#i probably forgot a bunch of things because i have the memory of a goldfish but......... here goes

[eurydiceh]

i watched h*athers at the other pal*ce last night and i have Thoughts

first off i actually,,,,,,,, don’t remember that much from off-bway 2014 h*athers cause i haven’t watched it in so long lmao but the most noticeable changes were from blue to a song called you’re welcome. mcnamara and duke are not on stage for that one, they get the car keys and leave veronica stranded w/ kurt & ram. the song is not much better off tbh. it’s even more uncomfortable but in a more predatory way i guess so it highlights how she’s....... literally about to be raped but there are still some jokes??? and it’s........ not the time to expect laughter like idk it personally made me very uncomfortable. and yEAH it’s supposed to make u uncomfortable ofc but then they’re throwing in jokes and it’s like friends we had this problem 4 years ago can we. not.

they added a song for he*ther d*ke which i was soooooo excited about!! look. i didn’t love the song. maybe if i listen to it more i’ll get into it but i feel like it was just this huge spectacle and kinda thrown in and also there’s this part where she rips the green costume off and reveals chandler’s red one. despite not loving the song, t’shan KILLED IT and i’m still not over her tbh lmao she was my fave part of the show last night i think. aLsO it added a biiiit more to the character since before she was mostly treated like a villain and now we see a girl who just Really wants to be liked and suffered substantial abuse from her “best friend” and now is just kind of....... free.

they kept d*ad g*y s*n which like. disappointed but not surprised. 

the cast 

c*rrie h*pe fl*tch*r as veronica - i’d listened to a couple of audios of her before and i wasn’t too happy that they’d removed veronica’s high notes but watching it live, it didn’t seem like a huge problem at all tbh. she was an amazing veronica and definitely has very powerful vocals but in my opinion she wasn’t particularly memorable tbh?? i just don’t feel like she was really able to make the character her own and a lot of it felt very derived from barrett but that’s just me.

j*mie m*sc*to as jd - i actually really liked his jd!! he had the look dOWN. he started out maybe a bit more cute-sy and hesitant (like, almost told veronica she had the wrong cup when she gave chandler the bleach & was almost kinda shocked like ‘oh shit i killed someone’) but grew veeeery dark and manic and manipulative and was revelling in moments like after d*ad g*y s*n and sh*ne a l*ght and was always like ‘ok who we gonna kill next!!!’ and was very creepy in general though the musical did prompt you to feel bad for people like him as well as kurt and ram which. it shouldn’t & i don’t bye!

- like quick lil note i understand veronica is in distress but i hate how she sings that they could’ve turned out good when they aLMOST RAPED HER like they didn’t deserve to die but come on!!

j*die st*ele as he*ther c - mixed feelings for this one tbh. i didn’t love her, i’ll start by saying that. her voice is definitely very powerful and very fit for the character, but i feel like she played everything as more comical than anything else and some of her meaner moments felt a bit forced. but she was absolutely hilarious in the me ins*de of me and all the other moments after she died lol. not my favorite but she wasn’t bad either. did have some more memorable little moments like her dance in me ins*de of me was gOLD.

t’sh*n will*ms as he*ther d - i!!! stan!!! i think she was my fave he*ther d tbh??? she’s a fucking powerhouse and she made the character pretty sympathetic, especially towards the end. looked genuinely concerned when she said v looked like hell. in the finale she just stands there kinda grumpy and doesn’t sing along but then veronica insists for like a solid ten seconds and she joins in, still not sure if she quite belongs, very hesitant, but with the cUTEST small lil smile and she gives martha this little wave i cRIED.

s*phie is*acs as he*ther mc - again, she was very good, but i didn’t find her particularly memorable. like, to me, lifeboat just kind of flew by and her almost suicide scene as well and i didn’t feel too much??? her voice is definitely very pretty and she’s a good actress but i think the performance fell a bit flat for me.

a few more lil notes!!

- costumes were fine but i gotta say i was not a fan of he*ther m’s skirt or jd’s trench coat

- the stage was very small but the set felt so big at the same time?? and the set was very pretty tbh i really liked it!!

- sh*ne a l*ght was hILARIOUS and r*becca l*ck was great and being vv interactive and pointing to the guy at the audience and being like ‘you brought your wife aND A KID????’ and the wife was living and the guy was dying

- i feel like some jokes didn’t work w/ the british audience as it happens lmao like when ms fl*ming was like ‘as my thesis from berkley says’ and there were like, two laughs, one from me. in brazil we usually translate these kinds of things but i get why they didn’t. makes me wonder how h*milton is working out here tbh lol.

