and you know what? that's probably for the best. #why am I saying eurasia? cause the amount of productions japan and korea did of euromusicals is insane. I'm not even mentioning china tours #european musicals #to hell with it. I will list the ones that come to mind first. #romeo et juliette #mozart l'opera rock #elisabeth das musical #tanz der vampire #le rouge et le noir #le roi soleil #rebecca das musical #notre dame de paris #szentivánéji álom #норд-ост #okay that one was very personal #монте-кристо мюзикл #мастер и маргарита мюзикл #демон онегина #la légende du roi arthur #les trois mousquetaires

[archduchessofnowhere]

I've always thought it was strange there wasn't any manga about Elisabeth giving how popular she (or at least the musical) is in Japan. Well it turns out THERE ARE. Like, many, in fact.

First we have Elisabeth by Kumi Morikawa! A single volume adaptation of the musical, published in 1996 (I think?). There seem to be two editions of it:

Then we have Tomoko Naka's two volumes-long Uruwashi no Kouhi Elisabeth, published also in 1996 (right and middle pictures). I couldn't find the plot of this series, but I suppose it's just an adaptation of Elisabeth's life. There is also a single volume edition that came out in the early 2000s (left picture):

The art looks pretty!!

Leaving the 90s shoujo behind, in 2017 the empress was once again depicted in a manga (a seinen this time): Cuvie's Erzsébet!

Swords?? Guns??? Yuri vibes???? Whatever this is sign me up!

In this story we follow Ida (not Ferenczy but clearly inspired in her), a Hungarian independentist infiltrated in Elisabeth's entourage to reclute her for the cause. The series ended at the beginning of 2020, closing with a total of three volumes The first chapter is available for free (in Japanese) so I might do a live reading blog of it because just the first four pages are absolutely BONKERS.

And lastly as a bonus, let's go back to the 90s with Hideko Mizuno's Elisabeth!

Now this Elisabeth isn't the Empress, but her granddaughter Archduchess Elisabeth Marie of Austria, Crown Prince Rudolf's daughter. Published between 1993 and 1996, this series covers the infamous life of the "Red Archduchess". Mizuno had years before written a manga series about Ludwig II that sadly got cancelled after only two volumes, so for her this was a comeback to a familiar era.

Now this is the sad part in which I tell you that none of these mangas has an English translation, not even fan translations. The fact that I had not even come across these until I searched "マンガ 皇妃エリザベート " shows how little diffusion these works had outside Japan, which is such a pity. Let's hope that at least a scanlation group gets interested in any of these one day!

#i had this in my drafts since i found the elisabeth light novel but i forgot to post it #but yeah reminder to everyone who says ''why all anime/manga is isekai harem trash'' that's just what gets translated!!!! #it's not representative of the media as a whole!! these are shoujo/josei classics and yet are practically unknown outside japan!!! #(also stop only watching things for teenagers lol you are clearly not the target audience) #elisabeth (kumi morikawa) #uruwashi no kouhi elisabeth #erzsébet (cuvie) #elisabeth (hideko mizuno) #empress elisabeth of austria

[gumdytoonsen]

Today ends the month of September of the year 2022

September was a month for the Independence of all Latin America

the world of entertainment

Cartoons, Anime, Movies and Videogames

drifting home cyberpunk rick and morty X Men trolls Thor Love and Thunder Splatoon 3 xenoblade 5 person hunter x hunter belle bastard drift home Pokemon Full Metal Alchemist

Games applications: Copies of famous games

Ah Yes I Hate Wings Live Action Disney Movies

Now I meet in real life

Death of Queen Elizabell 2nd of 🏴 🏴 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧👑🇪🇺 1926 - 2022

Independence Latin America Earthquakes in Mexico🇲🇽 and Japan also China 🇯🇵🇨🇳 Heavy rains in Honduras and Guatemala 🇭🇳🇬🇹 there are landslides in my country and on Villanueva Street

Football match without participating in Qatar2022 ⚽️🇭🇳🆚️🇬🇹 Deviantart fell silent during Independence

Hurricane Ian in Florida and Cuba 🇺🇸🇨🇺

And today ends the month of September 2022 Goodbye September and tell me which one I'm missing the events in real life I'll read you in the Comments

#september #september 2022 #queen elizabeth #queen elisabeth ii #queen elizant ii #BBC #london #UK #united kingdom #Mexico #indepedence day #guatemala #honduras #earthquake #Rain #rain forest #Disney #disney plus #deviantart #Japan #China #hurricane #Ian #hurricane ian #fanart #2022

[fitzrove]

(With English subtitles, click the button at the bottom of the vid player)

I've loved this interview for years but this is the first time I watched it and really understood almost everything, and there's no fully subtitled version anywhere so I did it ajdhfhgh

Highlights:

Máté going "My idea is that for someone to want to take their own lives, he or she must be seeing something truly beautiful... Which is why we have a blonde prince as the sexy grim reaper" (... I think this is the answer to the brad pitt het elisabeth conundrum from that dvd interview, for his interpretation of the role Máté just went "yeah Rudolf is gay what about it")

Voiceover reiterating how hot he is like three separate times lol

Him being obsessed with sushi (prelude to Japan era??)

Lukas going "yeah he parties hard XD"

Máté: "My job is my priority, i'm not really looking for a relationship right now since I'm still looking for myself" Voiceover: "LUCKILY HE'S NOT ALONE - HE HAS HIS BEST FRIEND SERKAN:D" Serkan: "With this powder I'm going to powder him right now... but the vaseline is for later ;)"

#he is so inspirational #what he says is really relatable tbh #too busy growing professionally and doing vaguely gay activities with your friends to date anyone seriously AHHSHDFJHG #máté kamarás #musicals #theatre #elisabeth das musical #interview #Youtube

[dervampireprince]

ASMR | Elisabeth das Musical - Der Tod x Listener SFW Death Becomes Entranced And Seduces A Lonely Prince

[M4M/GF4M] [Prince! Listener] [Seduction] [Manipulation] [Kissing - no character death, lore here is Death's kisses can kill if it's 'your time' but if it's not they don't but they're still cold and cause temporary frostbite-like symptoms] [TW implies the listener is depressed and has been experiencing suicidal ideation, Death at points advises the listener to kiss him which would kill them, please skip this audio if you think these issues could affect or trigger you and if you are affected by these issues please seek help and contact hotlines in your country. This audio is fictional, Death's attempts to be a voice of suicidal ideation should not be taken seriously nor applied to real life.] 

I've been wanting to make this audio for so long. While I've left it ambiguous enough to be enjoyed as an original audio, this character is actually from my favourite musical 'Elisabeth das Musical'. It's a German-language dark queer historical romance where Death (Der Tod) is drawn to those who think about him, in particular it follows the life of Elisabeth, Empress of Austria, and her son Rudolf. The musical does deal with serious mental health topics and some historical events from that time including the rise of fascism so please know that going in, but if you think you can handle such topics then I couldn't recommend the musical enough. 

The original 1992 Vienna production is on Youtube with English subtitles, that is my favourite production and means a lot to me as Uwe Kroger as Death is just... perfection to me, very much gender envy and has been a big influence on me and helped me with accepting myself and my gender expression, and his characterisation of Death as this genderfluid, pansexual otherworldly being is just beautiful. And if you enjoy then I'd also recommend the 2005 Vienna production which is also on Youtube with English subtitles mostly for the few extra added song and Serkan Kaya's performance as Lucheni.

