Asami Hikaru

Special Talk ~ Sou Kazuho x Asami Hikaru

- carlyas

From the May 2014 issue of Graph

SOU: Instead of talking about our Hanagumi era, It’s probably better to talk about when we were together in Yukigumi, right? Because you might not remember me from then, Komu-san (haha).

ASAMI: Nooo, I remember properly. RanTomu is your classmate, isn’t she?

SOU: That’s right.

ASAMI: RanTomu has shined brightly since that time. I got the impression that if she’s like the sun, you’re like the moon, Eritan. I always thought, ah, such beautiful people.

SOU: What?! So that’s how you’re going to use this conversation!

ASAMI: No it’s not (haha). That was just my first impression.

SOU: My first impression of you was a shinjin kouen.

ASAMI: Might that be, Bud?

SOU: Yep! Bud from “How To Succeed.” You were so cute, it made for a memorable performance.

ASAMI: Ahaha.

SOU: Your voice then, and the way you said your lines, I remember it all!

ASAMI: The director at that time, Ogita-sensei, imitates me to this day. Was I really that weird? I’m still reflecting on it after all this time (haha).

SOU: No, no. The impression you left was amazing, for only being a ken-6 at the time.

ASAMI: You must have been ken-1… that’s how much we were separated in our grades, right?

SOU: Eeehh, comparatively (haha).

ASAMI: *Laughs* Of all the productions I got to do in Takarazuka, “How To” is probably in my top 5. The people from Broadway came for the choreography, and it felt like the real thing.

SOU: I love it too! I aaaalways came out to watch the finale number, and some others!

ASAMI: Eritan, I wouldn’t be surprised if you were in the finale though.

SOU: I was only ken-1! So we did the kick line with the dollar signs attached to our chests. But, in the regular version, we appeared in the “Brotherhood” scene. It was amazing, dancing right behind Tamo-san (Aika Mire).

KOMU: You’re even on the video!

SOU: Yes I am. Since the instructors were from overseas they didn’t have a relationship with anybody, so they arranged the people who stood out in order… One of them was me, even though I didn’t look good in a suit yet (haha). Afterwards, in “Coffee Break” we supported the table everyone danced on.

ASAMI: I did that too! In the shinjin kouen. I didn’t play Bud until act 2, so in act 1 I carried the table.

SOU: We were working boys.

ASAMI: Working boys! How nostalgic!

SOU: By the way Komu-san, you were in the shinjin kouen for “Hollywood Babylon” too! How should I say it… the image of you on stage, it really leaves an impression. I love the song you sang with Toshiko-san (Suzukake Miyuki), “Tom Sawyer!”

ASAMI: That was good, wasn’t it. I sang it at my dinner show after Takarazuka, but the majority of the people were like, “What song is this?” (haha)

SOU: It’s great, it’s a core selection. Don’t worry, Ranju and I know it (haha)

ASAMI: *Laughs* Come to think of it, you’ve been at it for a long time, Eritan. What year are you now?

SOU: In April I’ll be ken-19. Komu-san, by that time you’d already left, right?

ASAMI: I left at ken-16.

SOU: Amaaazing!

ASAMI: No, if one of us is amazing, it’s you!

SOU: Ah, I guess.

ASAMI: *Laughs* That you’d hold on this long since my graduating year… for the first time, I really looked up to you.

SOU: You looked up to me!

ASAMI: You’ve grown up.

SOU: I was raised under your guidance, after all…

ASAMI: The working boy climbed the ladder this far, I couldn’t be happier (haha).

———————————————

ASAMI: After Hanagumi’s “That’s Revue” at the Grand Theater, the Bow Hall performance of “Blue Swan” was my last before I went to Soragumi…

SOU: After that there was an empty period, and then our reunion took place in Yukigumi’s “Flaming Love.”

ASAMI: You had the lead in the shinjin kouen, didn’t you.

SOU: At that time, you did something that really stuck with me.

ASAMI: What, what, what did I do (haha).

SOU: After the shinjin kouen performance ended, you said this one thing to me: “A million people have probably told you this already, but you were good.” More than anyone else’s impressions, that remained in my heart.

ASAMI: Wow, I was really rude (haha).

