Cinderella « www.omame.co.uk

Cinderella Review

By Lolli, on December 10th, 2008

I was really tempted to write a review of the Cinderella Musical DVD, but for some reason I just can’t bring myself to write a huge ass post. So after Shirow told me to write about my whole Japan / Musical trip here too (even though it was back in August), I went through my Live Journal and found the review I wrote, about one of the performances saw live. So…because I’m a lazy ass I’m going to copy and paste it over to here. I’m also going to leave in what I wrote about the beginning of the day…for the lols! (I’ve also corrected some mistakes XD)

*fanfare*

LOL – I only just noticed the pennant colours on Jun and Lin’s trumpets.
Aww :3

Cinderella Trip – Musical ‘Day’ 25/08

I woke up early this morning. Wonder why??? Had breakfast in the hotel at 9:00am with gordie, then we decided to go back to our rooms to ‘freshen up’ and make our way over to the Koma Stadium at 9:55am. The performance started at 11:00am so 1 hour would be plenty of time to buy goods and find our seats right?…WRONG!!!

When we got to the theatre the queue for the goods stand was pretty long. Not the longest queue I’ve seen in Japan (go to the AKB48 theatre on BLT selling day!!!), but holy hell…I wasn’t expecting it to be like this! By 10:30am I was only half closer to the goods stand then I was 30 minutes earlier, and I was starting to panic. There were two lines and I stupidly didn’t follow gordie and his was going faster balls… At 11:00am I was two people away from getting my goods, I was really tempted to just leave the queue but decided against it. I was watching the people in front of me and the girl that was buying items bought the last Risa 25th photo! I seriously could’ve thrown a hissy fit there and then (I was tempted to hold my fists up to the sky and yell ‘KAMI-SAMA NOOOOOO!~’) but I didn’t want to look like the stupid Gaijin that I am XD
I managed to hold back my anger, get to my turn, and buy the Final Day T-shirt and photo set. Yes…that was all I wanted FAIL!

I got into the theatre late and proceeded to just walk through a random door to find my seat. A very kind female usher got the lovely task of escorting me to my seat, torch in hand, and realised when we were half way up the stairs that I had gone in the wrong door *facepalm* We back tracked and then found my seat, and it wasn’t bad at all :D

For the first performance I was in row 15, which is the last row in the first section, and I wasn’t far off centre. The two chairs in front of me were empty which gave me a perfect, unblocked view and I had nice people sat either side of me (one side I had a non-asian girl, but I don’t know where she was from, she looked middle eastern. She wota’d it up during Cinderella Complex though YAY!!! The other side I had some major Koharu wota’s (guy and girl) who, when the Mini Live started, went absolutely crazy nuts with a mass of red glow sticks). Literally 2 minutes after I parked my butt in the chair, the music began. Heck, I didn’t even get to take my coat off!!!

Now…I’m going to give a full ‘blow by blow’ review on the second performance because I was sat a LOT closer to the stage then. So for this one I’m just going to give my opinions on each member (over the two performances).

Before I start this though, I want to say…I’m listening to the fan recording of the Final performance and I love the music that starts at 24:45… It gives me goosebumps just hearing it again ♥

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Takahashi Ai:
I was expecting big things from her, and she certainly delivered. Her voice is amazing live and her acting is second to none. The only thing that disappointed me about her is that she was too professional. A big amount of the play was ad libbed and she just didn’t ‘react’ to any jokes thrown her way. She just brushed them off and carried on 110% in character. Normally that wouldn’t be a bad thing, but the crowd (and myself) liked the bits of humour that were added. I think that sometimes she just needs to liven up…

Niigaki Risa:
The love of my life ♥ ♥ ♥ Can I say anything bad about her??? Well…I’m not the type of fan that thinks her ’shit smells like roses’, but I seriously don’t have anything bad to say about her here (believe me, I will say what I think, even if it’s bad). Gaki Gaki Gaki…you are one hot Prince ♥ She played this role very extremely well, and managed to pull off the deep manly voice throughout the whole performance. It never faltered once, even when she was singing. I have to give her uber props for that because when I try to talk really deep, after a while my throat starts to hurt and I choke XD But she was ace ♥ Her interaction with the King and Queen was hilarious, and the love she showed towards Cinderella was orgasmic. Gaki was the main reason I went to Japan, and I don’t regret paying out the money one bit. Even if I only saw this one performance alone, it was well worth it. Shall I add some more hearts to show my Gaki love? Oh go on then, if you insist…
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Kamei Eri:
Eri was really funny, and played the role of Portia really well. Her singing in this was amazing, although that’s probably down to the fact that she wasn’t dancing about, so she didn’t get out of breath. But hearing her in this made me go ‘Oh My Gaki!…the girl can sing, and sing well’! The ad libbing she was doing was really good, and the interaction between her, Reina and the Step Mother was really comedic. I think when this hits DVD, people are going to talk about Eri the most. Yes…I know Risa was playing the role of the Prince, but Eri really did shine in this. She deserves so much attention.

