It has been a very social weekend with
more action than I have seen in weeks if not months. Friday morning Leona and I
took the scooter to the Taiwan Railroad to the HSR to the Taipei Metro When we
arrived in Taipei, we went straight to Gu-Gong Station neat Taiwan University.
We perused Eslite bookstore (buying nothing) and had Thai lunch at our favorite
spot.
We went to see Takarazuka performs The Rose of Versailles at
National Theater in Taipei. The Takarazuka Revue (宝塚歌団 Takarazuka Kagekidan) is a Japanese all-female
musical theater troupe based in Takarazuka, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan .
Women play all roles in lavish, Broadway-style
productions of Western-style musicals, and sometimes stories adapted from shōjo manga and
Japanese folktales. The troupe takes its name from the Hankyu
Takarazuka rail line in suburban Osaka. The company
is a division of the Hankyu
Railway company; all members of the troupe are employed by the company. (Wikipedia)
I commented on Facebook that the tone of the musical-dance
review show from Japan made the Rockettes look like sluts. The three hour show
was fun although I hardly understood Chinese word translated on LED
screens from the Japanese libretto. The acting and costumes were dazzling.
Leona absolutely loved it. Her brother and mom had seen a Taiwanese version of
the all-female theater when he was a child; Leona was too young. It was always
a dream of her mother to see the original Japanese cast, a dream Leona fulfilled
for her.
Women make up the primary audience of Takarazuka; in fact, some
estimates say the audience is 90 percent female. There exist two primary
theories as to what draws these women to Takarazuka. One is that the women are
drawn to its inherent lesbian overtones. One author states, "It was not
masculine sexuality which attracted the Japanese girl audience but it was
feminine eroticism". The competing theory is that the girls are not drawn
to the implicit sexuality of Takarazuka, but instead are fascinated by
the otokoyaku (the women who play male roles) "getting away with
a male performance of power and freedom". (Wikipedia)
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