Dracula (My Opinion)
It took me a while to write this review as every time I started I felt a little demotivated. It's been such a great experience for me - the whole time spent in Japan this year - that I'd rather talk about it on a beach, contemplating a bonfire. I better hurry then, before I change my mind again.
First off.
The location. I haven't been there for "New Yoka" - also held at Tokyo International Forum - so I was very positively surprised about the choice, especially considering the theatre would fit 5000+ and it was sold out, so I was happy for Takako and the rest of those involved in the project.
I visited the location on the day of my arrival (the 19th Aug) to make sure I would find it easily on the next day (Shonichi) and to have a precise estimate of how long it took from my place (Minamisenju) to Yurakucho (couldn't quite remember, I prefer going to TTT using the Hibiya Line).
So I had time aplenty to visit it properly, especially the Glass Building and its contents. Woah.
The thrill started before the show: half Soragumi sitting behind me. I could see Susshii (right behind me), Tomochin, Daichan, Masako, ReRe and other musumeyaku. I couldn't spot any other soragumisei, but WFC ladies told me they had seen Yuuhi during the standing ovation for curtain call, so I bet there were more, sitting somewhere I couldn't spot from my seat (I was trying not to stare at them to avoid looking rude...)
The show starts with an enchanting mantra evocating Dracula, with the chorus moving from left to side, holding candles in the pitch dark. I liked this idea a lot: first, it puts you straight in the mood with immediate suspension of disbelief, second it gives your eyes time to adjust to the darkness which is utterly necessary to follow Mina's movements, as she is the first main character to walk the boards.
Mari has been great. It wasn't just the looks of her (she really looked believable as tormented "not so frail" girl) but the whole composure and stage presence. On the 27th, I had a Premium Ticket so I was sitting in the 3rd row. I could hear her breathing and gasping to accompany her movements. Goosebumps.
The action is set "in medias res" as the first scene introduces us to Jonathan who has just arrived at the Castle to meet an aging, grey as an ancient relic from a forgotten past, sharp tongued and quite mysanthropist Count Dracula.
The Count - who is eccentric in more ways than one - wants to buy a real estate in London, to experience first handedly the "Brave New World" (quotation wanted).
I liked how the script is clear about Dracula's motives. In other adaptations, they mess with this part and - in the end - one is left wondering why the Count would buy a house in London in the first place.
"Solitary Man" - a taste of Dracula's themes that will follow. Great. I love every single song in this show, so I won't dwell on the quality of the songs, on the lyrics, on the contribution they add to the developing of the story.
I find that this musical's songs are quite the best Frank has achieved so far. Catchy, touching and fitting both story and characters.
They are "ear friendly" but still moving as "Never Say Goodbye" or "One Heart", so to compare them to some songs by the same author, I'd say they are "round"...a good balance between "something functional to the story" and "just cool song great to listen to". I spent days with Takachan's "Ima koso!" stuck in my head, and this can't be just because I love her :)
(from the press conference video)
Plus, this scene contains the first "scenic trick": Takachan walks thru a table, her / Dracula's cloak rustling as it wipes on its surface.
It was so sudden and so childishly captivating, it didn't lose its charm even after having seen the show three times.
The show is littered with cunning visual tricks (Dracula's rejuvenation, the materialization of his ship approaching at the madhouse where patients "can't sleep this night", Lucy and Quincey's shotgun levitating...) which, I must admit, add flavour to the already very good direction. A touch of icing to an already tasty cake.
Time for the love letter scene between Jonathan and Mina. Well, they are engaged so nothing really surprising here. Apart from that little "scratch on the surface" due to Dracula having seen Mina's pic and having fallen head over heels about her.
Takachan overdid the action a little (grabbing the pic with a little too much emphasis) and I think she realized it was a little too "over" to be believable "in full", so - as the professionist she is - she corrected it and the gesture looked perfectly natural and perfectly fit during the following shows, which demonstrates how absolutely in control and sensitive about audience's reactions she is.
I loved the scenic solution showing how slowly Mina’s image breaks the icy heart of the vampire and melts it: Dracula is at the summit of the tallest tower of his lonesome Castle, in a composure that makes him look like a wolf howling at the Moon, while calling Mina’s name. Grand.