- dominic & chris were on point as kurt & ram (def reminded me of all the dudebros i know) but i just feel a bit iffy about the whole kram thing and everyone...... you know........ forgetting they almost raped veronica. 

- huuuuuuge props to the ensemble. it was very small but they nailed it and the ensemble numbers were just always filled with energy and a lot of fun!!

- also props to the cast’s american accents!! they did slip at times but they fooled the friends i’d taken with me who were all surprised to find out the cast was actually british.

- i hate paying for programmes. not a note for the show but one from me to this country. i know they fancier than playbills but we have similar ones in brazil and they’re free!! 4 pounds doesn’t seem like much. until you remember that’s twenty reais. TWENTY!!

- there wasn’t really a stage door, the actors showed up at the lobby, but there was a line that went all the way outside the theatre and i am now Old and no longer have the patience for these types of things so i just left. 

- sooooooo many people went dressed up though so if you’re in doubt about whether or not you should i’d say go for it.

- overall it was a good show, definitely fun, didn’t really leave me in emotional shambles but maybe i’m just older & boring now. i’m glad they’re still trying things out and making changes because lemme tell you it needs some of those. but if you’re in london, i def recommend watching it if it’s your type of show (though i know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea), it was a fun experience (love me some h*athers themed drinks) and i don’t think you’ll regret it!

[kitto-toberu-sa]

Sailor Moon The Super Live Report - September 7th (first performance, musical note team)

Place: Aiia Theatre Placement: Row 8, Seat 32 (first row, second block, roughly middle)

Show part Not gonna lie, the only reason why I went a third time was because of Chiyuu. Kasai Tomomi, former member of AKB48, is Sailor Moon this time. I’m not even that big of a fan of hers, tbh, she’s done some stuff I really don’t agree with in the past, but she’s besties with one of my fave singers and her last album was LIT. So hopefully this is her new STAR-T.  

This performance turned out to be my favourite of the three. The seats were the best, the high touch was the best (partly because I went to the previous high touch), vocals were on point, Chiyuu was great and so many other things.

To start with, they open the doors an hour before show time. You then need to wait in the lobby for half an hour before they let you into the seating area. So there I was, chilling in the lobby, when two older ladies come up and talk to a staff member after being introduced by another staff member. Jaws dropped. It was the original voice actresses for Jupiter and Venus!

They were standing less than a meter from me! It was honestly so surreal?? They were dressed casual and just chatted normally before going off to the side to wait like everyone else. Rica (Venus) had a ridiculous amount of Venus merch on her, which was honestly adorable. She also responded to me on twitter later <3 (Speaking of which, I commented on Kunzite’s insta twice and got responses both time. She seems lovely, so please support her too!)

As a quick cast comparison, personally I like this group’s vocals. I haven’t checked but they probably are more musically trained. Chiyuu was an idol for six years or so, and is still continuing her solo career, so it’d kinda make sense if the note team was made of those with a musical background. I did think the vocals were a bit more towards “we’re senshi” side; the heart team was more “we’re teenagers who moonlight as senshi” type vocals (lighter? I guess? Higher pitched?). However, all of the vocals were a lot more stable in this team, with none of the mic issues etc of heart team.

I still prefer Sena as Venus. She was a lot more bubbly, while also being able to do the senshi side well. This Venus had very little reaction to Kunzite’s death. Though I did notice this time that the rest of the senshi appear to get their memories back at this time too. Jupiter really stood out this time around. You could see she was putting her absolute all into it and I can really respect that. This Mercury was also really great. Her voice was just sweet enough, but had the power heart team’s Mercury lacked. As a whole, this cast seemed less nervous and more confident, and smiled a lot more often.

Kasai as Moon was AMAZING! The other Moon stuck to the script, but Kasai kept adding in natural sound? I guess? She made the dialogue flow more, by adding a few extra words or cried more or whatever. It made it seem less like a play, and more real. She definitely got the dreamy side of Usagi down, and she held the confidence of Moon against Beryl, which I adored. She was honestly the perfect Usagi and I’m so glad she was able to have this opportunity. If this is released on dvd (note, no camera at shonichi or tonight, but there was a camera for the last show of heart team), I hope they release a version with her team <3

There were pretty much no mistakes from this cast. They seem to have improved on everyone else’s mistakes. This isn’t just the cast – the crew has done this as well. For example, where the classmates are zombified, they’ve had more glow in the dark components to their costumes. There were no mic issues. There was no issue with the sheet/Beryl’s dark energy.