For those of you in my Patreon Discord server, I streamed this musical last Sunday in there for you guys and it finally felt like the perfect time to bring this audio to life. And if Kronprinz is still around, I know you were requesting a Der Tod audio for a long time and I hope you're happy with this one. The listener in this audio series takes the place of Rudolf, but you don't need to know anything about the musical to understand these audios. I chose to present them more like my original royalty series audios as Elisabeth das Musical is not very well known outside of mainland Europe and Japan, so I hoped by framing it this way with a photograph of myself cosplaying Death from a couple years ago would entice more people who aren't familiar with the musical. 

I love this musical so much, European musicals in general are my biggest interest and if you go searching for them it wont be long until you find my sfw account @emptymasks posting too much about them. If you're interested in learning more I have some masterlists and info posts pinned on my emptymasks Tumblr, but also as part of my subathon rewards I am doing a stream on my Twitch explaining about infodumping about European musicals and I've been working on some video essays for years that I hope to get finished this year that will be up on my emptymasks Youtube channel. I also run @europeanmusicals . If any mutuals or followers from my main or side blogs finds this... well hello there, I find myself nervous to drop this in the euro musical tags, as if people are going to find this format of fanwork weird but well... I had fun, I hope you guys are nice about this (nice doesn't mean you have to like it, but please don't be mean about it if you just don't enjoy asmr or audio content).

Something something if I had a nickel for every time Prince voiced a personification of Death from different fandoms I'd have three nickels.

.

Old public spicy audios on sound gasm (link in pinned post). 2 Exclusive spicy audios on Patreon every month. I also stream on Twitch every week @ dervampireprince . [minors + ageless blogs dni. this blog is for 18+ only.] [do not repost/reupload/edit any of my content]

#elisabeth das musical #todolf #der tod #european musicals #der tod x rudolf #death x rudolf #der tod x reader #der tod x listener #the vampire whispers #royalty kink #Youtube

[lucygold95]

POTO Busan review (centered on actors).

(*I wrote longer reviews in Korean on another SNS before. **It's a long review with bad English grammar, so if you're busy, I recommend you to read only keywords.)

0. I saw POTO Busan performances for the first time on April 30(Both matinée and evening performances). I had saw POTO World tour and London (+ JOJ concert in Korea😄) before and (as you all know) the POTO Korea set was the original version, not the world tour version or the London reopening version. The costumes were similar to the recent London costumes, but have more beads except Star Princess costume. The directing and choreography(except Masquerade) were Broadway versions before COVID.

I finished brief introduction, so I'll talk about actors now. (I know that POTO Korea video bootlegs exist, but most of them were recorded in very early days including previews. And some actors(particularly 조승우 and 송은혜) were sick at the beginning of the Busan run. So later performances were much better than those videos.)

1. Raoul actors

송원근's Raoul is gentle, romantic and mentally mature(He looks younger than his age, but he is actually 40). His Raoul resembles Steve Barton's Raoul in many ways. I think he's one of the standard ALW Raouls. (If you like the original London cast, I recommend 손지수 Christine and 송원근 Raoul pair.) His gentle voice, good romance acting and nice dance skills are his strengths.(He is now a famous musical actor, but long ago he was an unfamous idol/dance singer. He has also been a drama actor since 2013.) + Personally, his stifling acting at The Final Lair was very impressive.

황건하 has a very unique voice for Raoul. He has a very heavy tone. His deep voice color reminds me of Bengt Nordfors's Raoul. However, his Raoul is not as mature as Nordfors's. His Raoul is young(황건하 is 25 years old, so I think that's the reason.) and and full of enthusiasm like the Leroux Raoul. But his Raoul isn't fragile like the Leroux Raoul. His Raoul is weaker than Ramin and Hadley's, but it has a similar sense of mettle.

Doesn't 황건하's impression resemble that of Hadley and Ramin? +I think 황건하's strength is his nice singing skills.

2. Christine actresses

To be honest, Korean audiences gave 송은혜 a better rating than 손지수 on the reservation site during Busan run. On the contrary, I've seen many non-Korean old phans tend to prefer 손지수. If you want to know why, go to 2-4). (* I love both of them similarly.)

2-1) Voice color: Both Christines have quite different voice colors. 💙송은혜 Christine has a clear and very light voice color. Her voice is transparent and light like a shiny glass bead. Her voice color resembles previous Korean ALW Christines (Especially 김소현 Christine) voice colors.(+ Emmy Rossum's voice color a little bit too.) 🤍손지수 Christine has a light(but less lighter than 송은혜's voice), warm and very soft(<-->clear) voice. I think her voice color is very unique! Her voice reminds me of soft and warm angel wings.

2-2) Singing style: 💙송은혜 sang POTO numbers more like musical singing style than opera " .(She majored in opera, but worked as a popera singer/an ensemble in the musical Elisabeth.) I think her singing style resembles previous Korean Christines (Especially, 최현주 Christine's POTO Korea 1st revival run. *최현주's stage name in Japan was 'Sai Tamami'.) and Sierra Boggess (Particularly WYSHA) a lot. 송은혜 has a girlish voice and face(I think both Christines look younger than their age. 송은혜 is 30 years old and 손지수 is 33 years old.), but she is an independent and modern Christine 'compared to the other Christine'. But her voice is light and less powerful than Sierra's, so sometimes I think her singing resembles Amy Manford too(But less operatic way).

🤍손지수 sang POTO numbers in an operatic way. (She is an opera singer.) And her calm and classical singing style is very reminiscent of Sarah Brightman's singing style. (+ Rebecca Caine's West End run.) But warmer and softer than them(I think Caine and Brightman has cooler voice and more vivid voice).

I prefer 🤍손지수's WYSHA🤍 more than 송은혜's and I prefer 💙송은혜's TOM and POTO(I like her cadenza & high notes)💙 more than 손지수's. Personally, 손지수's WYSHA is one of the top five WYSHWs I've heard.

2-3) Character interpretation: 💙As I said above, 송은혜 Christine was an independent and modern Christine 'compared to the other Christine'. Also, her interpretation influenced a lot by 최현주(최현주's Korea run. But I think 송은혜's voice color and face resemble 김소현's.) and Sierra's. But I think her Christine is less stronger than Sierra's. + 송은혜 Christine's love for Phantom is more Erosive 'compared to the other Christine'. ++ I like 송은혜's Serafimo.

🤍In every way, 손지수's Christine evoked the nostalgia of Christines in the 80s and 90s. (Her special voice color that distinguishes it from others, operatic singing style and Leroux-like Christine interpretation.) She was a very soft and warm Christine. She respected and relied on Phantom, her teacher and guardian. And her love for the Phantom was close to the Virgin Mary's agape love for humanity. I really love her classical Christine interpretation!

