Department Store / Arch of Triumph
insert title graphic picture code here
Picture Credit: Your wikiname
English Title: Department Store / Arch of Triumph
Japanese Title: デパートメント・ストア / 凱旋門
Romanized Title: Depaatomento Sutoa / Gaisenmon
Troupe: Snow
Year: 2000
Performances: Grand Theater, 6/30 - 8/14; 1000 Days Theater, 9/22 - 10/29
Special Cast Performance: Takarazuka Grand Theater, 7/18
Shinjin Kouen Performance: 1000 Days Theater, 10/17
Available on DVD: Yes (release date 2/21/01); Arch of Triumph special cast version (released 12/05/06)
DVD Scene/Music Cut: Yes
In Department Store: "It's Not Unusual" from scene 6D and "You've Got a Friend" from scene 8 were cut.
Department Store
Written and Directed by: Masatsuka Haruhiko
Music Composition and Arrangement by: Takahashi Kuni, Miyahara Tooru, Kuratomi Shinichi
Conductor: Okada Yoshiki
Choreography: Iga Yuuko, Ueshima Yukio, Kawasaki Etsuko
Stage Setting: Yasuhiro Ohashi
Costumes: Ikuei Toda
Lighting: Jiro Katsushiba
Vocal Guidance; Shukubi Yo
Props: Tetsuya Ijuin
Production: Nobuo Murakami
Arch of Triumph
Based on the Novel by: Erich Maria Remarque
Scripted by : Shibata Yukihiro
Directed and Choreographed by: Sha Tamae
Music Composition and Arrangement: Terada Takio, Yoshida Yuuko, Saitou Tsuneyoshi
Music Arrangement: Kuratomi Shinichi
Conductor: Misaki Megumi
Choreography: Iga Yuuko
Fighting Coordinator: Hiroshi Atsumi
Stage Setting: Yasuhiro Ohashi
Costumes: Ikuei Toda
Lighting: Jiro Katsushiba
Vocal Guidance: Shukubi Yo
Props: Tetsuya Ijuin
Production: Nobuo Murakami
Shinjin Kouen & Special Cast Director: Ogita Kouichi
| Role | Cast | ||||
| Flex | Todoroki Yuu | ||||
| Janet | Tsukikage Hitomi | ||||
| Richie | Kouju Tatsuki | ||||
| Teddie | Yashiro Kou | ||||
| Staborn | Misato Maya | ||||
| Manager | Shiokaze Kou | ||||
| Door Boys | Aran Kei, Naruse Kouki, Asami Hikaru | ||||
WARNING!! MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!!
Scene 1A Prologue
Business is thriving in a big city in America. In a department store, excited people are having a shopping spree. A mother and child are engulfed in the wave of madness and are separated from each other.
Mother = Marioka Tomomi
Lost Child = Yamashina Ai
Scene 1B Prologue
The president and employees of the department store are elated with success. Flex, a self-employed man who happens upon the scene, rescues the mother and child. Then, Flex meets Janet, an elevator girl.
Flex: Todoroki Yuu
Janet: Tsukikage Hitomi
Richie: Kouju Tatsuki
Mother: Marioka Tomomi
Lost Child: Yamashina Ai
Scene 2 Flex's Theme
Flex, who lives without being restrained by any thing, sings,
Flex: Todoroki Yuu
Scene 3 Teddie and Richie's Song
The department store at night. Richie, the young president, is wrought with anxiety despite the store's great sales. Teddie, the sweeper who is actually the owner of the store, is lamenting the attitude of the customers who are lost in greed. The late founder of the store, Staborn, is so worried about the future of the store that he is unable to leave the physical world behind, and watches anxiously over his son Richie.
Richie: Kouju Tatsuki
Teddie: Yashiro Kou
Staborn: Misato Maya
Scene 4 Ghost Town
Just as Teddie expects, customers gradually stop coming, and the department store now resembles a ghost town empty of customers. When Flex comes to meet Janet, customer-starved employees grab at him from all sides. Flex and Janet meet each other once again, and are reunited.
Flex: Todoroki Yuu
Janet: Tsukikage Hitomi
Manager (Zombie): Shiokaze Kou
Scene 5 The Duet
Flex and Janet escape into the elevator and head to the roof of the department store. There, they ride the mechanical toy airplanes, singing and dancing together.
Flex: Todoroki Yuu
Janet: Tsukikage Hitomi
Scene 6A The Conspiracy in the Machine Room
In the machine room of the department, industrial terrorists are at large. A conspiracy to knock the store out of business is brewing.
Industrial Terrorists: Kazahaya Yuu , Aran Kei, Tatsuki You, Machika Meguru, Rei Yuuki, Kamizuki Akane, Souno Haruto
Scene 6B Locker Room
In the locker room, the department store girls complain about their jobs.
Employees (Women): Morio Kazumi, Miho Keiko, Kasai Hitomi, Kisaki Miri, Aida Megu, Mio Urara, Chisaki Maria
Scene 6C
The city is packed with unemployed people. Richie wanders through the city.