SOU: It wasn’t rude, I was so happy! Since our Hanagumi era had passed without much opportunity for us to talk, it was the first time you’d properly recognized Sou Kazuho, other than to call out to greet me!

ASAMI: There’s no way that’s true (haha). But you really were good. The costumes from Chinese-themed shows suit your aura perfectly. Your ability and your beauty combined to make a magnificent shinjin kouen.

SOU: Eeeeeeeeeh!!!

ASAMI: Really. I had nothing to worry about, and I was able to watch it with peace of mind.

SOU: I didn’t comprehend the fear of being on stage for a Grand Theater shinjin kouen at all. I’d never been so anxious in my life as I was for that performance.

ASAMI: You achieved a striking debut in Yukigumi… then, on from there.

SOU: After that you became top. It was awesome, we were able to appear in so many plays together. I even played your older brother twice.

ASAMI: That’s right!

SOU: In “Susano-o” and “Romance de Paris,” but I wondered why the heck am I the older brother… (haha). I think it must be because you look so young.

ASAMI: No way. It’s because you appear so composed, Eritan.

SOU: Is that so… Speaking of plays in which we appeared together, there was also “A Dream One Day.”

ASAMI: Ah, yes! In BeruBara, you were, uh, Fersen?

SOU: …he wasn’t in it.

ASAMI: Ah, that was this time (haha).

SOU: “We ought to pull back…” (1)

ASAMI: Gerodelle!

SOU: You at least got the right conclusion that it was a noble (haha). Your Oscar was INSANELY cute!…though it’s probably rude of me to say that.

ASAMI: No no no

SOU: Ever since before that when you played her in a TCA special, I’d thought, wow, what a doll-like Oscar! When it was decided you’d do it in the Grand Theater, I was so happy! We got to be in a show together again… that I came to be able to enjoy dramas, was because of you. “So this is what a drama is all about,” I learned that from you.

ASAMI: Nooooo—that’s embarrassing.

SOU: Your performance would be different every time, and I’d wonder, “How will it turn out today…” This may be an impolite way of saying it, but performing with you while I was an underclassman was really fun.

ASAMI: I’m happy to hear you say that.

SOU: You accompanied me, an underling with no real talent.

ASAMI: That’s not true (haha).

SOU: I took everything from you. I’m being impolite again…

ASAMI: I didn’t do anything, Eritan.

SOU: Whenever I’d make a mistake, you’d say “Don’t worry it’s ok.” Something I remember really well is that even after you became top, if there was an occasion when you messed up your lines, even if your partner was an underclassman, without fail you’d apologize. Like, “I absolutely get like this too.” For a performer this may be obvious, but that’s not so easy to do.

ASAMI: No, no. I made so many mistakes, I was really a bother to everyone. If I didn’t apologize, my heart would break (haha). When you’re standing in the top spot, every day is like walking a tightrope, but the people around you are there to support you. Without them it becomes an impossible position, and because there’s the feeling that you’re cultivating one production together with your colleagues, their grade has nothing to do with it. I think it’s the same doing performances now.

SOU: For me, seeing a top star through from debut to sayonara, you were my first.

ASAMI: For me it might have only been Yan-san (Anju Mira).

SOU: It became like that when you changed troupes, right?

ASAMI: So I’m happy, that I got to see someone through properly from start to finish.

SOU: Yes! Like, I can tell you everything about this top star…

ASAMI: Tell whom?! haha

SOU: I was happy that it was you.

———————————————

ASAMI: My first performance when I came to Yukigumi was “Lovers’ Suicide,” so right after you and I came there were nihonmono and Chinese-style shows.

SOU: That’s true. I was surprised at first, everyone was so amazing. How quickly they memorized their movements, their traditional dance…

ASAMI: Everyone was perfect, weren’t they.

SOU: I really couldn’t memorize the movements, and I panicked.

ASAMI: Because in Hanagumi they hardly put on any nihonmono. In that unaccustomed state I entered the world of “Lovers’ Suicide.” I joined from the Tokyo performance, but the moment I entered the rehearsal room, everyone was the real thing.