2-4) Points to be improved: I really love 손지수's classical Christine, but she need to develop her dialogue acting and body acting. She is a native Korean and speaks Korean naturally in her daily life, but on stage, she spoke lines as if she were reading a textbook. She spoke strictly and exaggerated at the same time. I know POTO is a sung-through musical but her Little Lotte dialogue acting was not good. But if you are not a native Korean speaker, it will be hard to notice. (+ Interestingly, her songs contained a variety of emotions and her pronunciation was not strange when she sings.) I think this is why she is preferred by non-Korean phans over Korean audiences. If you want to know her strengths, read the keywords from 1-1) to 1-3).

송은혜's lines and body acting were okay, but often 손지수's facial expressions were better than her. (The interesting thing is that 송은혜 said she has been a phan for more than a decade, but the other Christine – who wasn't a phan – is preferred to her by a global phandom👀(I think it's because 송은혜 is a fan of Sierra and old phans tend to prefer classic POTO over 25th anniversary.)) And neither of them can do ballet professionally.

3. Phantom actors (* I didn't see 조승우

Phantom's performance in a good seat, and his condition was not good at that day, so I'll exclude him from this Busan review.)

전동석's Phantom was a romantic and soft phantom like Kopit's Phantom(* He played Kopit Phantom. But still, his ALW Phantom was stronger than his kopit Phantom). His Phantom seemed to have loved Christine for a long time. Not every performance, but he would often greet Christine (as if he were worshiping her) during the POTO number like the picture below.

And he carefully stroked her face when she fell asleep during The Music of the Night. His phantom reminds me of Earl Carpenter's phantom, who was also a soft phantom and liked to stroke Christine's hair.

* 전동석 sang POTO numbers by mixing musical and opera singing styles.(Although he majored in opera, he has worked as a musical actor for a long time, not an opera singer.) And he sang high notes well.

On the contrary, 김주택's Phantom was a very strict teacher and musician who wants to strongly control his student – Christine who will show his music to the world – 'at first'. He looked domineering and sometimes very dangerous villain. During STYDI, 전동석's Phantom seemed so sad and he couldn't hurt Christine, but 김주택's Phantom was very angry and seemed to strangle(but not kill) Christine if she was caught. But he got shocked and recognized his love to Christine when Christine handed over his mask during STYDI. After that 김주택 Phantom changed a lot. Even his voice changed a lot.

* At first, 김주택 Phantom's voice sounded very heavy and Phantom is in his mid-40s to early 50s, but after STYDI, his voice changed softly and Phantom is in his mid or late-30s except some scenes. (* 전동석 Phantom's voice sounded like he is in his mid-30s. And his voice color was lighter than 김주택's.) Also, 김주택 sang the numbers very operaically(It's natural that he is an opera singer(Baritone). *POTO is his musical debut).

I expected he still had a very scary side during AIAOY reprise 1, but I was surprised that he cried really a lot during AIAOY reprise 1. He broke my predictions several times and gave me fresh shocks as if I had never seen the Phantom of the Opera.

From here, I'm going to compare the two phantom actors. During PONR, 전동석's phantom was very sexy and I am sure his 'Don Juan Triumphant' must be loved by the audience. I saw the performance from the perspective of the Paris Opera audience who enjoyed the show. On the contrary, 김주택 Phantom's 'Don Juan Triumphant' seemed very dangerous. I felt a dangerous criminal go crazy and snuck in. I saw the performance from the perspective of the Paris Opera staff who were nervously watching the performance. And I love 김주택's AIAOY reprise 2.

At the final lair, 전동석 Phantom tended to recite that Christine was the only light to him after she left. I think his experience of Kopit Phantom was melted here. I like the way he emphasized Phantom's love to Christine. From beginning to end, the most important thing to him was Christine. Even during the 'Why So Silent', he thought that 'you' were Christine, not André and Firmin. Anyway, he let Christine go and cried, but he also smiled (like Ethan Freeman's Phantom) because his soul was saved by her kiss. 김주택 Phantom's final lair was scary and nervous. But Christine, especially soft and angelic 손지수 Christine, melted that dramatically with a warm heart and kisses. I think 김주택 Phantom and 손지수 Christine are a really good match for each other. They have similar singing styles(They are both opera singers and studied at the Conservatorio di Musica Giuseppe Verdi di Milano.) and the height difference between 김주택(178cm) and 손지수(early 160s) is also appropriate. (*송은혜 is taller than 170cm and she wears Christine's heels on stage, so she has better chemistry with tall phantoms. **The phantom in the image below is 전동석, who is 186cm tall.)

Let's get back to the point. I think 손지수's interpretation of Christine goes well with all Korean Phantoms. But I think 손지수's soft and warm Christine goes best with 김주택's strict and scary phantom. It reminds me of a fairy tale that the goddess of spring softly melts the god of cold winter. + 김주택's Phantom also smiled (like Ethan Freeman's Phantom) at the end.

4. Carlottas, Piangi, Meg and André.

Both Carlotta actresses are young and are not much older than Christine actresses. For example, 한보라 – one of the Carlotta actresses, was born in 1988, and 손지수 – one of the Christine actresses, was born in 1989. So that reminded me of the relationship between Patti sisters(Adelina Patti/Carlotta Patti) and Christine Nilsson(*Both Adelina and Christine were born in 1843). 한보라, in particular, has a light tone like Adelina. (The other Carlotta – 이지영 has a calm voice.)

박회림 Piangi was really good at both singing and acting. The long extension of Hannibal high note at the end of the Busan run was very surprising.

조하린, who played Meg, has a sweet and girlish voice :) I like her Meg, though she sometimes struggled with the high notes. Her dance was great too.

Finally, I admired 윤영석's André. His André really loves music and art. It was really impressive that his eyes were shining when he saw arts. His André was as good as his Phantom in both singing and acting.

#the phantom of the opera #poto korea #poto busan #review #오페라의 유령

[tiaramania]

Crown Prince Hussein of Jordan & Rajwa Al Saif's Upcoming Wedding

Only one week day left until the wedding of Crown Prince Hussein of Jordan and Rajwa bint Khaled Al Saif! It will be held on June 1st at 4:00pm at Zahran Palace followed by a reception at Al Husseiniya Palace. The future Crown Princess Rajwa's engagement ring features a large pear shaped diamond but for her henna party she wore a different ring with tilted marquis cut diamonds.

If Rajwa chooses a tiara that already belongs to the JRF, my choice is Queen Rania's Arabic Scroll Tiara. She has already worn several pairs of earrings loaned by her future mother-in-law so wearing one of her tiaras is a strong possibility.

However, my prediction is for her getting a brand new tiara especially after Princess Iman debuted a new tiara at her wedding earlier this year. The tiara might be a gift from either from the JRF or from her own family, who are apparently quite wealthy, but I very much doubt that they will release any information about the tiara like they will for the gown.

Queen Rania hosted the henna party on May 22nd at Raghadan Palace (here's a longer video and the highlight video is below) and King Abdullah will host the sahra party on May 31st at the Bani Hashem Matharib. There's also a concert on the 29th and practices are underway for the parades and drone shows so I expect this to be a pretty big celebration.

The dress code for the guests will be long dresses but no tiaras. The Jordanian royals aren't very big on tiaras so I wasn't expecting the dress code to include them. Update: Saad Salman is now reporting that the guests will also be wearing tiaras most likely at the banquet following the wedding.

The foreign royals that have confirmed attendance so far are...

