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margridarnauds · 3 months

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Something I've been trying to articulate is why a lot of criticisms of Takarazuka productions (esp. adaptations) from outside the Takarazuka fandom don't often WORK for me, so here are some angles that I wish that people would go into more, instead of treating Takarazuka Musicals™ as a conservative, sparkly monolith:

Comparing different adapted musicals together -- Elisabeth, RetJ, and 1789 were both adapted by the same director, Koike Shuuichirou, so you can spot solid similarities there, but what about Le Roi Soleil, La Legende du Roi Arthur, Mozart l'Opera Rock, Anastasia, Don Juan, The Scarlet Pimpernel, I Am From Austria, etc.? It isn't even to say that they're all wildly DIFFERENT (there are certain changes that I'd argue are common among multiple adaptations), but it's to say that you can do better work when you have a broad pool to compare these things with.

Relating to that, comparing the work of different directors, or even the same director's work in different productions. (Koike's work in Elisabeth in the various Elisabeth Takarazuka productions over time VS the various Toho, or his work on 1789 between the 2015 Zuka to the Toho productions to the 2023 production.)

On the reverse side, instead of or in addition to questioning why changes were made, questioning why Japanese audiences are DRAWN to these foreign musicals in the first place. La Legende du Roi Arthur alone deals with themes of rape, incest, deals with the devil, adultery, etc. Is it the fact that it's foreign and therefore exotic enough that it can get away with things that other musicals can't, or does it show that there might be an interest in darker material alongside the stereotypical Takarazuka material (whatever that means)? (I have my own opinions, but this is an angle I almost never see in these critiques.)

What Takarazuka material looked like 20-30 years ago VS the present. How has the tone changed? How has it varied?

Like, Takarazuka is easy to take cheap shots at, and, a couple of years ago, I wouldn't have been far off from these criticisms myself (and I've made my own), but I feel like a lot of the criticisms are grounded in only using one or two adapted musicals from one director, pointing to them, and going "that's Takarazuka™"

#takarazuka #it isn't even that I feel like the critiques are WRONG per se #rather that they don't treat it as something that allows for a lot of nuance and individuality #and i know i'm asking for a lot of homework but also...if you're going to make broad takes about a tradition that is a hundred years old...#maybe you NEED to do the homework

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hhuta · 3 years

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give me a sec.

#NOT THEM KISSING??????????????????????#GIRL WHAT ! JUST HAPPENED!#that was the most intense mercutio death scene i?????#hello?#its like watching hannibal again #im afraid to press play again #i really did not think markbalt would deliver this much #retj liveblog #retj austria

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cto10121 · 7 years

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@bathwritersnark replied to your chat post: Ah yes, the case of Tanz der Vampire is an infamous one. One of Europe's biggest hits that, together with Elisabeth and Rebecca, established Austria as one of the leading musical theatre producers. And none of those pieces can reach Broadway without suffering some kind of tragedy. Tanz der Vampire turned to shit, Elisabeth thankfully never reached it there and Rebecca underwent several years of law investigations. Seriously Broadway, come on, you can do better XD

There must be some sort of Voldemort-style curse on recent European musicals because if you think about it, none of the foreign musicals post-Les Misérables that have been translated into English have been successful. Notre Dame de Paris is by far the most successful, relatively speaking, lasting a year and a half and flopped in Vegas, Roméo et Juliette four months, despite the fact that its godawful English translation should have made it run for less, easily the worst translated of the lot. Starmania, which was translated by Tim Rice (lyricist of Jesus Christ Superstar and some of the songs from the Lion King and Aladdin), had a really small modest opening in El Paso, of all places, and then at the Mogador Theater in Paris. Starmania was at least mostly a French/French-Canadian thing, but Notre Dame and RetJ could have been done way better than they were. Kristina fran Duvemala got at least Herbert Kretzmer to translate, and a concert in English, but I read at least one review that panned it; I haven't heard anything more about the English version.

And then, of course, you have the Austrian-German musicals, as you said. Poor Rebecca never reached Broadway and Elisabeth was bizarrely never picked up; it was considered at some point, but the American producers wanted to conflate Death and Lucheni together and other changes and so Michael Kunze (of COURSE) said no. And Broadway Tanz rivals London RetJ for worst adaptation, as far as I know. Now, Mozart L'Opéra Rock is the latest that is going to be adapted for Broadway, but that was years ago, so it’s probably in development hell. If the Curse of the Foreign Musicals holds out, they'd probably mess it up somehow too. If it even gets there.

#only the claude-michel schönberg and alain boublil musicals have had success #hMMM #you have to wonder #reply #bathwritersnark #european musicals #romeo et juliette #elisabeth #notre dame de paris #mozart l'opera rock #tanz der vampire #my heart is on an english retj so badly

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hhuta · 3 years

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