SOU: Ah I’m crying—that’s so true—

ASAMI: It was like, is this the Meijiza? (2) Or some other theater? (haha). When I really think about it, they were all underclassmen. Even Yumemi (Asaki), the youngest one to join, looked like someone from the Meijiza.

SOU: Now or then, that hasn’t changed (haha). It was really a performance where the actors were in sync.

ASAMI: Even in the casual scene in the red light district, I didn’t know what to do. When the geisha were all dancing together and I was just intently keeping time, the director Tani-sensei told me, “Please move a little” (haha). I couldn’t even do something as trivial as chatting. Suddenly, maybe to make it more fun, before I knew it I had spread both hands wide and made like an “oooh!” gesture. But then I thought dammit! That’s something a foreigner would do! The moment I lost focus just a little, that happened (haha)

SOU: I know what you mean (haha)

ASAMI: We were really baptized in the waters of “Nihonmono Yukigumi” immediately, weren’t we.

SOU: We really were.

ASAMI: As for Yukigumi and nihonmono, I thought they’d really dwindled, but then you became top, and it seems like they brought them back.

SOU: It does. But in spite of the fact that there were so few of them for a short time, things like the power of the performances and the vocal abilities all the way down through the underclassmen, these are unchanged. They get passed down continuously.

ASAMI: It’s a bit of a relief to sense that that’s continuing even now. I’m glad that hasn’t disappeared since my era.

SOU: It’s totally ok!

ASAMI: Because even though the color changes according to the top star, the part about calling it “nihonmono Yukigumi” is always left behind. After all there’s a sense of not wanting to break that during your reign, isn’t there?

SOU: There is.

ASAMI: So I’m happy to be connected to the next generation.

SOU: You saying that makes me happy too.

———————————————

SOU: About the 100th anniversary, there are a lot of events, aren’t there.

ASAMI: Even just looking at the names of the people participating in the memorial ceremony in April is amazing.

SOU: Since we active members are the lowest underclassmen, our names are probably the smallest (haha).

ASAMI: Even I’m like a baby still in diapers.

SOU: In that case, I’m still in the womb… (haha). As expected of the 100th anniversary.

ASAMI: Last year, I participated in the DREAM, A DREAM performance, but a number of very distinguished people also performed. That time, during an after talk show, when I looked down from the last seat at everyone from Ootori Ran-san sitting in grade order, the faces of consecutive generations of tops were all lined up. With them in a line like that, being at the end of it I could see them clearly. When everyone turned toward me, I was overcome with emotion and I was so moved that tears just came out. If you line up the achievements of these people in their lifetimes one by one you get 100 years, the weight of that history. Now it’s really hitting me again how deeply moved I am to have been even a small part of that.

SOU: The things we are inheriting even now sure enough came from long ago, and it’s for that reason that we ourselves have something to leave for the next generation. Because I’m active right now, I’ve been thinking about that an awful lot. But it’s not limited to the 100th anniversary, whatever the generation, I think everyone leaves behind some strong hope as they leave the nest. I want there to be something like that for me too.

———————————————

ASAMI: “The Rose of Versailles” was the first show of yours I’d seen in a while, but you were really fabulous.

SOU: What are you saying? (haha)

ASAMI: Even though it was your debut performance, you weren’t uncertain at all, you were shouldering the responsibilities of a top star perfectly, and it was really wonderful.

SOU: No, no…but, when I did my first revue, “Congratulations Takarazuka!!” I was extremely anxious about standing in the center. Komu-san, you came to watch very soon after we opened, didn’t you. Without thinking I texted you, “Please tell me if I’m terrible!” You replied “I wouldn’t tell you that in a text message” (haha). In the end, you graciously talked to me on the phone for close to an hour…

ASAMI: It was nothing.

SOU: That time, you talked to me about things you could tell me because you had been top, about specific things that were necessary for myself right then, and moreover you did it with love. Being able to talk to you, with whom I’d come this far, even though now you’re in a different field, was such a privilege and it made me so happy.

ASAMI: For sure, there are so many things to understand about first standing in that position. I’m the one who’s happy you consulted with me, rather. Chika-chan (Mizu Natsuki) who came to see it with me said so too.

SOU: Ah yes, Mizu came too. I was so desperate.

