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aimeekittyis there someone fluent in Japanese who would be willing to translate something for me?
I dearly wanted to send a letter to the Takarazuka top star, Saeko, that we saw in Japan when we went. I got a magazine with her farewell photos today, and it just washed over me how lucky I feel to have been able to see her perform in such a beautiful musical. How lucky I feel to have seen her perform before she retired! This year she is retiring.
I really want to be able to send her a letter thanking her, but I worry that if I send it in English, that she will only be able to understand bits and peices of it. :(
She, btw, is the one who is my icon lately. I think she is so lovely, and such a good actress. I'm very sad that she's retiring after such a short time of being top star...
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(basically, I just adore theater in general, always have, and I have so much respect for those who create them.) I really adore the way that theater is able to employ the audiences imagination to their advantage. For example, there is a stage with just a single window on it, maybe a bit of smoke, and two characters singing, and yet the audience is RAPT. This is what it's all about to me. It's so what it's about in animation too. I mean think about what I love, I love the characters, and the fantasy of it all, to me, locations are often secondary and unessesary. Theater, in a way, in it's best incarnations is the ultimate of this. The economy of it is actually a positive aspect, because it leads the audience to dream and imagine what is going on alongside that entrancing music!
A good part of this love came from me seeing my first Broadway-style musical as an adult, Beauty and the Beast. I saw it with Terrance Mann and Susan Egan (the original cast). I was totally taken with it. Before that I'd really loved plays I'd seen on school feildtrips in gradeschool, one in particular I rememebered loving was the Diary of Anne Frank, though I remember very little about the actual play.
But lately, my love has definitely grown exponentially, OMG I love takarazuka and musicals SO FRIGGIN MUCH! Fear my love. Today, thanks to sugar & spice, I read translations of more of the Elisabeth songs here. You must understand that I adored the musical before even knowing what they were saying AT ALL. So now, knowing pretty much exactly what Der Tod (Death personified) is singing to Elisabeth (Empress of Austria),.... OMG... ultimate fangirl explosion. I don't think I've felt this way since I first saw Disney's Beauty and the Beast (which as it's flaws, but when I saw it, completely enraptured me)
Basically, those of you on my friends list who are all like "Dude, Aimee is wigging out over some weird obscure Japanese thing." ... but if you thought David Bowie was hot in Labyrinth, David Bowie has nothing on Der Tod. (a male death played by a woman!!). and I say this with unblemished record of heterosexuality. haha...
I would recommend the musical Elisabeth to anyone I know who has even remotely similar tastes as me. I honestly can not remember for a very long time, loving something as much as I love this musical. It's actually starting to eclipse some of my favorite animated films! (blasphemy!) Not only is the costume design (in each version) gorgeous and inspiring, but the music is gorgeous, the actresses in it are amazing,... the story is riviting... need I go on? Watching Elisabeth, to me is like watching something as a child that captured your mind and imagination completely. I feel the same way as I did when I watched Watership Down, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Last Unicorn, etc, for the first time. I was young enough then that I actually thought that characters from them almost existed! Do you remember loving a movie that much? Do you remember having such an innocent love for something? Just geniunely enjoying something without critiquing it and finding all it's faults? I'm so grateful to have such a feeling again, such a pure enjoyment.
Unfortunately, getting a copy of Elisabeth is expensive, but if you would like more information, I'd be more than happy to share. (if you live close to me, I'd be happy to let you watch one of my copies.)
I dearly wanted to send a letter to the Takarazuka top star, Saeko, that we saw in Japan when we went. I got a magazine with her farewell photos today, and it just washed over me how lucky I feel to have been able to see her perform in such a beautiful musical. How lucky I feel to have seen her perform before she retired! This year she is retiring.
I really want to be able to send her a letter thanking her, but I worry that if I send it in English, that she will only be able to understand bits and peices of it. :(
She, btw, is the one who is my icon lately. I think she is so lovely, and such a good actress. I'm very sad that she's retiring after such a short time of being top star...
--------
(basically, I just adore theater in general, always have, and I have so much respect for those who create them.) I really adore the way that theater is able to employ the audiences imagination to their advantage. For example, there is a stage with just a single window on it, maybe a bit of smoke, and two characters singing, and yet the audience is RAPT. This is what it's all about to me. It's so what it's about in animation too. I mean think about what I love, I love the characters, and the fantasy of it all, to me, locations are often secondary and unessesary. Theater, in a way, in it's best incarnations is the ultimate of this. The economy of it is actually a positive aspect, because it leads the audience to dream and imagine what is going on alongside that entrancing music!
