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masahiSummary: Mikhail Cherinka is the top star of the Russian ballet, but he's unhappy where he is behind the Iron Curtain. He managed to escape, leaving behind his beloved wife and son, and takes refuge in Canada, before making it to Broadway, where he becomes a big star. However, he never forgets his wife and his son.
A revue follows in act II.
The basic premise is sort of similar to 'Lure of the Icon': make your lead a ballet star, which gives her ample opportunity to show off the fact she would have been a prima ballerina in normal theatre if she was just That Fricking Awesome. However, this show also seems to be used as a showcase of all the really strong young dancers Hoshigumi had in 2006. These are the girls who can keep up with and match Chie, and it makes for a fantastic show.
Like Mikhail in 'Icon', this Mikhail wants to escape the oppressive society of Soviet Russia for success and great things for him, his wife and his baby son, little Mika. He does manage to escape, leaving his beloved wife and son behind, and I'm not sure whether he plans to ship them over as soon as he can or not, but unsurprisingly, he's a roaring success on Broadway, and garners a lot of interest.
That could have been the end of the story for the wife-and-son combination, leaving Mikhail free to pursue other femme-fatale types, but no. For once, we have a boy loyal to his absent wife and wistfully thinking about her. And finally, when he's rich and successful and happy, he gets word and seems to be so happy. I suspect he thinks wifeh will be joining them, but no. Wifeh, who was never all that healthy, has died.
Mikhail is - unsurprisingly - devastated, but in the middle of these bleak times, a little bit of happiness is brought back for him by an old friend: little Mika has grown up and, like his father, he's a dancer too. Although his wife has passed away, Mikhail looks like he will at least be happy now that he has his little son with him again.
What I did like about this show was that it let Chie show off her acting chops, especially in the scene when Mikhail finds out what's happened to his wife. You'd think her heart had been torn out and stamped on. And then, the look on her face when little Mika shyly shows a few careful dance steps... I would love to see her have bigger acting-centric roles, definitely :) Plus, with such a tiny cast (15 altogether), everyone got a chance to sparkle.
However, more importantly, we have the revue. Even if I had hated the first act, I could never have ignored this revue. These are the girls who are high on energy and joy and loving every moment of what they're doing. There's so much fantastic dancing and so much happiness just pouring out of the revue. It has moved straight into my upper levels of favourite-revue-sections, especially for the bows and speeches at the end.
Highlights for me in this section are:
- a rendition of a song to the tune of 'Light at the End of the Tunnel' from Starlight Express, which involved dancing in the aisles and audience participation with dance moves for everyone to join in with at home.
- a group version, led by Chie, of 'I'll Cover You' from Rent. I got shivers.
- Chie dancing her way through every musumeyaku in the show :D
- the sensual pair-dance which turns into a fight between Haya and Chie over Mariya (I think. I didn't see her face clearly)
- Chie showing off her tap-dancing skillz.
- 'I Just Called to Say I Love You' with a Hispanic flavour and everyone in jeans and t-shirts.
- Haya singing 'Superstition'.
- Chie owning the audience with 'Hit the Road Jack'.
- the bows. Oh, the bows.
To go on about the bows for a moment, every girl got an introduction and made a little speech, from most junior up. Tenju Mitsuki was first and her voice cracked and she squeaked, which reduced everyone to giggles, and she turned on Chie, wailing "Papaaaaaaaaaa!" :D And Chie is such a giggler, which is so odd because of how low her voice is - she giggles just as low as she talks.
In one of the next rounds of the bows meant everyone got to come out and do a jaunty little bow in their own style. There were bows, wild extravagant arms, dainty curtseys. Some of the musumeyakus went to town in sultry-vixen mode, but the absolute winner was Ichijou Azusa. Here, just watch it:
Then, there was yet another curtain call. Chie beckoned everyone back on, but seemed to have run low on witty banter and was looking a little bit helpless, so Haya grabbed her arm and lifted above her head and went "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!", to which everyone else went "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!" as well, and they started dancing about again.
Cast-wise:
Yuzuki Reon as Mikhail: I love Chie. I do. The voice. The dancing. The acting. She's got everything in there, and she knows how to use it. The dancing especially was wonderful. I do wonder how bizarre it was for her to play a male balletdancer after so many years of dancing opposite them.
And then, after all the big drama and big acting and general amazingness, she made me love her all the more when her voice broke and she had to stop speaking because she was in happy tears during the bows. I'm so happy she's my Top Star :)
Ayami Haya as Scenario Writer: Haya's sort of the narrator of the piece, but also gets some fantastic songs and gets to show of her dancing skills. I've adored her since Pimpernel especially and this show was so worth seeing even just for her moments :)
Hanami Yuuka as Misha: Was absolutely gorgeous and her scenes with Chie were lovely to watch. The dancing was fantastic :)
Otohana Yuri: The boss role wasn't huge, but in the revue, she blew the roof off with her voice :D
Hana Nonomi as Mrs Mikhail: Sadly only had a brief role in the main show, but had a lovely, gentle dynamic with Chie. Mind you, she got to have great fun in the revue along with everyone else :D
Tenju Mitsuki as young Mikhail & Mikhail's son: She does tend to specialise in playing either young versions or sons of the leads, and she was adorable in this. This was waaaaaaaaay back in her 2nd year before she played baby!Tyrian in El Halcon. She really is as cute as a button.
