23 years old,
star otokoyaku in the newly found Rose (薔薇) Troupe,
has already performed for a year in the Moon Troupe.
Notes on Takarazuka Revue musical theatre (from wikipedia's article):
1. Before becoming a member of the troupe, a young woman must train for two years in the Takarazuka Music School, one of the most competitive of its kind in the world. Each year, thousands from all over Japan audition and between 40 and 50 are accepted. They are trained in music, dance, and acting, and are guaranteed seven-year contracts. The school is famous for its strict discipline and for the custom of having first-year students clean the premises each morning.
The first year, all women are trained together, but at the end of the first year, women are divided by the faculty and the current troupe members into otokoyaku and musumeyaku. Those playing otokoyaku take on a more masculine role in the classroom, cut their hair short, and speak in the masculine form from then on.
2. Moon Troupe: While it tends to be a home for young performers (with Yūki Amami, who hadn't reached her seventh year, reaching the status of top star in the 1990s), the members of Moon Troupe are also strong singers. The term "Musical Research Department" is occasionally used in articles about the troupe, portraying the troupe's focus on music. Their material tends towards drama and modern musicals. During the era of Makoto Tsubasa as top star, they had at least two musicals adopted from classic western novels and overall tend to be more Western and dramatically styled on stage.
3. For a society that has been at least contextually accepting of homosexuality for most of its history (see Homosexuality in Japan), Japan is surprisingly biased against lesbian activity. This bias is apparent in the early history of Takarazuka. After the scandal of women writing love letters to the otokoyaku and the revelation of an actual lesbian relationship between one of the otokoyaku and one of the musumeyaku, Takarazuka was greatly limited in order to do away with this lesbian image. To do this the women began wearing militaristic uniforms. On 19 August 1940, the actresses were even forbidden to answer fan mail and socialize with their admirers.
In the years since this time the regulations have relaxed slightly but not much. It caused another scandal when, for the first time, one of the otokoyaku cut her hair so it was short (previously all of the actresses had their hair long and the otokoyaku simply hid their hair under hats). Despite trends to being more open about things like homosexuality, and trends towards androgyny, lesbianism is still not widely accepted in Japan.
Terms:
Otokoyaku: Male role, male impersonator - the actress who plays the male or masculine roles, often showing this masculinity by using a deep/er voice or more masculine movements.
Musumeyaku: Daughter's role, female role - the actress who plays the female of feminine rules, often showing this femininity by appearing traditionally beautiful, using sweet and feminine voices and moving very delicately/elegantly.
Ryosei: A term used about androgyny, meaning the mixing or blending of genders.
Chusei: A term used about androgyny that means neutral or in between and points to the person being neither man nor woman.
Current Mood:
excited
mix & blend