ASAMI: You were together with me for such a long time, and you were with Chika-chan in Hanagumi too, right? Since the two of us had been watching you for such a long time, there were things we thought we could say to you. I’m happy we’ve come to have that kind of relationship.

SOU: Aaaaaaaah, that makes me so happy…

ASAMI: When I watch this current elegant Eritan, it’s with the affection of a parent or a sibling.

SOU: Because I’ve done nothing but play your older brother (haha).

ASAMI: Big brother has become this lovely! I’m so impressed, and I’m happy you became top of Yukigumi. Protecting the tradition is important, and even though I said there would be many burdens, above all else, Eritan, please stretch out leisurely and enjoy every day from now on. And take care of your body!

SOU: Yes.

ASAMI: It’d be bad if you got injured.

SOU: Yes Mama!

ASAMI: It’s dangerous, Mama is full of things to worry about (haha). You’d better graduate safely and come over to this world.

SOU: Finally, I can be born (haha).

ASAMI: Enjoy each day, and do your best with energy as your motto.

SOU: Yes. Having people who treat me this warmly, and watch over me, as far as I’m concerned no matter how hard things get now… it’s like a miracle that as I’m constantly fighting with myself there are people who help me relax, and then I can stand on my own feet, lead the troupe, and make a fresh start. That time, I wanted to talk to you because you were on that side.

ASAMI: Is that so (haha).

SOU: Getting that kind of message from you even for an instant, gave me a lifetime’s worth of power!

ASAMI: Oh stop it.

SOU: Thank you so much for today!

ASAMI: It was nothing. I should be thanking you.

———————————————
NOTES:
(1) Eritan is quoting the show to jog Komu’s memory
(2) The Meiji Theater, a famous kabuki theater in Tokyo that opened in 1873

The Musical “Omohide Poro Poro” Starts on February 2 in Osaka! Interview with Asami Hikaru, Starring as Taeko

- carlyas

Original Japanese interview courtesy of WalkerPlus. First half is here, second half is here.

Studio Ghibli’s first musical production will be performed in Kansai. Based in Akita, the creators of this original musical are the Warabi-za company, a theatrical troupe that tours the whole country. The musical “Omohide Poro Poro” was first performed in 2011, and in 2012 went on national tour. The 2011 Warabi-za Tokyo performance featured former Takarazuka otokoyaku top stars, with Asami Hikaru starring as Taeko, and Mori Keaki playing both Taeko’s mother and the grandmother in Yamagata. This time for the tour finale, it will debut in Osaka and return to Tokyo.

The story takes place in the summer of 1982. One day, 27-year-old office lady Taeko sees her 5th-grade self appear before her. Utilizing her summer vacation, Taeko leads “herself” on a trip to the Yamagata countryside…

The movie’s story is being revived in a musical performance. We asked Asami Hikaru to share her thoughts about the production.

Q: Can you tell us about your decision to perform in this show?

I’m from Sendai, the story of the show is about Yamagata, and Warabi-za uses Akita as its headquarters, so therefore, somehow  I immediately got the sense that Tohoku was calling me. And truly, I was moved to answer quickly. Shortly before the first rehearsals started in Akita the 2011 Tohoku earthquake happened, and I thought ah, this didn’t happen by chance, it was surely fate that I would inevitably perform in this show. Even though at the time that I accepted it was really an unforeseen diversion, from then on I thought that it was really important that I do this show. When I was given the opportunity to take part in this production after the earthquake, I thought it was something truly necessary for me to do for myself, and now I still really think so.

Q: How did it go?

I was able to perform very freely, but day after day, it was like my heart was being cleansed. Nature is such an important thing, and even though I think everyone feels this way, it started to hit closer to home, or how should I put it… I got the sense that it began to influence me in an unconscious way,  and I began to love nature more and more, and I grew to like rural areas. I work in the city, but when I have time I’ll go somewhere in the countryside, and even though it might only be a short trip, I can recharge just by breathing the air and strolling. I began to long for this kind of time more so than before; it really increased. Therefore since the middle of the previous Tokyo performance, I’ve thought I definitely wanted to do the show again, and Mori (Keaki)-san and I talked about it together.

Q: Have you seen the movie? What do you think about the stage adaptation?