Michishige Sayumi:
Sayumi is not someone I really paid much attention to in MM, as the whole ‘Kawaii’ thing is not to my liking. But recently she’s been getting a darker personality and when she complained about line distribution on Music Fighter, she bumped herself up my rankings. I believe she was seriously let down in this Musical, her role as a Fairy was very un-demanding and I feel that she deserved a whole lot more. She put her all in to dancing and the little bit of singing she did, but she’s not particularly good at either…shame. She did well with the multiple roles though (a towns person, plus she attended the ball) and the Fairy wig she wore really suited her, if she was to cut her hair, gah I’d die. There will be more about Sayumi in the next post I do, because stuff happened in the ‘night’ performance. I will say though…her wire work rocked!!! XD

Tanaka Reina:
Reina played the stepsister Joy and to be perfectly honest, it was just like seeing Reina on stage wearing random clothing and a wig. She really didn’t need to ‘act’ in a sense. She was dead funny though, and her singing was excellent too. Her, Eri and the Step Mother worked really well together and she can Ad Lib to perfection.

Kasumi Koharu:
This girl makes me laugh so much. Koharu’s so spazzy and genki all the time so I expected her to totally balls up her role. But she didn’t! She played the Herald perfectly, even if she was really only carrying things about (scroll, glass slipper), and announcing stuff…lols. She did do some funny things (and had a funny thing happen to her) in the the final performance. At least she knew how to have a laugh.

Mitsui Aika:
Aika’s role as the Fairy was pretty disappointing. I’m not a Mittsi fan so when she was on stage I didn’t pay her much attention. But she also played multiple roles like Sayumi (towns person, plus attended the ball), which I feel she did better then the Fairy. I really don’t like to bash members…but her singing is on par with Sayumi’s >_<

Jun Jun + Lin Lin:
I’m gonna pair these two together as they really didn’t do much, and they were always on stage at the same time. I think JunLin’s Page roles just pipped Sayu and Mittsi’s Fairy roles XD They really didn’t do much in the whole scheme of things. But they provided a bit of comedy in the night performance. But really…if we want to talk about how well they ‘blew’ their trumpets, then they did a mighty fine job ^_^ During the Ball Lin Lin mysteriously changed sex and was in a dress @_@ unless her Page character was a cross dresser… But they both danced really well. I just wish they got more recognition. I suppose they need to earn it first…

End.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So even though it doesn’t tally up completely with the DVD version, it’s an accurate representation of my thoughts on the acting throughout the whole musical ^^ I’ve mentioned the evening performance in a few places, but I never got around to writing about it (started but the DVD got released before I finished). If you want to know anything about what I’ve hinted at, just ask. FYI – The evening – and last – performance was AWESOME. I wish they had secretly recorded that one for the DVD.

*sigh*

Hi! My Name Is…

By Lolli, on December 7th, 2008

Christopher Rupert Windermere Vladimir Karl Alexander Francois Reginald Lancelot Herman Gregory!

Got that???

♥♥♥

LOL! Here’s my second useless post of tonight, and more than likely my last ^^

I just had to post this though because for the past few days I’ve found it hilarious (yes, I do have a slightly strange sense of humour). But that there is Risa’s character – Prince Christopher’s – full name. Hmm…okay, it may not be the full name because I’m unsure of whether Gregory is the surname or not. But either way, loldongs!