Richie: Kouju Tatsuki
Staborn: Misato Maya
Scene 6D The President's Melancholy
Richie walks aimlessly through the city struck by the depression and meets Flex and Janet, who are dating happily despite their depressed surroundings. Richie wonders why they appear to be so happy. Flex and Janet sing about the time when they were children, when department stores had a sense of wonder.
Flex: Todoroki Yuu
Janet: Tsukikage Hitomi
Richie = Kouju Tatsuki
Scene 7A Heartfelt Dream
A lavish scene of the department store when it used to be a space filled with wonder.
Manager: Shiokaze Kou
Teddie: Yashiro Kou
Staborn: Misato Maya
Door Boys: Aran Kei, Naruse Kouki, Asami Hikaru
Scene 7B Heartfelt Dream
Flex: Todoroki Yuu
Janet: Tsukikage Hitomi
Richie: Kouju Tatsuki
Manager: Shiokaze Kou
Door Boys: Aran Kei, Naruse Kouki, Asami Hikaru
Scene 8 Teddie's Song
Teddie sings a song, worried about the future. The president and employees all feel the same way.
Flex: Todoroki Yuu
Janet: Tsukikage Hitomi
Richie: Kouju Tatsuki
Teddie: Yashiro Kou
Staborn: Misato Maya
Scene 9 Resort
Flex invites the president and others to a dream resort, and the scene transforms into a beach where men and women dance.
Flex: Todoroki Yuu
Janet: Tsukikage Hitomi
Richie: Kouju Tatsuki
Scene 10 Toy Fantasy
Flex and the employees invite kids who are absorbed in computer games to a toy fantasy world. Various characters on the toy floor begin to move and they dance together.
Flex: Todoroki Yuu
Janet: Tsukikage Hitomi
Richie: Kouju Tatsuki
Scene 11A Human Service
The employees and president begin to realize that warm communication between the customers and employees as well as heartfelt service is the most important thing.
Flex: Todoroki Yuu
Scene 11B Human Service
Flex: Todoroki Yuu
Janet: Tsukikage Hitomi
Richie: Kouju Tatsuki
Teddie: Yashiro Kou
Staborn: Misato Maya
Scene 12 Coming Soon
The department store undergoes renewals and re-opens. Everyone wears a new uniform. Wishing to present various dreams to anyone of any age, the employees and others sing and dance.
Flex: Todoroki Yuu
Janet: Tsukikage Hitomi
Richie: Kouju Tatsuki
Teddie: Yashiro Kou
Staborn: Misato Maya
Other Cast (Takarazuka & Tokyo): Houju Konatsu, Shioka Yurisa, Sawane Kazuki, Natsuo Komaki, Maisaki Rin, Morisaki Kaguya, Kaho Anna
Other Cast (Tokyo only): Soraki Reika, Kojou Yukino, Manami Sora, Ouki Kaname, Asakura Momoko, Hozuki Haruna, Ozuki Tooma, Suzuhana Risa, Tani Mizuse, Hanaoka Rara
WARNING!! MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!!
The setting is Europe in 1938, where signs of the outbreak of World War II begin to cast a shadow over the land. Fearing the fires of war, waves of people seek refuge from all over Europe to Paris, the only remaining city of light. But no one can guess how much longer that light will last.
Ravic, a surgeon, is a refugee from Germany making a living in Paris as an unlicensed doctor. On a cold rainy night, Ravic meets a woman who is standing off in a daze, apparently about to jump off Alma Bridge into the River Seine. He rescues her just in time, and inquires about her background although he isn't very interested.
The woman's name is Joan Madou. She explains that she came to Paris from Italy, but her husband had just died from illness at the hotel where they were staying. Deeply shaken, Joan was in a state of confusion from fright and despair. Ravic heads over to the hotel with her to deal with the corpse. Feeling sorry for Joan, who is out of luck with nowhere to go, Ravic later asks his friend Boris, a doorman at a nightclub, to find her a job. Joan begins to work as a singer at the club, aspiring to become an actress. It has been three weeks since Joan started her job at the club and Ravic has not seen her since. He feels he has no bright future as a refugee, and this grim reality makes him hesitant about harboring any feelings for Joan.
By the time he finally visits her, she has become a popular singer at the nightclub. They go together to the bistro where they went on the night they met. Joan has been waiting for Ravic to come see her, because on that fateful night, in the clutches of despair, Ravic had given her hope to survive. Joan tells him, "I've been reborn." Ravic finds himself becoming attracted to Joan’s beauty as she sings at the club. The night is rainy, just like the night they met. Shoulders touching, Ravic and Joan walk together to Ravic's apartment.
Eventually, Ravic and Joan fall deeply in love with each other. But even during their sweetest moments, a shadow flickers across Ravic's mind. The footsteps of war sneak closer to Paris, growing louder day by day. Ravic begins to feel a vague uneasiness towards Joan's passionate love for him. He is unable to explain to her that he is in no position to give her any promises of the future.