At this point, I was absolutely captured. But yet another great scene made me completely ecstatic.
The biting of Jonathan by Dracula - who wants him all for himself and snatches him away from his three, rather sexily disturbing sons - is set under a purple curtain, which is lifted and “sucked” into a small triangle formed by the arms of dancers on the right side of the stage. A large curtain…a trick with lights…this purple cloud imploding into a black hole…revealing Dracula, young like a boy. Or…Takachan, more beautiful than I could imagine.
(from the program)
It must be said that at shonichi everybody was crazy nervous. Even Mari sang with a voice less crystalline than usual. It was touching and it made me feel tense for them. But during the following shows, all tension sounded as if washed away and the voices and the acting were clearly displayed with more confidence, untied.
And they were great. Takachan has never been so good since "Phantom". Her voice was SUPERB. Her acting POWERFUL. She held the stage with such presence you felt Dracula was "there" even when she wasn't on stage. Mari has been wonderful too: it's always mindblowing, listening to her "true" voice, free from all the boundaries in extension and range she was trapped with at Takarazuka.
Their acting was deeply felt and rationally dominated. Their singing was unison as always, but more tragic, more sincere and more mature. In short, you could feel how they've been acting together for 20 years, but you didn't feel as it was "the usual thing". There was a creative tension that you don't see in their Zuka shows, nor in other works they've been playing together (as "Dietrich"). This show is totally different. It's a sort of voyage into their emotions and a very exposing one. So no matter the "personal implications" behind this project and no matter my opinion on their real life relationship / interaction, I think "Dracula" is their masterpiece.
But I digress. On we move with Lucy's story. Which is the main "topic" of the show. I don't agree with those who believe Lucy's story (most of first act and quite a chunck in the second) is too long and disproportionate compared to Mina's one.
I find this analysis quite nearsighted as the real point in Mina's relationship with Dracula is NOT what Mina feels or how Dracula seduces her (which is actually, not a seduction as I will explain later), but what Mina fears she will become if she gives up to Dracula! And what she fears of becoming is...Lucy.
I liked how Lucy is depicted as a nice, charming, light-headed unexperienced girl and not as a pervy "man eater" (like in the movie by Coppola): she plays the "perfect fangirl". The one who is not really aware of what will be of her if she is turned into a vampire. She just wants to be with Dracula and she's ready to accept any "down" if the "up" is being loved by him.
She doesn't throw herself into his embrace because she wants to be "shagged by the multi-potent vampire". She's fascinated and she's more "tabete kudasai" than "yes, take me here on the silky sheets".
This whole different depiction of Lucy is pretty endearing and actually puts in a completely different perspective the chances Mina will have after her vampirization. After all, it's "normal" Lucy "the eager" turns into an evil, infant eating vampire, as in the movie, so you wonder why Mina is so afraid of becoming like her, when she is so different from such slutty "neck offerer".
It's less expected the "nice Lucy" will be turned into such a horrible creature for the mere fact Dracula "makes her" then just stops caring about her. Loneliness and the stinging awareness that Dracula has "made her" but doesn't love her, turn Lucy into a tormented "undead"...not a happy vampire, neither a human being. Lucy is sadly stuck in between forever.
I appreciated Abe-san's acting. I knew her voice already as I've been a Morning Musume fan for a long span, so I knew what to expect more or less (she is also in the cast of "Ribbon no Kishi").
However, she really pours her whole self into this play and after all, tho' different in type and sound, her voice meets the level required to support Takachan's Dracula as it should.
She's also young and chibi compared to T-chan's stance, which adds charisma to Dracula and freshness to Lucy's character.
Also, I was quite surprised at the chemistry between her and Mari: they really look like childhood friends, Lucy being protected by a much wiser Mina.
Good job, Nacchan. You deserved the applauses you got and the enthusiasm demonstrated by "non-MoMusu" fans, which wasn't to be taken as a given.
(same as Frank)
From Mina's perspective, you seriously start wondering if Dracula would really stick around long enough for you to become "like him" and not a depressing failure as Lucy.
