Girl power: Japan’s sensational showgirls

Rhett Butler, in frustration and disgust, storms out of Tara and leaves Scarlet O’Hara for the last time. Scarlett looks at the audience and bursts into the emotional aria, “Tomorrow Will Be Another Day.”

It’s “Gone With The Wind,” the musical, in Japanese. And Rhett Butler — with faux mustache — is played by a wildly popular kind of Japanese actress, an “Otokoyaku,” who specializes in male roles.

Playing in both Takarazuka, Japan, a pleasant, hot-springs resort suburb of Osaka, and in Tokyo is the Takarazuka Revue Company, starring Japan’s most popular and multitalented young women. In a three-hour day-time show, more than 80 “Takaraziennes” often will present a complete Japanese or Western musical before the intermission and finish with a song and dance extravaganza. The revues are dazzling on the Las Vegas scale, but also are, in American terms, “G-rated” and suitable for all age groups.

Though relatively unknown outside of Japan, the Takarazuka is Japan’s premier musical theatre company. Its fans hold that it eclipses in talent, skill and sheer entertainment the Folies Bergeres, the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes and any revue you’ll see in Las Vegas. (The Takarazuka played New York’s Radio City Music Hall in 1989.)

I particularly enjoy the Takarazuka, because the entertainment is so universal and professionally produced that it transcends language barriers. In the past 45 years, I have enjoyed perhaps a dozen shows in Takarazuka and Tokyo.

On one visit I saw a musical depicting the life of Yamada Nagamasa, a Japanese seaman who led the Siamese army to victory against the invading Burmese. As his reward, the King of Siam (“Menam,” as it was then called, Thailand today) appointed him prime minister of Siam, an office he held with great wisdom and success. Unfortunately, after the king’s passing, Nagamasa’s service was not appreciated by the new young king. Nagamasa dramatically resolved his dilemma by committing ritual suicide, in the honorable Japanese way. Historical records, though fragmentary, verify the story.

In addition to translating into a musical the great American epic “Gone With the Wind,” the Takarazuka has produced other original musicals, including versions of “War and Peace,” “A Tale of Two Cities,” “Spartacus,” “James Dean,” “Cyrano de Bergerac” and popular Broadway musicals, such as “West Side Story.”

The company was immortalized by James Michener in his best seller, “Sayonara.” Though the Marlon Brando film of the same name was filmed at Takarazuka and with the troupe, the name Takarazuka was changed. As described in the book, the lovely but untouchable performers were extremely popular with the Korean War-era American GI’s, who enjoyed the shows. The Takarazuka Hotel served as an R&R center, only a short taxi ride from the former American air base at Itami, which has since been transformed into Osaka’s domestic airport. In GI lingo, the productions were called the “Takarazuka All-Girls Opera.” The Takarazuka provided the entire cast for “Madam Butterfly,” the 1950s film of the Puccini’s opera shot on location in Nagasaki.

The Takarazuka was formed more than 90 years ago by Ichizo Kobayashi, the president of the Hankyu Railway, a commuter railroad running between Takarazuka (“Treasure Hill”) and Osaka. His problem, common to executives of all commuter railroads, was to fill the trains in the reverse direction of the commute and during the noncommuting middle of the day.

He conceived the “Takarazuka Chorus” to draw passengers out from Osaka during the day and send them back on the trains returning to pick up evening commuters. His other purpose was to give Japanese girls opportunities in the performing arts, which until that time had been denied them.

As a reaction to Kabuki, in which males take both male and female parts, the “Takaraziennes” play both roles. The “Otokayaku,” who play the male parts in their short-cropped hair and with baritone voices, are the most popular of the Takarazuka girls and are greeted on and off stage by screams and flowers from their fans. The Takarazuka draws more than 2 million fans each year.

The “Takaraziennes” are divided into the five troupes: Snow, Moon, Star, Flower and Cosmos. Each troupe boasts its own stars. The Takarazuka’s prestige is so great that, despite the low pay, long hours and the disciplined, almost monastic life led by the young women, only one in 20 who applies is accepted for training.

After two years of study and training at the Takarazuka Music School, the new girls are given a chance in the chorus. The few who become Takarazuka stars achieve nationwide fame and adoration.

Dennis A. Cavagnaro is a retired Marine who enjoys traveling the world. He lives in Oakland, Calif.

About the revue

TAKARAZUKA GRAND THEATER: Two troupes are always in rehearsal at the 2,550-seat Takarazuka Grand Theater, which has two revolving stages, six lifts, wind and smoke machines, and a 23.6-meter-wide proscenium.

Performances are normally at 1 p.m. Mondays and Fridays; and 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. There are no performances on Wednesdays.

Takarazuka is about two hours from the new Kansai International Airport by public transportation.

By rail, take the Namba Railway’s limited express train to the Namba terminal in Osaka. Then board a Midosuji Line subway train for Umeda (fourth stop). At Umeda Station, board the Hankyu Railways’ frequent limited express trains for Takarazuka.

From Tokyo, Nagoya, or anywhere else on the Shin-kansen “Bullet Train” Sanyo Line, get off at Shin-Osaka Station and take a JR local train on the lower level to Osaka Station. From there, take either JR’s Itami LIne or cross the street to Hankyu’s Umeda Station for a train to Takarazuka.

The Takarazuka Grand Theater is a short walk down Hana-no-michi (“Flower Lane”) from Takarazuka Station. During intermissions in the lengthy afternoon shows, playgoers enjoy dining at the theater’s many restaurants or just relaxing and gazing across the river at the beautiful Takarazuka Hotel and its high-mountain backdrop.

THE TOKYO TAKARAZUKA THEATER is just across a side street from the Imperial Hotel.

Performances are at 1:30 p.m. Mondays and Fridays; at 1:30 and 6:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays; and 11 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.

• TICKETS: range from the equivalent of $33 to $95 and may be purchased at the theater box office and at most theater ticket agencies. You may also ask tourist offices to help you buy tickets.
• INFORMATION: Visit the company’s official Web site.

— Dennis A. Cavagnaro