Could you imagine having to say that to someone at a call centre? The person you’re speaking to is bound to be Indian, or Welsh, and the conversation would probably go something like this:
(needs to be read with an accent)

Call Centre Person: Can you give me your full name please.
Prince: Yeah sure. It’s Christopher Rupert Windermere Vladimir Karl Alexander Francois Reginald Lancelot Herman Gregory
Call Centre Person: Thank you. Could you spell that please.
Prince: Uh…Okay… C. H. R. I. S. T. O. P. H. E. R [...]
Call Centre Person: So, I just want to check this. That’s Charlie Hotel Romeo India Sierra Tango Oscar Papa Hotel Echo Romeo [...]
Prince: *hangs up* (that’s what I’d do if it was me x_x)

*laughs at my own joke*

Gah I’m so lame…

♥♥♥

*composes self*

So just how did I find out that bit of info? Well…whilst I was watching the Cinderella DVD I was really paying attention to Koharu reading / singing out the scroll in her first scene on stage. I kept hearing European sounding names and came to the conclusion that it was either;

1 – The Prince’s full name
or
2 – The Royalty guest list (long shot but…meh)

Thankfully, ~Dan~ over at H!O confirmed that Koharu was reciting the Prince’s full name, and then he kindly wrote it out for me (and everyone else) ^^

Now for some incredibly gay reason, I want it printed on a t-shirt!!! Written on the back like you see concert locations on tour t-shirts. I have a design plan already…I just don’t know if I could pull it off with my weedy transfer paper x_x

*schemes*

I Give In!!! Ai Apreciation Post ^^

By Lolli, on December 5th, 2008

Okay…I’ve given in to my ‘no caps until I think the majority of people have seen the Musical’ rule. But I’m doing it just because I want to show everyone my favourite part which DOES NOT contain Risa and DOES NOT contain singing (well…there’s singing just before). It just contains music and dancing, featuring Ai, Sayumi, Aika and Tarakazuka Fairies ^^ If anyone wants to know, it’s from Act I and on Windows Media Player Classic, it starts at 24:20. Please be warned, there are 31 caps ahead!!!

Now…I don’t understand these old stories much, and I haven’t seen any version of Cinderella before this. Heck…I haven’t even read the story, although I do know it – if that makes sense. So I’m not quite sure if this is a dream, or if Ai ‘thinks’ it’s a dream. It’s gotta be a dream right, because she didn’t leave the house? I’m gonna go with that. Anyway…both the choreography and music is great (and I’m not really a fan of orchestral music) ♥ Like I said, it’s one of my favourite parts of the whole musical. I’ve watched this part alone about 8 times already, I just keep going back and watching it again. I have no doubt I’ll get fed up with it soon but until then… *re-watches* ^^

Cinderella Spam

By Lolli, on December 5th, 2008

I had plans to write a review of the final Cinderella performance, which I was lucky enough to see first hand at the Koma Theatre in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Problem is, I took so long to do it (I wrote about 1/4 of it since the 25th August), that now there isn’t really any point of continuing with it since the DVD has been released *rolls eyes* So what I’ve decided to do is to not review the Musical at all, but instead post a small pic spam. But don’t worry, there isn’t going to be many pictures (only 8) because I don’t want to ruin this for anyone.

If you’ve bought this DVD then I’m glad you’ve made the purchase, you won’t be disappointed. If you’re going to download it then I understand if you’re holding out until somebody subs it. But to be completely honest with you, it’s just as enjoyable without them…seriously! If there has to be one thing I am gutted about, it’s that the performance on the DVD doesn’t contain Jun and Lin’s monomane’s of Eri and Reina. I really wanted to see Jun do the ‘OtsukaReina’ and Lin do the ‘Kame Hame Ha’ again *sigh* That must’ve been something that they only did at the final showing. Other than that, I can’t fault it at all.

Also lil_hamz! Do you remember what I mentioned on JPHiP – about Risa not taking her eyes off Eri when she’s doing her MC? Well…there was a Risa x Eri moment during the same MC on the DVD, so I’m hoping I can submit it as the GakiKame ‘evidence’ post that I was supposed to do? *begs*

On to the caps!
(these are all from Act 2)

Why have I posted this cap? Well it’s all because when myself and gordoカバ went to the final performance, we were sat in the 3rd row at the left of the stage. At this point of the musical, Risa came over to our side and stared at the pair of us, like this, for at least a minute (it was part of the play obviously). I was so nervous I really wanted to break eye contact, but I didn’t. One of the most scariest and awesomest moments of my life! The only thing that could top it is going to a handshake event and getting to touch her hands ^^

I didn’t realise that Ai actually cried in the musical. She cries more than this but because I’m capping from a DVD – I couldn’t get a clear shot of it. Crying for real, on cue, that’s pretty hardcore right?!