So the point in Mina / Dracula relationship is: I love you, but I won't let you turn me into a monster as Lucy.
Now, it makes sense. I personally wouldn't like that either, especially considering how Lucy is "killed" once and for all and how horrid that scene must look as seen from her best friend's point of view.
Mari sings Mina's theme songs ("Please, don't make me love you" and "If I had wings") with the intensity required to convey all of the above. Just O'Hana and enough said.
But here comes the real turning point.
Dracula could just use his super-duper-vampire-powers to seduce her (he's done it with Renfield and he wasn't even physically near him!).
But no, he doesn't. Because he doesn't want to seduce her. He wants her to love him, because he knows they'll actually be together. They are meant to be together and he knows Mina knows it too, as she has felt him in her heart long before he was even close enough to be seen. It could have been the usual, seen-too-many-times, "I know you love me and I am so perfect for you, you will actually fall for me".
But Takachan was so great as to add conflicting hints to his refusal to seduce Mina: "I could seduce you, you want me to and you know, but I don't want to be so silly as to have you against your will". Rather frustrating but that's the way their love is supposed to be.
In other words, he loves Mina so much, he doesn't even want to "crush" her pride, even if it is for her own good. Mina has proudly rejected him. He could just overwhelm her resistance, after all she is "calling" him from the bottom of her heart. But he loves her so much, he will even respect her pride.
And for the same reason, because he respects her, he doesn't kill her fiancé and friends. Because this would harm her and make her sad and no happiness can be born from sadness.
This leads to his flee to safer places and to "I have a choice", the song Frank has written specifically for Takako.
Now that Dracula knows how it feels to be loved for real and not "just" desired and worshipped, he also knows this makes everything different. He is not the superior being, captivating his prey.
His relationship with Mina is "same level"...he has abdicated some of his power to respect her humanity, because he loves her the way she is and respects her to an extent she might even not understand fully, considering he's been waiting for so long for her.
A whole eternity to wait and suddenly you realize that the very thing you've been waiting for will destroy you.
However, at this point, the events cannot be stopped as they flow hurriedly to the bitter end.
Mina has understood that Dracula is fragile and she's the Boss, so she can feel her pride is sated and be vampirized in good-will.
Mina understands Dracula's inner dilemma and suddenly realizes she has been struggling against a doom that's been written in Destiny's book long time ago. She is his other half and he is what she has also been looking for.
So she lets him bite her. Better, she forces him to bite her, offering her neck in a way that is more a command than a request.
This is so tremendously TakaHana I cannot even.
But it's even more apocalyptically TakaHana cause Mina / Mari bites Dracula / Takachan on the chest, to be turned into a vampire.
I stopped breathing for the whole length of their embrace. I could see the marks left by Mari's fingers on Takachan's waist. The whole theatre sighed. It was magical. Almost, sacred. From a fan's point of view, the highest moment of a liturgy.
How I hated the "company of slayers" barging in!!!
Dracula could kill them all and kidnap Mina. But this is not what would make her happy and so, in the end, he doesn't do anything he might. He just flees, in the typical "you won't choose, I'll choose for you so you can be happy" sacrificial lamb spirit. A vampire turned into a lamb. That's why I detest the "company of slayers"...tho' I must admit they sing a real cool song...
Run, Dracula! Run!
(same source)
As an aside, I LOVED Ryunosuke Onoda as Renfield: I think he was the BEST supporting character. The guy playing Jonathan was good and stood in a very difficult spot - storywise - so I respect him, but he screwed the same note three times during all the shows I've seen. So he was good, but not good enough to be comparable to Takachan's perfection or Onoda's charisma.
About Van Hellsing: always disliked the character, no matter how hard they try to humanize him in every version of Dracula. He is obnoxious and a drug addict, plus he is so cold and inhumane in this play, it touches me little that he lost his family to Dracula's fangs.
Dracula's lonely song - about despair, but also "I'm an idiot" mood - made me weep silently as he / Takako voiced out my sentiments exactly, about a whole lot of relationships with humans I won't mention. I would have patted his shoulder. Shining canines included.