Belgium - King Philippe & Crown Princess Elisabeth

Bhutan - Queen Jetsun Pema & Princess Eeuphelma

Brunei - Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah & Prince Mateen

Denmark - Crown Prince Frederik & Crown Princess Mary

Japan - Princess Takamado & Princess Tsuguko

Kuwait - Sheikh Ahmad Al Abdullah Al Sabah

Liechtenstein - Hereditary Prince Alois & Hereditary Princess Sophie

Luxembourg - Prince Sebastien

Malaysia - King Abdullah & Queen Azizah

Netherlands - King Willem Alexander, Queen Maxima, & Crown Princess Catharina Amalia

Norway - Crown Prince Haakon

Oman - Crown Prince Theyazin bin Haitham

Qatar - Sheikha Moza bint Nasser & Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad

Romania - Princess Margareta & Prince Radu

Saudi Arabia - Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (he's the official representation but I expect more Saudi royals because Rajwa is related to a lot of them through her mother)

Spain - King Juan Carlos & Queen Sofia

Sweden - Crown Princess Victoria & Prince Daniel

United Kingdom - Prince of Wales, Princess of Wales, & Princess Beatrice of York

#Tiara Talk #Crown Princess Rajwa #Jordan #Jordanian Royal Family #Rajwa Al Saif #tiara #Queen Rania #Princess Iman #royalty #royal #diadem #bridal tiara #royaltyedit

[zukadiary]

Oshidori Utagassen / GRAND MIRAGE! ~ Flower 2023

Ft. one of my ticket cases :D

If seeing Tsukigumi was like stepping through a portal, seeing Hanagumi was like seeing Takarazuka for the first time. My last live Hanagumi was (checks notes) uhhh... Casanova. And with the exception of a Nice Work stream that I half paid attention to, Casanova is kinda also the last Hanagumi I saw, period. Oshidori had exactly one person in common with the visible cast of Casanova, and it was Rei. So here's my unbelievably fresh eyes take!

OSHIDORI SPOILERS:

No one is evil and no one dies!! 😭 This is a rakugo-inspired comedy based on an old movie that is readily available with English subs on YouTube, and I'd recommend watching it!

Oharu (Hoshikaze Madoka) is the daughter of Shimura Kyousai (Kazumi Shou), a rōnin turned umbrella maker. She is in love with another rōnin, Asai Reisaburou (Yuzuka Rei), who lives next door and teaches sword work to the local children, but he is being pursued by two of the town beauties, Otomi (Hoshizora Misaki) and Fujio (Mihane Ai). To make things even more difficult for Oharu, her father is obsessed with antiques, buying them even though he has little money and even when most of them eventually turn out to be fakes. A mistake puts him deeply in debt to the local lord, Minezawa Tanba-no-kami (Towaki Sea), and he is confronted with having to sell Oharu in order to pay it off. It turns out that Reisaburou, who prefers Oharu to the other two, is in possession of an extremely valuable antique; he was found with it in his basket when he was abandoned as an infant, and this means he's also the long lost oldest son of the Minezawa noble family. Everyone lives happily ever after!

Koyanagi-sensei is really the holy grail of Takarazuka in-house directors right now, in my humble opinion. This was such a good choice of adaptation, and her nihonmono comedy are always so fun and accessible. I was, frankly, jealous watching this; since I'm currently the least familiar with Hanagumi, I coveted it for my faves. But poor Rei has had quite a marred top star run (mostly due to COVID), and I'm glad she got a nearly complete run of such a fun show.

That said, Asai was unfortunately the least exciting character. This is definitely personal preference, but I don't really get fired up by the cool, quiet, aloof, handsome type in a lighthearted show, unless he's also the butt of jokes a la Daimon in Bakumatsu Taiyouden. I find Rei the most appealing in dynamic, dance-heavy performances, and Asai as a character was just too one-note for me.

OHARU, on the other hand...

Madoka will retire from Takarazuka, probably into a prolific stage career (if she wants it), and be remembered for/cast based on her high profile roles like Tess Ocean, Anastasia, and Elisabeth (shinko but still). If I were queen of the world I'd insist she be remembered for Oharu. Sometimes you watch so much Takarazuka you get the performance equivalent of nose blindness, and then out of nowhere, something like a Western guest director will jolt you awake and make you ask yourself, "What's different about this??" Madoka made an atypical acting choice! She did a weird voice! She was funny! She was adorable and charming! She stole the whole show, honestly.

Hitoko, my love. Last time I was in Japan, PRxPrince was in bow hall while On the 20th Century was in Shibuya, and I opted for OTTC, thus missing out on Hitoko entirely during that trip. That makes the last time I saw her live on stage friggin' Gaisenmon. That seems SO IMPROBABLE, but it's true. In that time, we went from MUCH too long-awaited first solo bow lead to ripe and ready for top stardom. Hitoko has a chameleon power that I think is pretty unique in Takarazuka; not only does she disappear into roles (positive), but also I truly think she could thrive in any troupe with little difficulty, and seem like she was there forever. As salty as I still am that she was stolen out from under me, she's the weft to Hanagumi's warp. Tanba-no-Kami was so fun and silly. I love finding out which new and different Hitoko I'm going to get each time, and I hope there are many many more variations to come (can't wait for Gekijou).

Other highlights:

VERY juicy (albeit old man) taidan role for Kazumi Shou. Dad is a big supporting character and she has a lot of stage time.

Shimon's presence is healing

Last time I saw Hanagumi, Mihane Ai was an unnamed ken-2 and Hoshizora Misaki was an unsorted rockette in Ocean's 11. It was funny to see the two apparent contenders for next top musumeyaku competing with the current top musumeyaku for the top star's heart. Since Hoshizora snagged the tour lead it sure seems like she's the front runner, but I have to say I personally preferred Mihane!

GRAND MIRAGE SPOILERS

The curtain went up on those pastel dresses and oversized bonnets and I just giggled to myself. It was Okada-sensei alright! Especially after the fresh delight that was Kaleidoscope, it was disappointing to go back to yet another pandemic-era revue that left me struggling to remember what any of the scenes were. It was classic, and if you're both into that style and a Hanagumi fan I'm sure there were memorable moments. To me it felt like Citrus Breeze if you sucked all the nostalgia out of it.

#takarazuka #reviews #oshidori utagassen #tadaima 23

[shoggothkisses]

Lore Bites: Neuvillette's Opera-Going

Not sure if I'll have the spoons to do my next Shahnameh post today, but I did want to write up this little bit of meta-lore I cobbled together from last week.

I was going through some of Neuvillette's voice lines since I only have him at Friendship 1 atm, and I came across this one I really liked:

Now, I have to confess that I've never actually read Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca. Or seen a film version. But I know of it. So I was like - huh. That premise sounds a lot like Rebecca.

Two things: 1) Neuvillette's comment that the opera "reminded him of the current state of affairs" tells me one major thing: that the ghost of Egeria, the previous Hydro Archon, is "haunting" Fontaine in one way or another. We know that Egeria isn't exactly DEAD-dead - what's left of her consciousness is tied to the Amrita Pool and perhaps elsewhere but that's not confirmed yet. So it stands to reason that her influence is being felt by many residing in the Court now - especially by the "new Mrs. DeWinter," or New Ms. Hydro Archon, who constantly doubts her ability to govern.

