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DANCE SYMPHONY "LOVE"
This evening, I had the honour of witnessing a very, very special dance performance featuring everybody's favourite hot dork (Masa) and Luke "Little Luke" C. We knew next to nothing about the show going in, so were prepared for anything... except perhaps what we got, which the letters "wtf" do not even begin to describe.
In a surprise move, I preordered the DVD, because this show deserves to be shared and screencapped and commented on at length. I'm looking forward to actually being able to write up my version of the story with pictoral evidence at hand. And then we can compare it to this review and laugh at how bad my memory is! XD
In the meantime, bug Eda for her spot-on translation ("And it was, like, dark, and there were, like, waves fucking up our ship...") of the story as it is explained in the pamphlet. The pamphlet that I sadly do not own, because they were sold out and I let Marianne have the last one.
Before I start the review, I must relate my incredible ticket luck. Marianne and I randomly got tickets N1 and N2 from Jill, but when we went into the hall, the ticket-taker asked us to come to the side. I wondered if they were going to tell us our tickets were bad, or something, but then she explained that there would be a camera in front of our seats, so they were giving us different seats instead. We ended up in K13 and K14, which were first row after the centre aisle, and on the side. "Oh, if only this were tenimyu, they'd be the best seats ever!" we remarked. TBC...
Before you read this, be warned that this show was cracked-out, and I'm going on my memory, combined with Marianne's, to try to remember what order things happened in. So big chunks may be missing, or in the wrong order. Also, this is me totally making things up as I go along, because there is seriously no way anyone in the audience could have understood this without having read the synopsis. And even then...
Short version: Masa was really good, and he's really pretty. Luke C. didn't scar us for life because apart from a certain costume, his clothes were loose enough that he wasn't on display. He messed up the arms a few times in the group numbers. I didn't know any of the other dancers, but was quite impressed by Nagasawa Kazami, who was a like a little sprite with super jumping powers.
Other note: all the dancers were male, but there was plenty of partnering that required one of the dancers to dance as a woman. Sometimes it just looked really gay, sometimes it didn't.
Enough of that, here's my very silly explanation.
The show opens with a sailor hiding a gong under his top. Why? So he can take it out and then engage in some pantomime with the audience before finally ringing it and starting the show.
Famous Guy (a ballet dancer, Nishijima Kazuhiro, who actually is quite well-known) is on a ship, which may or may not be shipwrecked. Either way, he and his merry crew (three others, including Masa -- these four got top billing) are stranded, and then there are ocean sprites, wearing long green shower curtains as skirts, who walk around for a while, before silver beach balls start rolling out of the wings! These herald the arrival of the Demons of Fringe, who dance around, finally kicking the balls off-stage, because it is now time to tempt Famous Guy! They do this by holding up high-heeled women's shoes, and Famous Guy can't resist! He takes a shoe, and they all dance around for a bit. The Demons (their fringe is quite long) crawl around, holding the shoes in their teeth, only to be interrupted by the arrival of none other than their king!
The King of Fringe is Masa, of course. You know he's the king because his fringe is sparkly. And he's got a feather hanging around his neck.
Something else happens that I can't remember, and then Masa is back on stage, only this time he reveals his true identity, and the reason for the fringe: he's the King of the Gay Cowboys! Lots of cool dancing -- while holding his hat firmly down on his head -- ensues. A ringmaster appears, because it seems that our Cowboy King had some fears and hopes and dreams he needs to explore. There is a whip, wielded by the ringmaster, and backup dancers with riding crops, to keep Masa in line when other cowboys (not half as sparkly as Masa) appear, because we wouldn't want him to get carried away! There's a hoedown, and the grin on Masa's face just lights up the stage, and certain people in the audience (read, me) can't stop laughing when props are brought out: a pitchfork, a lasso, a small cow, and something else that I can't remember.
But alas, our principal cowboy is unsatisfied, and yearns for something different. No problem, the ringmaster takes him to... Mexico! There are sombreros and ponchos. And a chorus line. No, I'm not kidding.
Though our cowboy enjoys himself, he's not cut out for that kind of life, so on they move. Luckily, he finds his true calling: to be a gay waiter! An army of waiters with cute little bowties and chairs takes the stage. Masa gazes longingly at them, especially at the two principal dancers who have their own little just-call-it-a-pas-de-deux-already off to the side. Will he ever find a hot dancing waiter of his very own?!
