The Lobster Dance

パーシー：孔雀を知っているだろう？
デュハースト：ゴージャスに羽根広げる
パーシー：それはオス、メスどっちだろう？

Percy: Surely you’ve heard of the peacock?
Dewhurst: The bird with the fan of gorgeous feathers.
Percy: And which one do you suppose has that—the male or the female?
-「男とお洒落」* (“The Creation of Man”)

The male animal is dashing of course! Asahi Shimbun

The Scarlet Pimpernel might be the most perfect show for Takarazuka ever.

From the Asahi Shinbun official stage photos.

After all, not only does it have danger, romance, intrigue, and revolution, but it also has “ruffles and lace”!

There are spoilers for pretty much all of the versions of The Scarlet Pimpernel under the link, so considered yourself warned.

The Story
The Scarlet Pimpernel– the original story by Baroness Orczy can be read here— is a story that has been retold many times in multiple media: the original novella, movies, TV miniseries, and musicals. Each version varies a bit with the finer details of the plot and how the cast members are characterized, but, in sum:

Set in Paris and England in 1794, The Scarlet Pimpernel is the tale of Sir Percival Blakeney, a rather unremarkable English nobleman who decides to take a stand against the insanity of the Jacobin government in revolutionary France. In a decision that marks the first “literary hero with a secret identity” trope, Percy starts secretly going to France to save innocent nobles from Madame Guillotine; to protect his true identity and operate in secret, he uses a series of disguises and operates under the name of “The Scarlet Pimpernel.”

Unfortunately, on the day of his wedding to French actress Marguerite St. Just, a former supporter of the Revolutionary cause, Percy learns that Marguerite has denounced (intentionally in some versions, unintentionally in others) the Marquis St. Cyr to the Reign of Terror and that the Marquis has been sent to the Guillotine. Unsure that he can trust his secret to his own spouse, he distances himself from her; their relationship becomes cold and strained. At the same time, Percy gathers his best friends, including Marguerite’s beloved brother Armand, to aid him in his quest.**

In the meantime, Marguerite’s old lover Chauvelin is working with Robespierre to track down this “Scarlet Pimpernel” and attempts to get information out of her by kidnapping her brother and blackmailing her. What precisely happens after this is largely dependent on the version of the story. In the musical version(s), Marguerite returns to France to try to save her brother and discovers that Percy is the Pimpernel; Percy manages to save both Marguerite and Armand, and everyone goes home happy.

Superman changes clothes in phone booths. Batman has a Bat Cave. Their predecessor Percy has an excellent wardrobe. Percy uses a number of disguises to move freely around France—in the musical, he disguises himself as a launderer, a Belgian sympathizer to the Revolution, and an undertaker—but what is most remarkable to me is how he disguises his “real” self.

Do you like my costume? From the Asahi Shimbun

The Jacobins know that The Scarlet Pimpernel is an Englishman, probably a noble, and so everyone at the Prince of Wales’s court is suspect when Chauvelin pays a visit. Percy’s great idea is to make sure no one will ever suspect him to be the Pimpernel by acting like the least heroic, most daft fop in all of England. Claiming to go to France to buy beautiful clothes and race his boat in the Channel with his equally silly friends, he instead conducts daring rescue missions. But since he’s fooled everyone into thinking he’s a simpleton slave of fashion, “blackening” his own name for his cause, no one—not even Marguerite—suspects that someone as idiotic as Percy could possibly be the dashing, heroic and mysterious Pimpernel.

"And the jungle will bow to its king!" From the Asahi Shinbun official stage photos.

1999 BBC mini-series
1982 Movie
Musical with Douglas Sills as Percy***

Percy as an Otokoyaku

"Who is the Scarlet Pimpernel?" From the Asahi Shimbun

One of the most important parts of playing the role of Percy is to be able to switch “personalities”—from the mask of the ridiculously vain fop that Percy wears to throw off the scent, to Percy the great hero, to Percy the broken-hearted man who still fiercely loves the “traitor” he believes he has married. In the mini-series and English-language musical, I sometimes find Percy too convincing as a fop. I realize that means the actor is doing a great job, but I have sat there thinking, “No, seriously, this guy couldn’t save a bottle of bath salts fallen into the tub.”