I love Ghibli films, so of course I’ve seen it. I’m a Ghibli fan, and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind is my favorite, but I’ve seen all of Hayao Miyazaki’s animations and Isao Takahata’s works. I’ve also seen Heidi, Girl of the Alps and Conan (hehe). So I was also thinking how on earth are you going to turn this into a stage show? While we were going through rehearsals, each and every time I thought, “Oh, so this scene is being done like that,” and “Aaah, I see.” Some scenes are made differently from the animation, like when the 2nd year high school girl who plays childhood-era Taeko and I have conversations together; Kuriyama Tamiya-san’s direction is very interesting. So it’s full of scenes that make me think “Ah! This is so Ghibli!!” (haha). Naturally there are also scenes that are the same as in the animation. During rehearsals, I was admiring how well done it was. I think there are absolutely things you have to be a Ghibli fan to understand, and the director is. Therefore, I think Ghibli fans will be able to enjoy it twice as much. There are so many scenes I absolutely adore, and ones that are quite Ghibli-like as well.

Q: What are some scenes that you wanted to see, or that were especially enjoyable?

When Taeko goes to Yamagata and has a conversation with the local people for the first time. Here I think even the audience all at once has the same point of view as Taeko, and strongly gets a feeling of “Wow, we’ve come to the countryside!” I keep thinking, ah, they’ll be able to see that again, and I’m so excited. After that, the scene with Warabi-za’s Japanese dance festival band is really magical. It’s incredibly cool, but the dancers gradually become more scary-looking. There, my own feelings and Taeko’s troubled state of mind overlap each other. Reflecting on it now, I think that’s really amazing.

Q: Since it’s you who’s playing Taeko, are there also dance scenes?

Yes. One scene was made. In the scene where I’m helping to pick safflowers, I put on work pants and dance. The sun rises, and Taeko dances with happiness while the safflowers are glittering in the light. It was put together so fantastically, and when I was able to do it, I thought ah, so the show turned out like this, and I was very impressed.

Q:  Sounds like fun! How did the audience react the first time?

It is fun. So much fun. It’s truly a magnificent production. I think the guests probably had more feelings along those lines. In the last Tokyo performance, we didn’t specifically include comedy, but everyone laughed a lot, and said it was extremely enjoyable. I was always giggling too while I was watching from the wings of the stage. I had to keep leaving, because I had to change my clothes 2 or 3 times. Even so, everyone found the theme easier to understand than in the animation. It was easy to convey and easy to understand. Even the last scene, the way it ends is the same as in the movie, but it might be clearer in the stage version. In the last scene, everyone starts crying naturally. There were a lot of people who said, “Warm tears really started dropping down, huh.”

Q: Taeko’s image suits you perfectly.

That’s what everyone tells me (haha).  My parents’ house is sort of in the mountains of Fukushima, so I was familiar with the countryside from a young age, but since I became an adult I’ve only lived in the city. Since I also have the same sorts of feelings as Taeko, it’s been truly refreshing each and every time I’ve played her. So, it’s fun. Taeko gets tired of work and says oh, I’ll take a summer holiday, and goes to Yamagata. I think there are a lot of women who are worn out from their jobs, unmarried women who are living in the city and really doing their best with all their effort to make a living, people who would say “that’s exactly how I feel right now.” Since I also naturally have a lot of aspirations, I can sympathize. Truly, I feel like I understand. I’ve never been an office lady, but I can understand ah, they have times like this. Being 27 is tricky isn’t it, when you’re being told various things like you have to get married, but you’re doing your best to play an integral role at your job. I think the psychology of women in delicate situations like that comes through, and even though it’s just an animated movie those feelings are so real.

Q: Is there something you would like to convey through your performance?

The most important thing is something incredibly simple, that humans are living within nature, that each person is part of nature. So you’e living with your feet on the earth. I think this musical sets you up to think about these sorts of things anew. The way it’s interpreted by the people who see it may be different, but I think the theme of the production is how humans and nature face each other, and for each and every human being to find the simplest and most valuable way of life. So every day I’m deeply moved. In the dialogue and the songs, just about everything really, I feel the same way as Taeko. While I played her I was emotional every day.