And Takako with white 19th century shirt and black leather pants. Such gigantic nosebleed.
Of course, alas, the company of slayers fetches him and things precipitate to the bitter end as we had sensed when the story reached its peak.
Some say the ending is "rushed". I don't agree. What had to be told is told. No need to linger on. After all, we can't dwell on Dracula's feelings as what's happening outside his castle is dramatic.
Mina has asked to help the company fetch the vampire - thru hypnosis - as she feels his thoughts in the blood she's been sucking from him, running thru her own veins. Why does she make such decision?
I have pondered on this. But I think mostly because she just wants to see him again. She's torn between being his or being "cured" and live happily with Jonathan. Whatever, she must think at this point, I just want to see him again.
Because, mind you, he is not using his powers. She wants to see him because she loves him. Simple like that. No matter the consequences.
And they meet again, in a candle lit crypt scene that reminded me of "Phantom". Time to hug and say good-bye. Because, from now on, they're both gone too far into "changing" and "reaching out to meet the other" to go back to being what they've been till they met.
Both Dracula and Mina cannot change back and be who they used to be. Their old selves are far gone and the new ones have only a way to be happy, if they don't want to get rid - killing them - of those who are trying to kill Dracula and force Mina back into a life she now has learnt to despise.
How it ends, I won't tell. You can spoil yourself as much as you want surfing the web, but not on my LJ.
I MIGHTILY LIKED THIS SHOW.
I liked the story, the enacting, the play itself with its songs and stage setting. I even liked the costumes, definitely goth, but in a cool "not obvious" steampunk way. Especially Dracula's costumes...so much leather, so much reptile patterns, yet so much silk and velvet in a contrast between cold and warm fabrics.
I liked Takachan and I liked Mari. I even liked Frank as he stepped on stage at shonichi's curtain call and he looked so happy and so fangirlish about Takako he was cutely adorable.
I am dying to see it on DVD. November, soon come!
I'll talk about the Dracula party, the Vampire Café and the rest of my fangirling in another post as this one is loooong. So for bearing with my squealing till now, thank you _O_
UPDATE: Sorry for typoes...tried to correct them. Also, added pics and my opinion on Abe-san :)
First off.
The location. I haven't been there for "New Yoka" - also held at Tokyo International Forum - so I was very positively surprised about the choice, especially considering the theatre would fit 5000+ and it was sold out, so I was happy for Takako and the rest of those involved in the project.
I visited the location on the day of my arrival (the 19th Aug) to make sure I would find it easily on the next day (Shonichi) and to have a precise estimate of how long it took from my place (Minamisenju) to Yurakucho (couldn't quite remember, I prefer going to TTT using the Hibiya Line).
So I had time aplenty to visit it properly, especially the Glass Building and its contents. Woah.
The thrill started before the show: half Soragumi sitting behind me. I could see Susshii (right behind me), Tomochin, Daichan, Masako, ReRe and other musumeyaku. I couldn't spot any other soragumisei, but WFC ladies told me they had seen Yuuhi during the standing ovation for curtain call, so I bet there were more, sitting somewhere I couldn't spot from my seat (I was trying not to stare at them to avoid looking rude...)
The show starts with an enchanting mantra evocating Dracula, with the chorus moving from left to side, holding candles in the pitch dark. I liked this idea a lot: first, it puts you straight in the mood with immediate suspension of disbelief, second it gives your eyes time to adjust to the darkness which is utterly necessary to follow Mina's movements, as she is the first main character to walk the boards.
Mari has been great. It wasn't just the looks of her (she really looked believable as tormented "not so frail" girl) but the whole composure and stage presence. On the 27th, I had a Premium Ticket so I was sitting in the 3rd row. I could hear her breathing and gasping to accompany her movements. Goosebumps.
The action is set "in medias res" as the first scene introduces us to Jonathan who has just arrived at the Castle to meet an aging, grey as an ancient relic from a forgotten past, sharp tongued and quite mysanthropist Count Dracula.
The Count - who is eccentric in more ways than one - wants to buy a real estate in London, to experience first handedly the "Brave New World" (quotation wanted).