2) I read this and after thinking, "huh, this sounds like Rebecca," my second thought was, "but Rebecca doesn't have an opera adaptation, right?"

It turns out that it does. German lybrettist Michael Kunze turned Rebecca into a musical in 2006, and it was exceedingly popular in Japan and Korea (though there's no mention of a Chinese production on the Wikipedia page). Michael Kunze is the same lybrettist who produced Elisabeth in 1992.

Elisabeth, btw, is a musical adaptation of the life of Empress Elisabeth of Austria, the wife of Emperor Franz Joseph I, and her figurative-turned-literal love affair with Death. Terminal Tumblrites among us might be familiar with it (as I was) from a collection of gifs from the Takarazuka Revue productiona a while back. Elisabeth appears to be a Takarazuka favorite, as they've produced it regularly since 1996.

I don't know about you, but I think Neuvillette's outfit has quite a lot of Takarazuka flair.

#genshin lore #genshin impact #genshin #genshin neuvillette #neuvillette #lore bites

[tiny-librarian]

Royal Birthdays for today, February 5th:

Sanjō, Emperor of Japan, 976

Philip II, Duke of Savoy, 1438

René of Châlon, Prince of Orange, 1519

Maria Elisabeth, Archduchess of Austria, 1737

Mary, Queen of Denmark, 1972

Muhammad Ali of Egypt, Prince of the Sa'id, 1979

Peter, Hereditary Prince of Yugoslavia/Serbia, 1980

Arthur Chatto, Grandson of Princess Margaret, 1990

Jigme Namgyel Wangchuck, Crown Prince of Bhutan, 2016

#maria elisabeth of austria #queen mary #Jigme Namgyel Wangchuck #arthur chatto #prince peter #Muhammad Ali of Egypt #rene of chalon #philip ii #emperor sanjo #long live the queue #royal birthdays #Peter Karageorgevitch

[jordanianroyals]

Official Portrait: King Abdullah II, Queen Rania, Crown Prince Hussein & Princess Rajwa of Jordan with distinguished guests (including foreign royals & political leaders) & family members ahead of the official dinner banquet held at Al Husseiniya Palace on the occasion of the Crown Prince’s wedding on 1 June 2023.

Who's who from left to right:

King Philippe of Belgium; Tunku Azizah & Abdullah of Pahang, the queen and king of Malaysia; First Lady Shanaz Ibrahim Ahmed & President Abdul Latif Rashid of Iraq; Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei. Prince Theyazin of Oman; Crown Prince Haakon of Norway; Crown Prince Frederik & Crown Princess Mary of Denmark; Princess Hisako of Japan; Crown Prince Khaled bin Mohamed Al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi. Prince Sébastien of Luxembourg; Princess Beatrice of York; Ilham Yassin; Princess Salma; Barham Salih, former president of Iraq & wife Sarbagh Salih.

U.S. First Lady Jill Biden, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda & wife Jeannette Kagame. Prince Mateen of Brunei; Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha & Margarita Saxe-Coburg-Gotha of Bulgaria; Princess Elisabeth of Belgium; Princess Muna; Hereditary Princess Sophie of Liechtenstein; First Lady May Mikati of Lebanon; Hereditary Prince Alois of Liechtenstein; Prime Minister Najib Mikati of Lebanon; Sheikha Moza of Qatar; Catherine, Princess of Wales; Prime Minister Masrour Barzani of Iraqi Kurdistan; Prince William; Khalid al-Saif.

Azza al-Sudairi; Queen Máxima and King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands; Queen Sofía & King Juan Carlos of Spain. Queen Jetsun Pema of Bhutan; Sheikha Muna Al-Klaib & Sheikh Ahmad Al Abdullah Al Sabah of Kuwait; Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, prime minister and crown prince of Bahrain; Crown Princess Victoria & Prince Daniel of Sweden; Princess Catharina-Amalia of the Netherlands. Margareta, Custodian of the Crown of Romania & Prince Radu; Princess Iman; Princess Felicitas of Liechtenstein; Jameel Thermiotis; Prince Johann Wenzel of Liechtenstein; Prince Pavlos of Greece.

#Princess Rajwa #crown prince hussein #King Abdullah II #Queen Rania #Wedding #official portrait #princess iman #princess salma #prince hashem #Princess Muna #british royal family #belgian royal family #Dutch royal family #danish royal family #Norwegian Royal Family #swedish royal family #spanish royal family #japanese imperial family #tiara

[kdreader02]

So you all know the fucked up ship polls and stuff

Well

Clare and Lucian: Lucian is a psychiatrist who likely killed Clare’s twin brother as an experiment, and she becomes unhealthily fixated on revenge and he in turn becomes obsessed with her.

Sawyer and Calder: Calder is a cult leader with powers in a post apocalyptic world and Sawyer has been raised to see him as a god. And he marries her when she’s sixteen and he’s six years older.

Eri and Shiki: Inspired by Elisabeth das Musical, Eri is a woman pushed into acting by her family, and Shiki is Death, fixated on her and being together with her, but does he even exist?

June and Thomas: Thomas is a serial killer who forces depressed aspiring author June into becoming his unwilling accomplice. Puts her through psychological and physical abuse.

Mariya and Tomoe: a genuinely loving couple in Meiji era Japan, Mariya tragically dies and Tomoe refuses to let her stay dead and resurrects her THREE times because she keeps dying.

Tsukasa and Naomi: two vampires who are mutually obsessed with each other. Will do anything and kill anyone if it means protecting the other.

#polls #writing #my posts #my writing #ocs #oc stuff

[margridarnauds]

Despite considering myself to be rather knowleadgeable about Marie Antoinette and her various endeavours and portrayals in media, I have to admit that i never heard of the Musical. Would you enlighten me about it and maybe advise where to watch it? 😁😁😁

Of course!

So, Marie Antoinette das Musical.

Based on a book by Shusaku Endom, premiered in Japan in 2006, as a collaboration between Michael Kunze and Szilvester Levay, known for Elisabeth das Musical, Mozart das Musical, and Rebecca das Musical, and went on to premiere in Germany in 2009. Both productions didn't do particularly well, even though they did have cast albums released. (I...still have to translate the German libretto, if only for the sake of keeping up my German skills.) There were some major structural flaws -- Marie Antoinette was too bitchy (throwing an actual temper tantrum, like a child, so that Louis would dismiss Necker; tossing champagne at a poor woman's head because she interrupted her ball and Marie thought it would be funny), her sympathetic qualities were either downplayed or erased in favor of her love affair with Fersen, which was reduced to "Good Man In Love With Bitchy Woman Who Knows She Isn't Good Enough For Him, But Don't Worry, He Loves Her Anyway", but the justifiable reasons for the Revolution were reduced to "Bitter poor people want Revenge and Go Against God", it had a bloated plot with too many characters, etc. etc. etc. It was, and I'm saying this as someone who ADORES messy musicals, one of the single biggest disasters I've ever forced myself to sit through, in the sense that it wasn't even particularly *entertaining.*

But, in 2014, an international crew got together to do the Korean production, and they essentially rewrote the whole thing. Not a shallow rewrite either, they TOTALLY REWROTE IT FROM THE GROUND UP. Songs were cut and added as needed, sometimes being given to different characters or put in different scenes, superfluous characters were removed, the plot was tightened to focus on the characters involved, Marie was rewritten into a flawed, but understandable character, not a sexist caricature. This was the version of the plot that would premiere in Hungary in 2016 and back to Japan in 2018 and 2021, becoming an international success.