Q:  So you must be happy that you can play her one more time.

Yes, so happy. I’m looking forward to it. I really think it’s a privilege, and I’m truly happy to be given the opportunity to be accepted into Warabi-za. Everyone is straightforward and genuine above all else. The energy they put into this one show, I have a strong feeling it’s even more than those working in Tokyo.  It’s something Mori-san has always said, when we’re here our spirits are cleansed.  When you produce a show genuinely it turns out sincere. Where rehearsals are, although the previous time it was April, we were immersed in Mother Nature with snow still left on the ground. Certainly the environment helped too, and I’m full of truly wonderful memories.

Q: So Omohide Poro Poro has become an important production for you?

With things being the way they were, I was invited by Warabi-za, doing their best as a theater company to make local Japanese musicals, and so we made an original musical that was truly purely made in Japan. There really aren’t too many like that. I think it’s important and I want to continue doing Japanese-made musicals like that, so from now on if I have the opportunity I think it would be nice to steadily do more of them. As for musicals, after all they tend to be flashy western stories, but I want to do more Japanese stories for Japanese people about Japanese people, and in the midst of creating this run of Omohide Poro Poro I’ve been talking to the staff about that constantly.

Q: Since you re-watched the DVD beforehand, how do you think it’s going?

Watching the DVD in preparation, it’s unmistakably interesting. Making a movie into a stage show, generally when fans see it, there are lots of times when they think, “Eh?? That’s totally wrong!” I also feel that way often, but, really, this time I don’t at all. Since I’m saying this as a Ghibli fan, you can depend on it (haha). In the last scene, even I get a feeling of purification every time; it’s really a mysterious production. When they see it, I think all the guests will become good people (haha). I think it’s a musical that teaches you to keep living facing forward without standing still. So, if you’re a Ghibli fan, please come to the theater!

INTERVIEW! “DANCIN’ CRAZY 2” Kozuki Wataru-san x Asami Hikaru-san

- carlyas

Original interview here: part 1, part 2

Presenting from March 17. TAKARAZUKA WAY TO 100th ANNIVERSARY Vol.3『DANCIN’ CRAZY2』.  In 2007, like glittering stars a supreme cast of former Takarazuka top stars celebrated as dance experts performed a dream collaboration—the original dance show “Dancin’ Crazy” —and it will return to achieve a “scale-up.”
Having performed in the 2007 version as well are Kozuki Wataru, Asami Hikaru, Kazahana Mai, Hoshina Yuri and others, with Shizuki Asato participating as a special guest. Before the performance, I asked to speak with Kozuki-san and Asami-san!

—2007, when the previous installment of “Dancin’ Crazy” took place, was the year after Kozuki-san and Asami-san left Takarazuka and graduated from being male performers. Today again you are dressed splendidly in tailcoats, but how has your mindset changed?

ASAMI: Wata-san might feel this way too, but before I could always return to being an otokoyaku; it was my “comfort zone” so to speak. But now that there is a gap between me and the otokoyaku roles,  I’m enjoying that. I’m playing other roles, both visually and psychologically, and I think my range of choices has expanded.

KOZUKI: Yes, yes. Before we were literally acting as men, but now that we’re both dressing like men and also wearing pumps and the like, again the image is different. Also this time from the point of view of a person from Takarazuka, I think I appear on stage with the sense that I’ve mixed the male and female roles. Komu-chan too, nowadays her hair has thoroughly lengthened, hasn’t it.

ASAMI: I can be Oscar with my real hair!

KOZUKI: In that case I can be Andre (haha)

—Today’s tailcoats, are those something you wore in the 2007 performance of Dancin’ Crazy?

KOZUKI: That’s right. We’re commemorating the atmosphere of the time we were able to produce the show together with Ooura Mizuki.

ASAMI: All of the actors have that sort of feeling. Through the tailcoats, that atmosphere is handed down in a way; it’s Oura-san’s wonderful place.

KOZUKI: Speaking of Oura-san, she was the “tailcoat expert,” wasn’t she.

ASAMI: So, there is an image that can continuously be inherited. I myself also have to convey that to my juniors, I think.