I liked how the script is clear about Dracula's motives. In other adaptations, they mess with this part and - in the end - one is left wondering why the Count would buy a house in London in the first place.
"Solitary Man" - a taste of Dracula's themes that will follow. Great. I love every single song in this show, so I won't dwell on the quality of the songs, on the lyrics, on the contribution they add to the developing of the story.
I find that this musical's songs are quite the best Frank has achieved so far. Catchy, touching and fitting both story and characters.
They are "ear friendly" but still moving as "Never Say Goodbye" or "One Heart", so to compare them to some songs by the same author, I'd say they are "round"...a good balance between "something functional to the story" and "just cool song great to listen to". I spent days with Takachan's "Ima koso!" stuck in my head, and this can't be just because I love her :)
(from the press conference video)
Plus, this scene contains the first "scenic trick": Takachan walks thru a table, her / Dracula's cloak rustling as it wipes on its surface.
It was so sudden and so childishly captivating, it didn't lose its charm even after having seen the show three times.
The show is littered with cunning visual tricks (Dracula's rejuvenation, the materialization of his ship approaching at the madhouse where patients "can't sleep this night", Lucy and Quincey's shotgun levitating...) which, I must admit, add flavour to the already very good direction. A touch of icing to an already tasty cake.
Time for the love letter scene between Jonathan and Mina. Well, they are engaged so nothing really surprising here. Apart from that little "scratch on the surface" due to Dracula having seen Mina's pic and having fallen head over heels about her.
Takachan overdid the action a little (grabbing the pic with a little too much emphasis) and I think she realized it was a little too "over" to be believable "in full", so - as the professionist she is - she corrected it and the gesture looked perfectly natural and perfectly fit during the following shows, which demonstrates how absolutely in control and sensitive about audience's reactions she is.
I loved the scenic solution showing how slowly Mina’s image breaks the icy heart of the vampire and melts it: Dracula is at the summit of the tallest tower of his lonesome Castle, in a composure that makes him look like a wolf howling at the Moon, while calling Mina’s name. Grand.
At this point, I was absolutely captured. But yet another great scene made me completely ecstatic.
The biting of Jonathan by Dracula - who wants him all for himself and snatches him away from his three, rather sexily disturbing sons - is set under a purple curtain, which is lifted and “sucked” into a small triangle formed by the arms of dancers on the right side of the stage. A large curtain…a trick with lights…this purple cloud imploding into a black hole…revealing Dracula, young like a boy. Or…Takachan, more beautiful than I could imagine.
(from the program)
It must be said that at shonichi everybody was crazy nervous. Even Mari sang with a voice less crystalline than usual. It was touching and it made me feel tense for them. But during the following shows, all tension sounded as if washed away and the voices and the acting were clearly displayed with more confidence, untied.
And they were great. Takachan has never been so good since "Phantom". Her voice was SUPERB. Her acting POWERFUL. She held the stage with such presence you felt Dracula was "there" even when she wasn't on stage. Mari has been wonderful too: it's always mindblowing, listening to her "true" voice, free from all the boundaries in extension and range she was trapped with at Takarazuka.
Their acting was deeply felt and rationally dominated. Their singing was unison as always, but more tragic, more sincere and more mature. In short, you could feel how they've been acting together for 20 years, but you didn't feel as it was "the usual thing". There was a creative tension that you don't see in their Zuka shows, nor in other works they've been playing together (as "Dietrich"). This show is totally different. It's a sort of voyage into their emotions and a very exposing one. So no matter the "personal implications" behind this project and no matter my opinion on their real life relationship / interaction, I think "Dracula" is their masterpiece.
But I digress. On we move with Lucy's story. Which is the main "topic" of the show. I don't agree with those who believe Lucy's story (most of first act and quite a chunck in the second) is too long and disproportionate compared to Mina's one.
I find this analysis quite nearsighted as the real point in Mina's relationship with Dracula is NOT what Mina feels or how Dracula seduces her (which is actually, not a seduction as I will explain later), but what Mina fears she will become if she gives up to Dracula! And what she fears of becoming is...Lucy.