Now that the cowboy's found the meaning of life, it's time to move on to other things. Another one of the Top 4 is searching for his dream, which apparently is to be a genie! So he dances around without a shirt on until he's dragged into a strange and slightly frightening world -- the world of the Neon Trannies! They're like magical girls, only scarier! There's a yellow one, a pink one, a blue one, an orange one, a purple one, a red one, and a green one. The green one, the Tranny Green Giant, is played by none other than Luke "Little Luke" C. and for once, even though he's wearing skin-tight green hotpants, his junk is secured and not really all that visible! I know, I'm just as shocked as you are.
Genie-boy dances around with the Rainbow Trannies, and then the ship reappears because it's time for what Marianne calls the "Les Misérables/Enter the Dragon" segment of the show. There are lots of cool jumps, and a random karate-style bit of dancing, and Famous Guy showing off some more balletic abilities, thankfully with more facial expressions than at the beginning of the show.
ETA: I forgot to write about the tragic tale of one of the non-top-billed dancers who suffered a violent attack of Alien Hand Syndrome during a scene of much confusion -- I think this is the one where they all ended up in a huge pile on the stage, victims of the dramatic red lighting.
Now you may be wondering where the plot is going... so am I! So are we all. There's some cool dancing in all sorts of different styles mashed up together, then the green shower curtains come back to say hello once more, before a stirring finale in which all the guys have a dance-off in the waves! This is obviously a metaphor for something or other, and as the snow starts to fall (very pretty lighting at this point, I must say), Marianne says it must mean that they're dead, and have gone off to find eternal peace aboard their ship. There's some waving of white flags thrown in for good measure, to represent their surrender to the all-mighty power of the love of gay waiters.
And then... they did F.G.K.S.!!! XDDD All right, not really, but all the dancers ran down into the audience. And since Marianne and I were seated right at the intersection of two aisles, ALL the guys ran by us. And ALL of them studiously avoided looking right at us. I'm betting Masa spotted us from a distance ("Oh god, it's them again! DX"), too.
ETA: I also forgot to mention that at one point, Famous Guy sweeps out of the wings wearing a very long cape with a high, pointy collar. My reaction was, "... huh, they didn't even line the cape! SHODDY COSTUMING JOB!" Before you laugh at me for noticing this, may I point out that if you don't line a cape, you a) see the seams and then it looks like a rush job and b) it doesn't flow as dramatically as it would if it were weighed down by lining.
So there you have it. Stay tuned for my screencaps of the DVD, which should be out at the end of May. おたのしみに！
In a surprise move, I preordered the DVD, because this show deserves to be shared and screencapped and commented on at length. I'm looking forward to actually being able to write up my version of the story with pictoral evidence at hand. And then we can compare it to this review and laugh at how bad my memory is! XD
In the meantime, bug Eda for her spot-on translation ("And it was, like, dark, and there were, like, waves fucking up our ship...") of the story as it is explained in the pamphlet. The pamphlet that I sadly do not own, because they were sold out and I let Marianne have the last one.
Before I start the review, I must relate my incredible ticket luck. Marianne and I randomly got tickets N1 and N2 from Jill, but when we went into the hall, the ticket-taker asked us to come to the side. I wondered if they were going to tell us our tickets were bad, or something, but then she explained that there would be a camera in front of our seats, so they were giving us different seats instead. We ended up in K13 and K14, which were first row after the centre aisle, and on the side. "Oh, if only this were tenimyu, they'd be the best seats ever!" we remarked. TBC...
Before you read this, be warned that this show was cracked-out, and I'm going on my memory, combined with Marianne's, to try to remember what order things happened in. So big chunks may be missing, or in the wrong order. Also, this is me totally making things up as I go along, because there is seriously no way anyone in the audience could have understood this without having read the synopsis. And even then...
Short version: Masa was really good, and he's really pretty. Luke C. didn't scar us for life because apart from a certain costume, his clothes were loose enough that he wasn't on display. He messed up the arms a few times in the group numbers. I didn't know any of the other dancers, but was quite impressed by Nagasawa Kazami, who was a like a little sprite with super jumping powers.
Other note: all the dancers were male, but there was plenty of partnering that required one of the dancers to dance as a woman. Sometimes it just looked really gay, sometimes it didn't.
Enough of that, here's my very silly explanation.
The show opens with a sailor hiding a gong under his top. Why? So he can take it out and then engage in some pantomime with the audience before finally ringing it and starting the show.
Famous Guy (a ballet dancer, Nishijima Kazuhiro, who actually is quite well-known) is on a ship, which may or may not be shipwrecked. Either way, he and his merry crew (three others, including Masa -- these four got top billing) are stranded, and then there are ocean sprites, wearing long green shower curtains as skirts, who walk around for a while, before silver beach balls start rolling out of the wings! These herald the arrival of the Demons of Fringe, who dance around, finally kicking the balls off-stage, because it is now time to tempt Famous Guy! They do this by holding up high-heeled women's shoes, and Famous Guy can't resist! He takes a shoe, and they all dance around for a bit. The Demons (their fringe is quite long) crawl around, holding the shoes in their teeth, only to be interrupted by the arrival of none other than their king!
