Hello, everyone! Your Takarazuka fanatic returns! As we say here in Japan, "Ohisashiburi desu!" or "It's been a while!"

Fresh off the Takarazuka news page (http://kageki.hankyu.co.jp/news/detail/dcf2af7bbf1e3dcc658fb8465789c1eb.html):

"The Scarlet Pimpernel"
Moon Troupe (tsukigumi)
Takarazuka Grand Theater: 4/16/10 - 5/17/10 (ticket sale date 3/13/10)
Tokyo Takarazuka Theater: 6/4/10 - 7/4/10 (ticket sale date: 5/2/10)

Leads:
Kiriya Hiromu (first Grand Theater show as top star)
Aono Yuki (first Grand Theater show as top musumeyaku)

It's interesting to note that Aono Yuki will be a recent transfer from Star Troupe and played Marguerite in the shinjin kouen (newcomer performance) of Star Troupe's SP.

(sorry for any mistakes. Typing this up from my iPhone at work)



If you recall, there are 5 troupes that make up Takarazuka Kagekidan - Flower, Moon, Snow, Star and Cosmos. Star performed SP the last time around. I am, personally, a fan of moon troupe and support an actress there.

When comparing with the productions of Elisabeth I also prefer Moon Troupe although the best I saw was the 2002 Flowe Troup Cast of Elisabeth (in the good old days of Osa...)

I'm curious to see these knew actresses in action though!

For anyone who is interested, I have just fleshed out the scene and song list from the Takarazuka production on Nan's website. This is the scene list which can be found on the 2008 Star Troupe production, available in full on CD and DVD.

It's been a while, but finally a bit of news! The main roles were announced for the upcoming Moon Troupe production of SP.

Percy: Kiriya Hiromu (previously announced)
Marguerite : Aono Yuki (previously announced)

Chauvelin: Ryuu Masaki / Asumi Rio
Armand: Ryuu Masaki / Asumi Rio

The roles of Chauvelin and Armand will be shared between Ryuu MAsaki and Asumi Rio. Here is the role-switch schedule for the Grand Theater run. Tokyo's role change schedule hasn't been announced yet.
♦ Chauvelin: Ryuu Masaki, Armand: Asumi Rio — 4/16 - 4/23; 5/02 - 5/10
♦ Chauvelin: Asumi Rio, Armand: Ryuu Masaki — 4/24 - 5/01; 5/11 - 5/17

Interesting way to split up those parts... thanks for the update :)

Two little bits to add:

You can now find a promotional video on this page:
http://www.tca-pictures.net/scarlet2010/01.html

It features bits from the poster photo shoot. Leslie Kee, the photographer for the Star Troupe production, is also photographer for this production.

Also, the first day of rehearsals will be March 1st. Expect the complete list of roles to be released publicly on that day

Updates! Lots of them!

So, yesterday was the first day of rehearsals for Pimpernel, but the complete list of roles wasn't announced until today. (From what I hear, yesterday they held auditions for the remaining roles).

You can find the full cast here:
http://kageki.hankyu.co.jp/revue/167/cast.html (official site, Japanese)
http://takarazuka-revue.info/tiki-index.ph...%28Moon+2010%29 (Takarazuka wikipedia)

The role switch schedule was released for the Tokyo performances as well.
♦ Chauvelin: Ryuu Masaki, Armand: Asumi Rio — 6/04 - 6/11; 6/19 - 6/25
♦ Chauvelin: Asumi Rio, Armand: Ryuu Masaki — 6/12 - 6/18; 6/26 - 7/04

On March 12th, there will be a press conference held at the Tokyo theater

Also, I forgot to mention that the poster was released a few weeks ago. You can see the image here:
http://kageki.hankyu.co.jp/revue/167/poster.jpg.html

The special website (http://kageki.hankyu.co.jp/the_scarlet_pimpernel/) is opened

I don't know if I mentioned it, but this show will be the debut show for the students of the 96th graduating class of Takarazuka Music School. This will be their first show in the company, thus at the beginning of the show there is a special presentation, and the "rockette" line dance in the finale will be special and longer for them, most likely. I'd link you to the schedule of who will be reciting the speech at the beginning of the program on which days, but since it doesn't impact the actual musical itself, I figured I wouldn't bother

AAAAaaaaand I think that's all *laughs* I'll probably be attending irimachi and demachi (kinda like stage dooring, but a special process for the members of certain star's fanclubs) this weekend. The star whom I support will be playing Ffoulkes <3 (I'm trying to think of a clever SP-related gift to get her since she is half American and speaks English)

Excellent! Lots of great info indeed. Good to have things really starting there now. :)

One thing I've been wondering, I haven't seen this bit of info anywhere... who did the Japanese translations for the show?

I'll try to dig out my program from the last production to see if it's in there. I know that Koike was responsible for adaptation, but I'm not sure off the top of my head who did translation

In other news, the press conference for the show was held last night in Tokyo. There will probably be an official story put on the Takarazuka webpage later, but for now:

http://www.sanspo.com/geino/news/100312/gn...22329001-n1.htm

http://enak.iza.ne.jp/blog/entry/1500577/ (The blog of a writer for Sanspo, an online affiliate of the Sankei newspaper. A bunch of pics, including Frank.)

If I get a chance later, I might translate

The official article and photos for the press conference are now up:
http://kageki.hankyu.co.jp/news/detail/9c6...f5b32d3a99.html

Tickets for the Takarazuka run are now on sale.