I liked how Lucy is depicted as a nice, charming, light-headed unexperienced girl and not as a pervy "man eater" (like in the movie by Coppola): she plays the "perfect fangirl". The one who is not really aware of what will be of her if she is turned into a vampire. She just wants to be with Dracula and she's ready to accept any "down" if the "up" is being loved by him.
She doesn't throw herself into his embrace because she wants to be "shagged by the multi-potent vampire". She's fascinated and she's more "tabete kudasai" than "yes, take me here on the silky sheets".
This whole different depiction of Lucy is pretty endearing and actually puts in a completely different perspective the chances Mina will have after her vampirization. After all, it's "normal" Lucy "the eager" turns into an evil, infant eating vampire, as in the movie, so you wonder why Mina is so afraid of becoming like her, when she is so different from such slutty "neck offerer".
It's less expected the "nice Lucy" will be turned into such a horrible creature for the mere fact Dracula "makes her" then just stops caring about her. Loneliness and the stinging awareness that Dracula has "made her" but doesn't love her, turn Lucy into a tormented "undead"...not a happy vampire, neither a human being. Lucy is sadly stuck in between forever.
I appreciated Abe-san's acting. I knew her voice already as I've been a Morning Musume fan for a long span, so I knew what to expect more or less (she is also in the cast of "Ribbon no Kishi").
However, she really pours her whole self into this play and after all, tho' different in type and sound, her voice meets the level required to support Takachan's Dracula as it should.
She's also young and chibi compared to T-chan's stance, which adds charisma to Dracula and freshness to Lucy's character.
Also, I was quite surprised at the chemistry between her and Mari: they really look like childhood friends, Lucy being protected by a much wiser Mina.
Good job, Nacchan. You deserved the applauses you got and the enthusiasm demonstrated by "non-MoMusu" fans, which wasn't to be taken as a given.
(same as Frank)
From Mina's perspective, you seriously start wondering if Dracula would really stick around long enough for you to become "like him" and not a depressing failure as Lucy.
So the point in Mina / Dracula relationship is: I love you, but I won't let you turn me into a monster as Lucy.
Now, it makes sense. I personally wouldn't like that either, especially considering how Lucy is "killed" once and for all and how horrid that scene must look as seen from her best friend's point of view.
Mari sings Mina's theme songs ("Please, don't make me love you" and "If I had wings") with the intensity required to convey all of the above. Just O'Hana and enough said.
But here comes the real turning point.
Dracula could just use his super-duper-vampire-powers to seduce her (he's done it with Renfield and he wasn't even physically near him!).
But no, he doesn't. Because he doesn't want to seduce her. He wants her to love him, because he knows they'll actually be together. They are meant to be together and he knows Mina knows it too, as she has felt him in her heart long before he was even close enough to be seen. It could have been the usual, seen-too-many-times, "I know you love me and I am so perfect for you, you will actually fall for me".
But Takachan was so great as to add conflicting hints to his refusal to seduce Mina: "I could seduce you, you want me to and you know, but I don't want to be so silly as to have you against your will". Rather frustrating but that's the way their love is supposed to be.
In other words, he loves Mina so much, he doesn't even want to "crush" her pride, even if it is for her own good. Mina has proudly rejected him. He could just overwhelm her resistance, after all she is "calling" him from the bottom of her heart. But he loves her so much, he will even respect her pride.
And for the same reason, because he respects her, he doesn't kill her fiancé and friends. Because this would harm her and make her sad and no happiness can be born from sadness.
This leads to his flee to safer places and to "I have a choice", the song Frank has written specifically for Takako.
Now that Dracula knows how it feels to be loved for real and not "just" desired and worshipped, he also knows this makes everything different. He is not the superior being, captivating his prey.
His relationship with Mina is "same level"...he has abdicated some of his power to respect her humanity, because he loves her the way she is and respects her to an extent she might even not understand fully, considering he's been waiting for so long for her.
A whole eternity to wait and suddenly you realize that the very thing you've been waiting for will destroy you.
However, at this point, the events cannot be stopped as they flow hurriedly to the bitter end.