A good part of this love came from me seeing my first Broadway-style musical as an adult, Beauty and the Beast. I saw it with Terrance Mann and Susan Egan (the original cast). I was totally taken with it. Before that I'd really loved plays I'd seen on school feildtrips in gradeschool, one in particular I rememebered loving was the Diary of Anne Frank, though I remember very little about the actual play.
But lately, my love has definitely grown exponentially, OMG I love takarazuka and musicals SO FRIGGIN MUCH! Fear my love. Today, thanks to sugar & spice, I read translations of more of the Elisabeth songs here. You must understand that I adored the musical before even knowing what they were saying AT ALL. So now, knowing pretty much exactly what Der Tod (Death personified) is singing to Elisabeth (Empress of Austria),.... OMG... ultimate fangirl explosion. I don't think I've felt this way since I first saw Disney's Beauty and the Beast (which as it's flaws, but when I saw it, completely enraptured me)
Basically, those of you on my friends list who are all like "Dude, Aimee is wigging out over some weird obscure Japanese thing." ... but if you thought David Bowie was hot in Labyrinth, David Bowie has nothing on Der Tod. (a male death played by a woman!!). and I say this with unblemished record of heterosexuality. haha...
I would recommend the musical Elisabeth to anyone I know who has even remotely similar tastes as me. I honestly can not remember for a very long time, loving something as much as I love this musical. It's actually starting to eclipse some of my favorite animated films! (blasphemy!) Not only is the costume design (in each version) gorgeous and inspiring, but the music is gorgeous, the actresses in it are amazing,... the story is riviting... need I go on? Watching Elisabeth, to me is like watching something as a child that captured your mind and imagination completely. I feel the same way as I did when I watched Watership Down, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Last Unicorn, etc, for the first time. I was young enough then that I actually thought that characters from them almost existed! Do you remember loving a movie that much? Do you remember having such an innocent love for something? Just geniunely enjoying something without critiquing it and finding all it's faults? I'm so grateful to have such a feeling again, such a pure enjoyment.
Unfortunately, getting a copy of Elisabeth is expensive, but if you would like more information, I'd be more than happy to share. (if you live close to me, I'd be happy to let you watch one of my copies.)
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(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-11 08:34 am (UTC)They look simply gorgeous...
Translation
Date: 2005-05-11 10:21 am (UTC)http://babelfish.altavista.com/
Good Luck!
(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-11 10:56 am (UTC)If you don't mind to wait for a few days, feel free to e-mail me.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-13 04:05 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-11 11:51 am (UTC)Even if she can't understand all of it, I think she might really enjoy getting a fan-mail written in English, in your own hand-writing. Maybe you could send it along with a Japanese translation. I think getting fan-mail in another language really hits home, showing that the recipient has touched the heart of someone who may not even share a language with her... and the translation shows that you care enough to make sure that she understands what's in the letter.
Just my thoughts.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-13 04:05 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-11 02:52 pm (UTC)I think if you send a letter to Saeko in English, she may be so impressed that if she can't read it herself she'll ask one of her friends to translate it for her. ^~
Elisabeth truly is a magical sort of show, one that just grabs your attention and holds your imagination, like the story of Phantom of the Opera. Every version that Takarazuka has done has been amazing. I hope it becomes a show like Rose of Versailles, where they dust it off for a new run every few years.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-11 03:05 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-13 04:06 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-13 04:38 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-17 02:48 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-11 06:12 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-13 06:44 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-17 03:15 pm (UTC)Here's some pages that can get you started:
http://kageki.hankyu.co.jp/english/tt_stage.html
http://takarazuka.sugarandspicecosplay.com/elisabeth/index.html
http://www.sankei.co.jp/enak/sumirestyle/2005/apr/kiji/elisabeth/00.html
http://www.sankei.co.jp/edit/bunka/sumirestyle03/jan/0103eg_0.html
(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-14 09:23 am (UTC)Thanks! ^_^
(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-17 03:07 pm (UTC)you'll find this page very useful;
http://takarazuka.sugarandspicecosplay.com/links.html
keep in mind though that takarazuka DVDs cost about $100 not including shopping service fees. :(
(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-15 07:50 am (UTC)Since Sae's already graduated from Zuka, she has another fan-mail address: it can be found on her current official site.
Best regards!
(no subject)
Date: 2005-10-09 04:58 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-10-11 09:46 am (UTC)http://bloomi77.securesites.net/ayaki_nao/
:)))