The musical follows two women -- Marie Antoinette and Margrid Arnaud, two women with the same initials who lead very different lives. While Marie lives a life of oblivious privilege, Margrid lives on the streets. She was educated in a convent as a child, as the result of a mysterious benefactor (her mother having committed suicide) but was tossed out on the streets when the money ran out, and she's had to live by her wits since then. The two of them meet when Margrid interrupts a ball being held at Palais Royal to celebrate Marie's return to society. Margrid calls for the aristocrats to pay attention to the plight of the poor, who are starving, but all Marie can do is offer her a glass of champagne, which Margrid, furious at the lack of understanding, tosses in her face, swearing revenge. She joins up with the Duc d'Orléans, who is running a smear campaign in order to convince the public that he should be the rightful king, and things go downhill from there...

Some of the strongest points in the musical's favor:

Strong female characters. A term that's often thrown around casually, but, honestly, I love the musical for how it deals with the rivalry between Margrid and Marie, because neither one is fully wrong or fully right. We understand why both of them make the decisions they do and how it leads them to where they are by the end, and they go through an entire arc together. Margrid in particular is one of my characters of all time for being a woman who is brilliant, an absolute gremlin, strikingly vulnerable, and evasive. She's flawed, she's aggressive, vindictive, and spiteful, but we're also allowed to see WHY she's that way and how thoroughly fucked up she is by what's happened to her in the past. She is someone who truly doesn't believe that she's capable of being loved or of loving someone else -- platonically or romantically, because every experience she's had of love ended in betrayal, even when she desperately wants it. Meanwhile, Marie is both trapped in a life of fame and fortune while also believing, firmly, that that is her god-given right. She never believes that her position is anything other than her right by God, even when it involves spilling French military secrets to the other European powers when the Revolution goes a little crazy. She adores her family, she adores her husband, but she's also in love with Fersen (which...I don't like historical Fersen, but musical!Fersen, I tolerate.) You feel sympathetic for her by the end, but she doesn't demand sympathy.

Great villain. I love the Duc d'Orléans in this musical so much. Louis Philippe Joseph was a complicated man historically, and, depending on the actor, he's a complicated man in the musical. He's been simplified, but you can still SEE at times that he isn't a monster -- he genuinely ENJOYS working with Margrid, he's a good boss, he isn't necessarily WRONG about certain things, even when he's selfish in the way he goes about it (there's a great moment in the 2018 Japanese production where he sees Marie reject a peace offering from Cardinal de Rohan, and you can just SEE him dying inside, like "oh, God, she actually DID that." Margrid's eventual break with him isn't even that he betrayed HER or that HE changed his goals...she did. Which makes for a much more interesting dynamic than "evil man manipulates woman and then betrays her."

There's also a masquerade scene where they go undercover together. And yes, I went batshit over this and have still not recovered. (Please note that they are being used to contrast Fersen/Marie here, to make the ship bait worse.)

They're just. Like this. With one another. In one of the Korean productions, you can clearly hear her call him "Philippe" which murdered me.

I don't have any gifs of this scene without text on it, but the look on both of their faces by the end is...

Anyway, semi-canonical (depending on the production/actors) villainfucking angst, who is doing it like them?

The costumes are great (with the exception of the Hungarian, sorry Hungary.)

(The same dress from the same scene in both Japan and Korea)

It is bizarrely accurate in some ridiculously minute ways, like the Toho production actually DOING A RECREATION OF THE HISTORICAL MARIE'S BED.

Historically accurate pamphlet, shown in a projection while Orléans is singing about his strategy to turn the people against her. I legitimately had to pause the screen the first time I saw it because I couldn't believe my eyes. (Yes, I now pause it on each stream.)

Like, don't get me wrong, it still gets a LOT wrong, or changes details around to make 9 years of someone's life fit into a two hour musical, but both the Korean and the Japanese productions DO care about details in ways that higher budget films and TV series often don't.

And, of course, some killer songs. (Orléans' villain song, Marie's song, Act 1 finale -- all from the Korean, since they are slightly better at putting songs out, with the Japanese trailer.)

The Korean and Japanese bootleg environments tend to be...stricter than Broadway -- there have been proshots released for both at various times (the Toho production is actually available to buy if you have a Japanese proxy who can send it to you), to the point where I can't *say* if I have access to the Korean, but I have bought both DVDs of the two Japanese casts and have been known to stream it. If you're interested, I'm always willing to schedule something, especially since it's been ages since I've done anything like it.

#marie antoinette the musical

[inukag-archive]

Hello, I love The Half Breeds Wife by Gypsyn and For Better or Worse by Anime Wildfire. Do you have any recommendations for stories where Inuyasha and Kagome get married early on and navigate feudal Japan together? Thank you!

Hello, anon! We’ll admit that this was a bit of a challenge, but we did our best to find fics that take place in feudal Japan, where InuKag get married early in the story and go on adventures as husband and wife. We took a few liberties here and there in order to provide you with more options, so some of the stories on this list may not check every box (such as the feudal Japan setting or the timing of the marriage), but we really hope that you find something you enjoy!

To start, we’ve included links to the two stories referenced, for anyone who may not have read them. The rest of the list consists of similar stories compiled by our fic-finders.  

The Half-Breed’s Wife by @gypsin (T)

On the night of the new moon, a runaway girl stumbles into Inuyasha's life. Little did he realize then what he would be undertaking by saving her. But when Kagome has nowhere else to go will he leave her to her fate Or will he rise to the occasion? And what will the humans think?

--

For Better or Worse by Anime Wildfire (T)

Kagome, priestess in training, turns her life upside down when she saves the life of the half demon Inuyasha… and accidentally finds herself bound to him via pesky subjugation beads. This is not how she thought her day- or her life- was going to go.

------

Cannot Be Broken by White Dire Wolf (M)

Kagome has unknown powers. Found and raised by Sesshomaru, will she master these powers in time before she is taken? Even after she recklessly agreed to marry his enemy and brother, InuYasha? Rated for language, limes and lemon.

--

Early Crossing by Lady Elisabeth (T)

The love story of the hanyou and the miko is familiar to many. However, when a grievous tragedy forces Kagome's early arrival in the Feudal Era, the ramifications extend farther than either of the two fated lovers will perhaps ever realize. 

--

Your Lying Smile by @dawnrider (M)

A beautiful day by the river quickly takes a turn, taking control of her life completely out of Kagome's hands. Her "rescuer" becomes something else entirely before she can get a word in edgewise. Feudal-esue AU

--

The Price of a Wish by @lazy8blog (T)

When a daiyoukai showed up at Kagome's village and demanded she do the impossible, against all odds, she somehow managed to do it anyway... but at what price?

--

The Shikon Princess by Stormcloud17 (E)

Marriage is sacred. It is meant to be between two people who held love for one another. Meant to start a happy and joyous life together.