Mina has understood that Dracula is fragile and she's the Boss, so she can feel her pride is sated and be vampirized in good-will.
Mina understands Dracula's inner dilemma and suddenly realizes she has been struggling against a doom that's been written in Destiny's book long time ago. She is his other half and he is what she has also been looking for.
So she lets him bite her. Better, she forces him to bite her, offering her neck in a way that is more a command than a request.
This is so tremendously TakaHana I cannot even.
But it's even more apocalyptically TakaHana cause Mina / Mari bites Dracula / Takachan on the chest, to be turned into a vampire.
I stopped breathing for the whole length of their embrace. I could see the marks left by Mari's fingers on Takachan's waist. The whole theatre sighed. It was magical. Almost, sacred. From a fan's point of view, the highest moment of a liturgy.
How I hated the "company of slayers" barging in!!!
Dracula could kill them all and kidnap Mina. But this is not what would make her happy and so, in the end, he doesn't do anything he might. He just flees, in the typical "you won't choose, I'll choose for you so you can be happy" sacrificial lamb spirit. A vampire turned into a lamb. That's why I detest the "company of slayers"...tho' I must admit they sing a real cool song...
Run, Dracula! Run!
(same source)
As an aside, I LOVED Ryunosuke Onoda as Renfield: I think he was the BEST supporting character. The guy playing Jonathan was good and stood in a very difficult spot - storywise - so I respect him, but he screwed the same note three times during all the shows I've seen. So he was good, but not good enough to be comparable to Takachan's perfection or Onoda's charisma.
About Van Hellsing: always disliked the character, no matter how hard they try to humanize him in every version of Dracula. He is obnoxious and a drug addict, plus he is so cold and inhumane in this play, it touches me little that he lost his family to Dracula's fangs.
Dracula's lonely song - about despair, but also "I'm an idiot" mood - made me weep silently as he / Takako voiced out my sentiments exactly, about a whole lot of relationships with humans I won't mention. I would have patted his shoulder. Shining canines included.
And Takako with white 19th century shirt and black leather pants. Such gigantic nosebleed.
Of course, alas, the company of slayers fetches him and things precipitate to the bitter end as we had sensed when the story reached its peak.
Some say the ending is "rushed". I don't agree. What had to be told is told. No need to linger on. After all, we can't dwell on Dracula's feelings as what's happening outside his castle is dramatic.
Mina has asked to help the company fetch the vampire - thru hypnosis - as she feels his thoughts in the blood she's been sucking from him, running thru her own veins. Why does she make such decision?
I have pondered on this. But I think mostly because she just wants to see him again. She's torn between being his or being "cured" and live happily with Jonathan. Whatever, she must think at this point, I just want to see him again.
Because, mind you, he is not using his powers. She wants to see him because she loves him. Simple like that. No matter the consequences.
And they meet again, in a candle lit crypt scene that reminded me of "Phantom". Time to hug and say good-bye. Because, from now on, they're both gone too far into "changing" and "reaching out to meet the other" to go back to being what they've been till they met.
Both Dracula and Mina cannot change back and be who they used to be. Their old selves are far gone and the new ones have only a way to be happy, if they don't want to get rid - killing them - of those who are trying to kill Dracula and force Mina back into a life she now has learnt to despise.
How it ends, I won't tell. You can spoil yourself as much as you want surfing the web, but not on my LJ.
I MIGHTILY LIKED THIS SHOW.
I liked the story, the enacting, the play itself with its songs and stage setting. I even liked the costumes, definitely goth, but in a cool "not obvious" steampunk way. Especially Dracula's costumes...so much leather, so much reptile patterns, yet so much silk and velvet in a contrast between cold and warm fabrics.
I liked Takachan and I liked Mari. I even liked Frank as he stepped on stage at shonichi's curtain call and he looked so happy and so fangirlish about Takako he was cutely adorable.
I am dying to see it on DVD. November, soon come!
I'll talk about the Dracula party, the Vampire Café and the rest of my fangirling in another post as this one is loooong. So for bearing with my squealing till now, thank you _O_
UPDATE: Sorry for typoes...tried to correct them. Also, added pics and my opinion on Abe-san :)