KOZUKI: Yes that’s really true. Oura-san has been in heaven for two years. We will remember her in this performance, and we will do our best to convey the feeling of the soul of her dances that were passed down to us.

—This time Dancin’ Crazy 2 is organized into 2 parts.  In Act 1, you perform a selection from Chicago under the guidance of the Broadway staff and specialists from Chicago’s Japan performance.

ASAMI:  Even in Takarazuka shows they often adopt Fosse’s dances, and since he’s an icon for dance enthusiasts, I’m happy to be able to study the real thing.

KOZUKI: When we were in the troupe, whether it was how to hold the derby hats or move your hips, everyone referred to him a lot.

—Kozuki-san as Velma Kelly and Asami-san as Roxie Hart, is there anything in particular you like about your own numbers?

KOZUKI: As expected, the opening, “All That Jazz.” So far I’ve seen it many times from the audience, and it’s interesting that depending on the actors the atmosphere can be completely different, but anyway every time I hear that melody I get chills.

ASAMI: Since that’s a wonderful piece of music I can’t make up my mind, but I love the finale with Velma and Roxy singing and dancing resolutely. In Japan too nowadays women are strong,  but even performing under those circumstances I want to be able to feel like, “that was refreshing!”

KOZUKI: That finale is really great. As far as we as Takarasienne OGs are concerned, staging Fosse’s world with only women is a big challenge, and I feel that because we are OGs this is a show we can certainly tackle. Although the journey is treacherous, to that extent the feeling of accomplishment will be huge. The two of us will scatter sparks in a good way, won’t we!

ASAMI: I’ll do my best not to hold anyone back!

KOZUKI: No no no no. I should be the one saying that, haha.

—Act 2 of “Dancin’ Crazy 2” is the “All New Dancin’ Crazy” show you prepared. It seems like we can expect a brilliant spectacle.

KOZUKI: Now, constantly staging revue shows, I think it’s similar to Takarazuka. Using the things that were cultivated there, I want to create a sophisticated atmosphere different from before with the members of this group.

ASAMI: That’s right. We want to do a show characteristic of ourselves as Takarazuka OGs.

—In Act 2, there is a revival of the theme song from “Tsukiyou Utagoe,” the play in which you appeared together in Takarazuka. Do you two still often remember that play?

ASAMI: I remember it every time it’s December, the same time as that performance. Since my retirement was also in December, feeling the cold air, looking at the moon, somehow it’s deeply moving.

KOZUKI: This time we use the original play’s music, and I think it’s a magical scene reminiscent of that world of love, so please look forward to it.

—You two were certainly considered a golden combination in your Takarazuka days, but please tell us how you see each other as dancers.

ASAMI: In Wata-san’s dancing there is the presence of her fully utilized long limbs, and everyone is captivated by it. Even though people with larger physiques usually have a hard time controlling their bodies and tend to fall behind the music, Wata-san on the contrary is totally not like that, she expresses the music magnificently and I think she’s really amazing. These are things I don’t have myself… I guess the grass is always greener, haha.

KOZUKI: No, no. But of course if the two of us danced the same piece, the mood that would emerge would undoubtedly be different. Komu-chan perhaps has a mystique that I don’t have, she gives off a feeling like she’s hiding her thoughts. That’s why I’ve come to want to see inside her. Moreover, her body also really surpasses mine. She raises her legs up incredibly high, and her flexibility is magnificent. With our individual personalities blended smoothly, I hope we can make a wonderful scene.

—From now on I can’t help but look forward to it. Now then, “Dancin’ Crazy 2” will raise its curtains on March 17, a full year past the Sendai earthquake. Would you tell us about your current feelings?

KOZUKI: During this year, everyone’s minds have been whirling about that day and every day after it, but the only thing we can do is continue performing and deliver our smiles and energy to the audience. I want to stand on stage wholeheartedly and make the people who come out to the theater feel glad they saw the show.

ASAMI: Absolutely. We’re getting on with the things we can do ourselves. It’s the simplest thing, but even if it’s difficult, we’re taking note of what’s important once again. We want to deliver the best show we can with conviction. For that reason, we’ll even practice till we collapse…

KOZUKI: Yes!

ASAMI: Right. We want to do our best with all we’ve got!!