On the whole, this is my happy-making-show. I can't see there ever being a day when this show does not make me bounce along and grin like crazy :)
A revue follows in act II.
The basic premise is sort of similar to 'Lure of the Icon': make your lead a ballet star, which gives her ample opportunity to show off the fact she would have been a prima ballerina in normal theatre if she was just That Fricking Awesome. However, this show also seems to be used as a showcase of all the really strong young dancers Hoshigumi had in 2006. These are the girls who can keep up with and match Chie, and it makes for a fantastic show.
Like Mikhail in 'Icon', this Mikhail wants to escape the oppressive society of Soviet Russia for success and great things for him, his wife and his baby son, little Mika. He does manage to escape, leaving his beloved wife and son behind, and I'm not sure whether he plans to ship them over as soon as he can or not, but unsurprisingly, he's a roaring success on Broadway, and garners a lot of interest.
That could have been the end of the story for the wife-and-son combination, leaving Mikhail free to pursue other femme-fatale types, but no. For once, we have a boy loyal to his absent wife and wistfully thinking about her. And finally, when he's rich and successful and happy, he gets word and seems to be so happy. I suspect he thinks wifeh will be joining them, but no. Wifeh, who was never all that healthy, has died.
Mikhail is - unsurprisingly - devastated, but in the middle of these bleak times, a little bit of happiness is brought back for him by an old friend: little Mika has grown up and, like his father, he's a dancer too. Although his wife has passed away, Mikhail looks like he will at least be happy now that he has his little son with him again.
What I did like about this show was that it let Chie show off her acting chops, especially in the scene when Mikhail finds out what's happened to his wife. You'd think her heart had been torn out and stamped on. And then, the look on her face when little Mika shyly shows a few careful dance steps... I would love to see her have bigger acting-centric roles, definitely :) Plus, with such a tiny cast (15 altogether), everyone got a chance to sparkle.
However, more importantly, we have the revue. Even if I had hated the first act, I could never have ignored this revue. These are the girls who are high on energy and joy and loving every moment of what they're doing. There's so much fantastic dancing and so much happiness just pouring out of the revue. It has moved straight into my upper levels of favourite-revue-sections, especially for the bows and speeches at the end.
Highlights for me in this section are:
- a rendition of a song to the tune of 'Light at the End of the Tunnel' from Starlight Express, which involved dancing in the aisles and audience participation with dance moves for everyone to join in with at home.
- a group version, led by Chie, of 'I'll Cover You' from Rent. I got shivers.
- Chie dancing her way through every musumeyaku in the show :D
- the sensual pair-dance which turns into a fight between Haya and Chie over Mariya (I think. I didn't see her face clearly)
- Chie showing off her tap-dancing skillz.
- 'I Just Called to Say I Love You' with a Hispanic flavour and everyone in jeans and t-shirts.
- Haya singing 'Superstition'.
- Chie owning the audience with 'Hit the Road Jack'.
- the bows. Oh, the bows.
To go on about the bows for a moment, every girl got an introduction and made a little speech, from most junior up. Tenju Mitsuki was first and her voice cracked and she squeaked, which reduced everyone to giggles, and she turned on Chie, wailing "Papaaaaaaaaaa!" :D And Chie is such a giggler, which is so odd because of how low her voice is - she giggles just as low as she talks.
In one of the next rounds of the bows meant everyone got to come out and do a jaunty little bow in their own style. There were bows, wild extravagant arms, dainty curtseys. Some of the musumeyakus went to town in sultry-vixen mode, but the absolute winner was Ichijou Azusa. Here, just watch it:
Then, there was yet another curtain call. Chie beckoned everyone back on, but seemed to have run low on witty banter and was looking a little bit helpless, so Haya grabbed her arm and lifted above her head and went "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!", to which everyone else went "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!" as well, and they started dancing about again.
Cast-wise:
Yuzuki Reon as Mikhail: I love Chie. I do. The voice. The dancing. The acting. She's got everything in there, and she knows how to use it. The dancing especially was wonderful. I do wonder how bizarre it was for her to play a male balletdancer after so many years of dancing opposite them.
And then, after all the big drama and big acting and general amazingness, she made me love her all the more when her voice broke and she had to stop speaking because she was in happy tears during the bows. I'm so happy she's my Top Star :)
Ayami Haya as Scenario Writer: Haya's sort of the narrator of the piece, but also gets some fantastic songs and gets to show of her dancing skills. I've adored her since Pimpernel especially and this show was so worth seeing even just for her moments :)
Hanami Yuuka as Misha: Was absolutely gorgeous and her scenes with Chie were lovely to watch. The dancing was fantastic :)
Otohana Yuri: The boss role wasn't huge, but in the revue, she blew the roof off with her voice :D
Hana Nonomi as Mrs Mikhail: Sadly only had a brief role in the main show, but had a lovely, gentle dynamic with Chie. Mind you, she got to have great fun in the revue along with everyone else :D
Tenju Mitsuki as young Mikhail & Mikhail's son: She does tend to specialise in playing either young versions or sons of the leads, and she was adorable in this. This was waaaaaaaaay back in her 2nd year before she played baby!Tyrian in El Halcon. She really is as cute as a button.
On the whole, this is my happy-making-show. I can't see there ever being a day when this show does not make me bounce along and grin like crazy :)
