The Stage Production That Changed Takarazuka's History: 'Gubijin'
Last time, I introduced some human-interest anecdotes about Mr. Shirai related to the birth of 'Gubijin'.
This time, I would like to delve deeper into the work itself.
It was not a work intended for Takarazuka
The original work is 'Xiang Yu and Liu Bang' by Yoshiro Nagayo, a story featuring a brave warrior from famous Chinese history who possesses 'strength that can pull up mountains'.
The title was taken from the legend that Gubijin, the wife of Xiang Yu, danced with a sword and took her own life when the castle fell, and the red flowers that bloomed from her grave were called 'Gubijin-so' (poppies).
In fact, 'Gubijin' was not originally scheduled to be performed at Takarazuka.
Tetsuzo Shirai had cherished this work for many years, intending to stage it with a troupe that included men.
However, after returning to Takarazuka for the first time in a while and seeing how much Yachiyo Kasugano and Nishiki Kamishiro had grown, he decided that these two could pull it off, and thus decided to stage it at Takarazuka.
That said, he admitted that he was initially hesitant about how effective it would be to have a beautiful woman in male attire play the role of a brave warrior.
Because Takarazuka is an all-female troupe, I had to avoid forcing them to play male roles that could only be performed by men. My personal theory was that one must cover those shortcomings by emphasizing the beauty of the cross-dressing stage, ensuring the audience doesn't feel the lack of male actors, and instead making them think it's better without men, thereby highlighting the uniqueness of the troupe; so I was anxious. However, everyone, starting with Kasugano and Kamishiro, gave excellent performances, and it was a success that we were able to greatly demonstrate the acting of Takarazuka's male roles to the world through this 'Gubijin'.
A magnificent and gorgeous stage
Shirai, who had worked on musicals featuring male actors at Toho such as 'Enoken Goes to the Dragon Palace' and 'Mulan Joins the Army', was able to create a large-scale production at Takarazuka by incorporating the merits of male-inclusive stagecraft he had learned there into the students' performances.
He welcomed Kikuo Kamura, who was well-versed in Chinese subjects, as a co-director, and the stage sets and costumes became magnificent and gorgeous.
Furthermore, he enhanced the heroic atmosphere with a male shadow chorus from the orchestra box and created a spectacular stage by featuring two real horses and one baby elephant.
It is said that the total number of cast members reached 300.
In her book, Kiyoko Tabata also wrote, 'Creating such a gorgeous stage in 1951, shortly after the war, must have been an even greater adventure than the pre-war 'Mon Paris'.
Thus, 'Gubijin', which opened the curtain, became Takarazuka's first full-length grand production, recording sold-out houses every day and achieving great success with a three-month run across different troupes.
For the reopening of the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater
The Tokyo Takarazuka Theater was closed during the war and was requisitioned by the Allied Forces after the war, used as the Ernie Pyle Theater exclusively for the military.
Ichizo Kobayashi highly praised 'Gubijin' and decided to stage this work when the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater was returned.
The Tokyo Takarazuka Theater opened in 1934 with 'Flower Anthology' by Tetsuzo Shirai and reopened in 1955 with 'Gubijin'. This is a truly deeply moving fact for fans of Tetsuzo Shirai.
Theme song 'Red Poppy Flower'
Crimson petals, the color of love
The burning heart, the poppy flower
Things that bloom must scatter, things that wither
Why do you bloom so beautifully?
When I pick the flowers, thinking of you from afar
Your figure comes to mind
A dream that will not return, just once more
Yu, oh Yu, what shall I do with you?
This theme song was composed by Ichiro Kawasaki, and along with the work, this song also became a hit and has been widely loved and sung to this day.
Recently, it remains in my memory as an impressive scene sung by top star Rei Yuzuka and the members of the Flower Troupe during the 2023 performance of 'ENCHANTEMENT -Magnificent Perfume-'.
Summary
A story that was originally intended to be performed on a stage with male actors was reborn in post-war Takarazuka, greatly expanding the possibilities of an all-female theater troupe.
'Gubijin' may have been both a challenge by Tetsuzo Shirai and a moment when Takarazuka's history took a step forward.
Thank you for reading this far.
References
Tetsuzo Shirai, 'Takarazuka and I', Nakabayashi Shuppan, 1967, pp. 176-180
Kiyoko Tabata, 'Tetsuzo Shirai and Takarazuka Revue', Seikyusha, 2016, pp. 138-141