The only mistake came from Tuxedo Mask. He couldn’t get the veil into Usagi’s hair. In the end he was like ‘well who cares lmao’ and put it on one of the horses lmaoooo Oops, sorry, another lie. Moon accidentally turned the moon rod on for a brief second. I still think the rod should have been painted so it wasn’t as ugly and it should have been kept on tbh. Overall, it was a flawless performance.

As for the differences in the performance, apart from Usagi being more vocal in the best way’s possible, it was essentially the same show. There was still no dialogue from the leaving students, though Haruna stamped her feet, in what I’m assuming is a “Usgai get your butt out of this classroom NOW” type thing. Shame, because that bit of ‘see you’ ‘oh we have homework’ type thing did the same as Usagi – make it more human and natural.

I’m going to be biased and say my favourite part was when Usagi runs through the audience at the start yelling that she’s late. I currently have blue hair, so I stick out, and I was right where she runs past. When she’s running, she talks to a few audience members. Standing out, she pointed at my necklace.

“Wow! That necklace is cute! How much was it?” Me: -doing my best goldfish impression because Kasai Tomomi si ridiculously cute in person and talking to me?????- “WOW! A million dollars?! EXPENSIVE!”

She then ran off, remembering she was late. (All of this was in Japanese.)

So considering she was the reason I came, I more than feel like I got my money’s worth from this show XD

Song part Same same. But different.

This cast definitely had a much more powerful La Soldier, but I liked heart team’s Otome no Policy better. Their voices were softer and a lot better for the more emotional songs imo.

For Moonlight Densetsu, when they were walking around the audience, I managed to get high fives from all of them bar Moon and Mask~

Mercury came by first briefly, followed by Venus iirc, then Jupiter (she’s got such a nice smile!~) and then Mars. Mars kinda dragged her hand so it was a long high touch haha

At the end of the show, they release a bunch of streamers? I’ve honestly never seen the point of grabbing them because what do you do with them?? But I grabbed one that night. Lucky I was so quick because a staff member came up straight away to snatch them away lol

(But what do I do with it..?)

The crowd was really interesting. A lot of the crowd was male, and there for Tomomi (a lot of female fans were too). However, a lot of the dudes had no idea what Sailor Moon was meant to be about (beside magical girl) so while waiting before the show (which started 15 minutes late? Everyone was getting low key annoyed) and after, waiting for the high touch, a lot of girls were trying to explain to these middle aged business men what the show was about. So shout out to the Sailor Moon community for being cool with new people coming into the fandom, even if it is for just a moment.

High Touch The line up was Jupiter, Mercury, Mask, Moon, Mars, Venus.

I barely had any time with Jupiter, but she has a pretty smile so who cares. I told her today was great and she was happy with that. Mercury commented that we had the same colour hair so I stan her for life now. She’s so cute! Mask remembered me from the other day~ (I mean, how many blue haired foreigners have come to see the show?? ;;;) There was a little bit of a hold up, so I was able to hold her hand~ I told her today was amazing and I’d continue to support her, and the returning smile I got killed me.

Tomomi also remembered me! “Oh! It’s you from earlier!” Again, told her it was great and I’d support her. She looks so good as Moon? Like, really natural. I forgot how short she was tho ;; She’s a good 12cm shorter than me lol

Mars was so cool and kind too. Same for Venus, but as much as I liked her, Sena is the only Venus for me. Sorry!

Tonight I got Mars as my bookmark thing, so I’m super happy! Overall, this experience was fun! Tonight was an amazing night, and Chiyuu did such a great job as Moon, so I’m sure by closing night she had it seriously nailed. The whole three times were great fun, and I had debated getting a forth ticket. Not only is that slight overkill, but the rest of the shows were only giving goods away, so not worth it. But a great night was had and I’d highly recommend the show. Go see them in France if you can!

Summary Enjoyable: 5/5 Worth the ticket price: 5/5 Re-watchable: 4/5 If this was sold on dvd, would I buy it: 4/5