That is, unless you're royalty. Then, you don't have much choice in the matter.

Kagome had just reached her 15th birthday when the Shikon Jewel was sent to her, an act of proposal on behalf of the Inu-Yokai clan, asking her hand in marriage to their Hanyo prince, Son of the late, great Lord Toga, as an act to secure his half of the western lands, Musashi.

Now, 3 years later, Kagome is finally to be delivered to her husband, a far less than willing participant in his father's affairs that lead to a mortal woman being laid on the doorstep of his palace wrapped in silks like a present.

~Once the red strings of fate become tangled, it cannot be unraveled~

--

The Shogun’s Daughter by @shnuggletea (E)

Kagome's father passed away when she was just a child but his Shogun status still makes her a valuable bride to a Lord of lands that border their village. Lord Inuyasha Tashio is pushed by the council into marriage, assured his new bride was an excellent choice. All their fears and anxiety are amplified when they meet.

--

Who’s the Outcast? by Wordsorcereress (T)

He was a hanyou, she was a human, he was called 'halfbreed' because of his blood, she was called a witch because of her demon accepting ways, he was sealed because of what he was, she is isolated because of what she does... Who's the REAL outcast here?

--

The 500 Year Bride by JijiAndGecko (G)

AU where Izayoi lives and sets up an arranged marriage for Kagome and Inuyasha almost immediately after she meets Kagome. They decide to fake it til they get the jewel shards, but then things get complicated. Over 200 pages of shenanigans! I wrote this story for myself so Kagome is demi now but otherwise I tried to keep everyone as in character as possible.

--

A Bloom in the Night by @petri808 (G)

Empress Higurashi is placed in a dire situation after her husband the Emperor was killed under troubling circumstances. A neighboring Kingdom is pressuring her to give them her daughter, Princess Kagome. Desperate, she contacts the Yokai ruler who oversees their territory for help, the Inu no Taisho. His son, Inuyasha becomes part of the answer... or really was Kagome herself all the strength they needed?

--

By the Match, Not the Flame by @goshinote (M)

Inuyasha is a hellbent hanyo on a mission for revenge. Kagome is a wanted miko on the run. Their intentions align in more ways than one, but secrets abound between them as they partner up during their travels. With an inevitable and impending betrayal looming over them, the pressure rises with every day they spend moving closer to the enemy’s clutches.

#inukag archive #inukag fanfic #early feudal marriage #feudal AU

[totowlff]

chapter four — 200km/h

➝ elisabeth never wanted to visit the nurburgring, where her father nearly lost his life. fate had other plans.

➝ word count: 2,2k

➝ warnings: mentions of car accident

➝ author’s note: after that awful race in japan, guess we need something to decompress.

JULY, 2013

Elisabeth’s favorite part of her dad picking her up from school was going home. Despite being a driver, Niki always preferred to walk from the Lycée Français to their house, just to spend some time with her and her brothers. That Thursday was no different.

Lukas and Mathias ran ahead, chasing each other through Liechtensteinpark with their red backpacks on their backs. Elisabeth walked quietly alongside her father, with a firm grip on his hand. Looking up at him, she studied his face for a few seconds before questioning him. 

— Daddy, can I ask you a question?

— You just asked one, Mauslein — he replied, a mischievous smile on his lips.

— Okay, can I ask another one?

— You just did  — Niki said, holding back a laugh.

— Daddy! — Elisabeth laughed, tugging at his hand.

— Okay, ask your question.

— Why do you have those scars?

The smile faded from her father’s face. Stopping in the middle of the sidewalk, he crouched in front of his daughter, his eyes worried under his red cap.

— Did someone say something to you at school? — he asked her, his voice quiet.

— No, Daddy — she whispered, a little startled by his reaction.

— You know you can tell me anything, don’t you, Elisabeth?

— Nobody said anything, Daddy. I just want to know.

Niki sighed, standing up again. He took his daughter’s hand again, his gaze fixed straight ahead as he followed the path back to their house, without saying another word.

Elisabeth knew that her father had been a Formula 1 driver and a good one. The walls and shelves of her childhood home  were filled with memorabilia from those heydays, from photos to a red helmet, with the name written in white letters. However, she never failed to notice that the scars so characteristic of her father did not appear in images of his first conquest, in 1975.

She had connected the dots.

— When did it happen, Daddy? — she asked, after a few minutes of walking next to him in silence.

— It was ten years before you were born, Mauslein. At the Nürburgring.

Unlike her older brothers and father, Elisabeth never wanted to go to Nürburgring. While Niki seemed well resolved on the matter, Mathias and Lukas dreamed of driving there since they were children. As for her, there was no reason to go. It had been enough to have heard the near-tragic story of her father on that walk between the Lycée Français and her house.

Of course, she’d had several opportunities to experience the “Green Hell”, as the track was nicknamed, but she declined every single one of them. Whenever questioned, Elisabeth stated that she had no desire to visit the “drivers’ graveyard”, but when the week of the German Grand Prix arrived, she found herself with no way out.

— Dad, it’s more important for you to be there than me — she tried to tell her father, still in Vienna, while he organized his luggage — You are the non-executive chairman of the team.

— What’s the point of going if my right-hand won’t be there? — Niki snapped, tucking a navy blue sweater into his suitcase.

She raised an eyebrow.

— I thought your right-hand was Toto — Elisabeth muttered, looking down to her father’s luggage.

— He’s the left one — he replied, making his daughter laugh — Now go pack your bags. We leave tomorrow morning.

She knew arguing with her father was a losing battle.

He always got what he wanted.

So, there she was, on a hot Thursday morning, watching the mechanics and engineers move around in the team’s garage at the Nürburgring. The car in the garage, however, was not the W04, the silver and teal Formula 1 car she was used to seeing being tuned for free practice, but a modern sports car, with a long hood and flowing lines.

Beside it, her father was discussing something about the vehicle with Toto, who was leaning against the silver bodywork, arms crossed over his chest and a smile on his face. Before she knew it, Elisabeth was approaching the two of them.

— Has the W04 been updated? — she joked, smiling.

— Not yet, Liesl — Toto replied, chuckling, the sound warming her chest — This is Mercedes-AMG’s newest launch, the SLS AMG GT.

— It’s very pretty. Fast, too, I assume.

— It goes from 0 to 100 kilometers per hour in 3.7 seconds — Toto replied. Her eyes went wide — Another masterpiece from Affalterbach.

Elisabeth looked at the car again, turning her attention to the interior. It had black leather upholstery throughout. The stitching was matched to the silver tone of the seatbelts. Two open-faced helmets were sitting on the front seats, which could only mean one thing.

— Are you going to test it? — she asked, looking at Toto.

— Yes, I even invited your father to ride with me for a lap.

— Thanks, but I know someone who would like to go more than I do —  Niki said, putting a hand on his daughter’s shoulder.

— Dad, no — Elisabeth muttered, giving him a reproachful expression.

Toto smiled at her.

— You want to, Liesl?

— Of course she does, she loves speed — her father said, a mischievous smile on his face.

— For God’s sake, Dad…

— Come on, Liesl, it’s going to be fun.

— Thanks for the offer, Toto, but I’m going to have to decline.