Nazi Germany attacks Czechoslovakia. The news makes people shudder with fear and throws the city into an uproar. Ravic finds a familiar face in the bustling city crowd. Four years earlier, when Ravic was still in Germany, he was tortured for hiding and freeing a friend being pursued by the Gestapo. The torture and humiliation was worse than death itself. The man Ravic sees before him is the Gestapo officer, Franz von Schneider. Schneider even killed Ravic's girlfriend at the time, Sibyl. Ravic later escaped from the camp and came to Paris. He is suddenly caught by a fierce desire for revenge, but loses sight of Schneider. Shaken by the experience, Ravic finds himself standing before Joan's room. Did he really want to get his revenge on Schneider and in turn give up his present life in Paris, especially his beloved Joan? As an illegal immigrant, he cannot cause any problems in this city. Ravic tells Joan his true identity, and together they decide to head for the Riviera to leave everything behind.
The Riviera is filled with warm sunshine. Life here is a long way from the current situation in Paris, which is suffering from war, inflation and poverty. Joan meets the wealthy actor Henri and behaves as she pleases with his circle of friends. She confesses excitedly that she has always wanted to live such a frivolous and glamorous life, admitting that she is a "silly woman." But Ravic cannot help but forgive Joan, the beautiful and foolish woman who is radiantly alive. Their love for each other appears as though nothing could tear it apart. Fate, however, is merciless.
One freezing day in February back in Paris, Ravic happens upon a wounded construction worker and gives him first aid. From this action, the police find out that he is an illegal immigrant, and he is banished from the country. Without even enough time to say goodbye to Joan, Ravic is forced to leave Paris behind.
After three long months of impatience and yearning for Joan, Ravic returns illegally to Paris once again. But his beloved Joan is now here to be seen. She has quit the nightclub, and Boris does not know her whereabouts, One evening, Ravic happens to bump into Joan, who is with Henri. Ravic and Joan embrace tightly, overjoyed by their reunion. Joan, however, is currently dating Henri because she had thought that Ravic was gone for good and could not bear the solitude of living in a foreign country alone. Ravic is hurt by this confession, as he loves Joan more than ever, and leaves her in a jealous fury.
The "Hotel International" where Ravic is staying is a hotel for refugees run by Francoise. Staying there are Boris, a Russian refugee; Hyme and Julia from Spain; Marcus, a refugee with the nickname "Bird of Death"; Rosenfeld, who is on the run with a painting by Van Gogh; the Goldbergs, a German married couple; Wiezenhoff; and the Binders, a Jewish family all live there. All carrying their own painful past and anxiety for the future; they survive the best they can by helping one another. But when Mr. Goldberg commits suicide one day, his tragic death begins to cast an inexplicable sense of anxiety over the people in the hotel.
With information from Boris, Ravic encounters Schneider once again. While Ravic is keeping an eye on Schneider in a restaurant, Joan appears. She tells Ravic that she has broken up with Henri, who has a jealous nature, and she wants to be with Ravic again. But Ravic is so intent on following Schneider's movements that he hurts her feelings. After Joan leaves, Ravic is taken by surprise by Schneider who begins to talk to him.
Schneider explains that he has come from Berlin on business and that he is unfamiliar with Paris, and asks Ravic to show him around. It turns out Schneider has completely forgotten Ravic's face. Ravic seizes his chance and takes Schneider,a lewd man, out to a whorehouse in the Boulogne Forest and finally gets his revenge.
The lights of Paris are shut down by a blackout. Henri comes to see Ravic, who has finally been freed from his past hatred. Henri tells Ravic that he has shot Joan from jealousy that her heart is with Ravic and not himself. Ravic hurries over to Joan with Weber, the director of a private hospital, but her wound is far too deep for surgery. The only thing Ravic can do is talk softly to Joan, who is in great pain. Joan whispers words of love in his arms. But as her pain becomes unbearable, Ravic respects her final wishes and frees her from the pain with his own hands. Joan dies peacefully in the end.
France finally declares war on Germany. The people of "Hotel International" all go their own ways. Some flee to America, some decide to be taken to the camps. Ravic asks Boris to take care of Joan's funeral. and chooses to be imprisoned. Just as Ravic is about to be taken away by the police. He looks up and sees the Arch of Triumph standing quietly in the darkness, just as it was on that night in his memory.
- Todoroki Yuu won an acting award for her work in Arch of Triumph.
- Some members were absent from the Takarazuka run due to performing in the Berlin tour.
- For the Takarazuka run, a "special cast" version of Arch of Triumph was performed in place of the traditional shinjin kouen. This performance featured up-and-coming stars in the principal roles.
- Arch of Triumph was revived the next year (2001) at Hakataza, and again by Snow Troupe in 2018.
- The Takarazuka performance was the final show for Tamaki Kaho.
- The Tokyo performance was the final show for Kisaki Miri and Ayuna Sae.
Department Store / Arch of Triumph - Review by Ekusudei
Poster | DVD | VHS | CD
| ||
None Yet | None Yet | None Yet | None Yet
| ||