The King of Fringe is Masa, of course. You know he's the king because his fringe is sparkly. And he's got a feather hanging around his neck.
Something else happens that I can't remember, and then Masa is back on stage, only this time he reveals his true identity, and the reason for the fringe: he's the King of the Gay Cowboys! Lots of cool dancing -- while holding his hat firmly down on his head -- ensues. A ringmaster appears, because it seems that our Cowboy King had some fears and hopes and dreams he needs to explore. There is a whip, wielded by the ringmaster, and backup dancers with riding crops, to keep Masa in line when other cowboys (not half as sparkly as Masa) appear, because we wouldn't want him to get carried away! There's a hoedown, and the grin on Masa's face just lights up the stage, and certain people in the audience (read, me) can't stop laughing when props are brought out: a pitchfork, a lasso, a small cow, and something else that I can't remember.
But alas, our principal cowboy is unsatisfied, and yearns for something different. No problem, the ringmaster takes him to... Mexico! There are sombreros and ponchos. And a chorus line. No, I'm not kidding.
Though our cowboy enjoys himself, he's not cut out for that kind of life, so on they move. Luckily, he finds his true calling: to be a gay waiter! An army of waiters with cute little bowties and chairs takes the stage. Masa gazes longingly at them, especially at the two principal dancers who have their own little just-call-it-a-pas-de-deux-already off to the side. Will he ever find a hot dancing waiter of his very own?!
Now that the cowboy's found the meaning of life, it's time to move on to other things. Another one of the Top 4 is searching for his dream, which apparently is to be a genie! So he dances around without a shirt on until he's dragged into a strange and slightly frightening world -- the world of the Neon Trannies! They're like magical girls, only scarier! There's a yellow one, a pink one, a blue one, an orange one, a purple one, a red one, and a green one. The green one, the Tranny Green Giant, is played by none other than Luke "Little Luke" C. and for once, even though he's wearing skin-tight green hotpants, his junk is secured and not really all that visible! I know, I'm just as shocked as you are.
Genie-boy dances around with the Rainbow Trannies, and then the ship reappears because it's time for what Marianne calls the "Les Misérables/Enter the Dragon" segment of the show. There are lots of cool jumps, and a random karate-style bit of dancing, and Famous Guy showing off some more balletic abilities, thankfully with more facial expressions than at the beginning of the show.
ETA: I forgot to write about the tragic tale of one of the non-top-billed dancers who suffered a violent attack of Alien Hand Syndrome during a scene of much confusion -- I think this is the one where they all ended up in a huge pile on the stage, victims of the dramatic red lighting.
Now you may be wondering where the plot is going... so am I! So are we all. There's some cool dancing in all sorts of different styles mashed up together, then the green shower curtains come back to say hello once more, before a stirring finale in which all the guys have a dance-off in the waves! This is obviously a metaphor for something or other, and as the snow starts to fall (very pretty lighting at this point, I must say), Marianne says it must mean that they're dead, and have gone off to find eternal peace aboard their ship. There's some waving of white flags thrown in for good measure, to represent their surrender to the all-mighty power of the love of gay waiters.
And then... they did F.G.K.S.!!! XDDD All right, not really, but all the dancers ran down into the audience. And since Marianne and I were seated right at the intersection of two aisles, ALL the guys ran by us. And ALL of them studiously avoided looking right at us. I'm betting Masa spotted us from a distance ("Oh god, it's them again! DX"), too.
ETA: I also forgot to mention that at one point, Famous Guy sweeps out of the wings wearing a very long cape with a high, pointy collar. My reaction was, "... huh, they didn't even line the cape! SHODDY COSTUMING JOB!" Before you laugh at me for noticing this, may I point out that if you don't line a cape, you a) see the seams and then it looks like a rush job and b) it doesn't flow as dramatically as it would if it were weighed down by lining.
So there you have it. Stay tuned for my screencaps of the DVD, which should be out at the end of May. おたのしみに！
no subject
This sounds... well! Wholly different from what I expected! xDDD I thought it was less with the crack, but I'm not the one who complains about shiny-sparkly and frilly things, so I'm very much looking forward to this. :D
Also, DVD?! Can you tell me where you ordered it from? ... Hopefully this isn't some Japan-only deal, is it?
no subject
no subject
And as mentioned above, the DVD could be pre-ordered at the event only, though there will no doubt be another way/other ways to get it at some point.