Takarazuka

[lucathia]

Has anyone heard of Takarazuka? (宝塚歌劇)

Links for those who haven't heard of them:
official site / fansite / wikipedia

All female Japanese performance school. Girls join in the teens and perform for two years or so after they graduate. All girls, so girls have to play guy parts too, and they're called otokoyaku.  Troupes of Hana, Tsuki, Hoshi, Yuki, Senka, and Sora? I'm not sure exactly. I've only watched a glimpse of a documentary during jap class today. But I thought it was pretty fascinating...though strict. I soo want to see one of their musicals! =/  I don't think I can find any of the musicals online can I...?

Comments

[crychicken.livejournal.com]

Wow, sounds interesting. *wants to see their musical for Rose of Versailles now* As in downloads or as in DVDs to buy?

[ajmeow.livejournal.com]

Forgive me for just dropping in on you but I was doing a search for Takarazuka cosplayers and somehow your lj came up so if you don't think it too intrusive of me, I can answer some quick questions.

On average, Takarazuka dvds cost about $100. The cheaper ones you saw listed are probably the videos of clips of the different actresses that were playing different roles for the last run of Rose of Versailles. (They rotated through the 2nd string of otokoyaku for Andre and Oscar depending on which show it was.) They aren't dvds of the full show.

Site with english info:
http://takarazuka.sugarandspicecosplay.com/

There is an LJ community as well:
http://community.livejournal.com/takarazuka/

Some clips:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search=takarazuka&search_type=search_videos

If you like Rose of Versailles, I'd recommend checking out the 2001 on Oscar and Andre version. They always do 2 shows when they run RoV: one concentrates more on Marie and Fersen, and the other on Oscar and Andre.

Anyways, sorry if this seemed rude! I just love sharing Takarazuka with people so thought I'd give you some more info. =)

P.S. I love DGM. Your costume is awesome! ^___^