— Why, are you afraid?

She swallowed hard.

— No, I’m not afraid. I just don’t want to.

— Niki, I think she’s scared — Toto laughed.

— I’m not scared — Elisabeth insisted, trying to sound brave. The truth was, the prospect of racing terrified her. It was one thing to watch a race, she had started to find it interesting, despite not previously being interested in motorsport, but getting into a car and racing around a track known as “Green Hell”? No way.

— Mauslein, Toto is an experienced driver and almost always very competent. — Niki tried to reassure his daughter.

— Almost always?

— Except for that time in… 2009, was it?

Looking at Toto after her father mentioned the date, Elisabeth could see his face change to an embarrassed expression.

— What happened in 2009? — she asked, raising an eyebrow.

— This idiot wanted to do a sub-seven-minute lap here, on the Nordschleife, in what, an Audi? — Niki told her, a mischievous glint in his eyes. 

— No, it was a Porsche 911 RSR.

— That’s right, a Porsche — her father corrected himself — He came to me asking what I thought of the idea and I replied that it was the dumbest idea I had ever heard.

Toto laughed.

— It seemed perfectly reasonable at the time, Niki.

— As we would find out afterward!

— What happened? — Elisabeth asked, curious.

— On my last lap attempt, the front tire blew out at the Fuchsröhre, the car bounced off of the guardrail and kept going. By the time it stopped, I ended up with a concussion and some broken vertebrae — he replied. 

She couldn’t help but widen her eyes, a little shocked at the casual manner with which he recalled the details of the incident as he described getting out of the car, from not being able to recall hopping over the tire barrier, to the paramedics finding his car but not him at first, as he was lying on the other side of the wall with his helmet and HANS device still on. He recalled going to the hospital in Adenau and trying to decide if he had lost feeling in his legs or not.

— And you still want me to get in a car with you? — Elisabeth asked him, sounding indignant.

— Well, it’s just one lap, no big deal.

She looked at her father, looking for any sign that he would take mercy on her and say that it was okay for her to refuse the offer. However, Elisabeth was met with an expression that was growing increasingly impatient with her resistance.

— Get in, Elisabeth.

She sighed.

She knew she’d lost another battle.

— Okay — she said, annoyed — But don’t go too fast.

Toto looked at her with a mischievous smile on his face.

— I can’t promise anything, Liesl.

Pursing her lips, Elisabeth walked around to the passenger side of the SLS AMG GT and tried to open the door. It didn’t budge.

— Is this thing locked? — she snapped, yanking at the door handle, to no avail.

— No — Toto replied, pulling the driver’s side handle and lifting the door up, his lips curled in a smug smile. “How silly you are, Elisabeth”, she thought, trying to open the door again, but this time pulling it up, opening it gently.

She took the helmet off of the passenger seat as she settled in next to Toto, who was making some final adjustments to the seat to make the ride more comfortable. Putting the helmet on, Elisabeth adjusted the buckle so it would fit snugly against her chin, brushing a few strands of her light brown hair away from her face.

“So”, she wondered, as she pulled the seatbelt on, running her fingers along the silver band that crossed her body “Will this hold me in a crash?”.

— Ready? — Toto asked her, smiling. He was definitely excited.

Elisabeth hummed something that sounded affirmative.

— I need you to use words, Liesl — he replied, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel.

— Yes — her voice came out shaky, without a hint of confidence. She could feel her hands cold against her jeans. She was terrified.

— Look, Elisabeth — Toto said as he took her hand in his, making her look up at him — I know I’m not much of a driver. But I would never let anything happen to you.

— Really? — she stammered, her breathing heavy.

— Really. I promise — he said, letting go of her hand and looking straight ahead — Now, are you ready?

— Yes — the shadow of a smile appeared on Elisabeth’s lips.

Quickly adjusting the sleeves of his white shirt, Toto pressed a button on the car’s center panel. A mighty rumble echoed throughout the garage as the engine roared to life. The low sound made him grin, as if he were a kid in a candy store.

— Then, let’s go — he said, waiting for one of the mechanics to signal. When Paul, the Mercedes PR admin, gave an affirmative thumbs up, Toto guided the car toward the pit lane exit, making her clench her teeth. “It’s going to be alright, it’s just a lap”, she repeated.

However, Elisabeth started feeling very nervous when the car left the pit lane and entered the actual track, especially when her eyes found the red needle on the sports car’s speedometer moving up as he drove down the main straight.

— Toto — she muttered, eyes glued to the car’s panel.

— What? — he asked, rounding the curves near the AMG Arena with the skill of someone who knew the track like the back of his hand.

— Don’t you think we’re going too fast?

— We just hit 200 — he looked at her, an excited smile on his lips.

— That’s fast enough! — Elisabeth said, feeling something in her chest sink.

— Not for this car — Toto chuckled, as the car sped along a small straight, the roar of the engine getting louder. Seeing a curve approaching and not feeling the car slow down, her heart started pounding.

— Brake, brake, brake, brake, brake —  she yelled, pointing to the turn, her eyes wide.

Toto just laughed, turning first left and then right.

— Calm down, Liesl…

— How am I supposed to be calm with you driving like this? — Elisabeth snarled, her fingers digging into the leather seat, as if that would make her safer in a hypothetical crash.

— Like what? — he asked, turning the steering wheel dramatically to the right to get around the hairpin.

— Like crazy — she yelled — Fucking crazy!

Her answer made him laugh.

— I’m driving normally, Liesl — Toto replied, a devilish grin on his face. The speedometer’s red needle indicated that the car had passed 270 kilometers per hour on the straight. The thought of being inside a piece of metal at that speed made her face go pale and her stomach churn.

However, the man driving the car beside her didn’t seem to notice. He followed the route with precision almost down to the millimeter. Accelerating through the track’s curves, Elisabeth thought she saw the number 310 on the speedometer before she had to cover her eyes with her hands. “I’m going to die, I’m going to die, I’m going to die”, her mind repeated.

— Toto — she screamed, as she felt her body being thrown from one side to the other as the car passed through a chicane.

He just laughed. Toto was enjoying the situation — perhaps a bit too much.

With her eyes still covered and her heart racing inside her chest, Elisabeth heard the engine slow down with the speed of the car. A few seconds later, it came to a stop. However, she remained silent, with her hands trembling in front of her eyes. 

— Elisabeth — Toto whispered beside her, his hands wrapping around her wrists and pulling her hands to her lap — It’s over.

— Are you sure? — she asked, her eyes still closed.

— Yeah. We are parked in front of the garage.

She slowly opened her eyes to make sure he was telling the truth. Looking to her right, a small group of mechanics were talking and pointing at the car. Next to them, Niki looked at her with his hands stuffed in the pockets of his jeans and a slight smile on his lips.

— Elisabeth, are you okay? — Toto asked, touching her hand.

She freed herself from her seat belt and opened the door abruptly, almost falling out of the car. She wasn't afraid. Just angry. Rushing toward the garage without looking back, she stopped in front of her father and spat out two words.

— Never. Again.

#toto wolff #f1 fic #f1 fanfic #formula 1 fic #wlffog #formula 1 fanfic #natsversion #f1 x oc #formula 1 x oc #toto wolff x oc #scwlff