When I watched the Takarazuka versions, I never experienced this kind of need for suspension of disbelief. I wondered why I had such a strong reaction to male-Percy vs. otokoyaku-Percy. And then I realized, well, what Percy does is exactly what an otokoyaku is supposed to do!

The roles an otokoyaku lead often plays is a man who is as much of a lover as he is a fighter. An otokoyaku is valiant, courageous, and willing to fight for his beliefs just as much as he is caring, kind, and an attentive lover. (I don’t know why people always cite these traits as opposing, as if a man—or a woman—couldn’t or shouldn’t be all of these things). An otokoyaku must also be dashing and handsome, and part of the actor’s handsomeness most certainly comes from her and the costume department’s attention to her wardrobe on and off stage. All costumes for romantic leads must be shaped and detailed for maximum attractiveness, for whether it’s a clean-cut military uniform, a kimono from The Tale of Genji, or a tuxedo, it is the duty of the otokoyaku to look fantastic—and that, as Percy would say, is why the Lord created men! Or otokoyaku.

Impressions of the Tsukigumi Version (2010)

Kiriya Hiromu as Percy, Tsukigumi 2010. From the offical Takarazuka page.

As for the show itself, I own the Aran Kei (Hoshigumi) version on DVD and it’s really amazing. I went to see the currently playing version with Kiriya Hiromu 霧矢　大夢　as Percy, Aono Yuki 蒼乃　夕妃 as Marguerite, and Asami Rio 明日海りお as Chauvelin (shared role with Ryuu Masaki). I was completely blown away. Kiriya did a spectacular job flawlessly switching between Percy the Hero, Percy the Fop, and Percy the “Belgian Sympathizer.” (And, might I add, looked amazing while doing it?) Aono Yuki was an excellent Marguerite, and I really like the fact that Marguerite is portrayed, as she should be, as an adult woman with a past. Musumeyaku roles do have a tendency to go the way of innocent maidens and true love. Although there are most certainly exceptions–Isla in Casablanca, Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind, and, to some extent, Oscar Francois de Jarjeyes in The Rose of Versailles–even the strongest women are often young and inexperienced. Aono’s voice and acting were also great in this respect—she has a strong, clean, womanly voice and she looked just as Marguerite is described in the novel–a tall, regal beauty with a sharp wit. As for Asami Rio’s Chauvelin, she lived up to Yuzuki Reon, who originated the role in Takarazuka. I had chills watching her sing “Falcon in the Dive.” Asami is truly intense as Chauvelin, and watching the interplay between Percy and Chauvelin was delightful because the two work together so well, particularly in the “Chauvelin, I bet you’re the Pimpernel!”/ “Where on earth did you find this husband of yours, Marguerite?” scene. Additionally, Japanese lent a hilarious twist on Percy’s repeated failures to pronounce Chauvelin’s name correctly—instead of the Anglicized “Shufflin’,” it came out シャベリ (shaberi) once, and, my favorite, “ストラベリ” (similar to the Japanized pronunciation of the English word strawberry.)

The show was an absolute delight musically, visually (Percy’s purple zebra-striped suit was a particular favorite), and, for me, intellectually. In the English version of “The Creation of Man,” Percy tells the Prince of Wales to “be an example to your sex!” by being fashionable. Although it’s a ploy to cover up the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel’s real activities in France, I think this line is fitting for the kind of gender happening with the otokoyaku. One can have the heart of a lion and the mane of one, too, after all.

Notes
*This is an great Japanese pun. おしゃれ and お洒落 are both pronounced oshare. The former means elegant and fashionable (of people, clothes), and the latter means a joke or pun. Percy’s men’s obsession with fashion is a joke on everyone who doubts that these fops could possibly be the Scarlet Pimpernel and company.

**In some versions, Percy is already engaged in smuggling nobility into England before his wedding, after which his enlists his friends; in others, he decides to become the Scarlet Pimpernel after he finds out what Marguerite has done.

***Unfortunately, there seem to be no professionally produced videos of this scene in the musical (though there are more of Percy’s heroism).