Aran: Continuing on from the last Grand Theater show, this time I've got another role which has Chie (Yuzuki) rolling in the palm of my hand, but Chie is very, very light. She's easy to roll (laughs).

Yuzuki: (laughs). Touko-san (Aran), can really act freely. You're really funny.

Aran: But there are places where it seems to me that you stay true to the motivations of your role as Chauvelin and try not to react to my adlibs, right?

Yuzuki: Eh? Yes... (laughs)

Aran: It seems like you've decided not saying anything is best.

Yuzuki: That's right.... I really shouldn't.... Though I'm always thinking what would be the best way to react, as Chauvelin.

Aran: You look at me with ice in your eyes. In the places were you can't crack a smile, you've become very perseverant.

Yuzuki: I've become strong, thanks to your tempering. In that scene in the waiting room in the palace in the second act, you do something different every time.

Aran: Yes. There was one time we did that scene, where the two of us just stood there looking blankly at each other (laughs).

Yuzuki: There was (laughs).

Aran: Without thinking it through at all, I twirled around and around, wrapping myself up in Chie's tricolored sash, then immediately switched over and spun the other way, and suddenly Chie and I were face-to-face. For a second there was a feeling that the two of us were thinking, "Now what do we do?"

Yuzuki: We were lined up next to each other parallel to the audience, right? Immediately after that I promptly shouted, "Yameto!" (laughs). I meant to say, "Yamero!"¹ After I went off-stage, everyone in the wings was poking fun at me (laughs).

Aran: A mix of "yamete" and "yamero"?

Yuzuki: Probably. I startled myself with that adlib. I spent that night thinking of things that would have been better to say....

Aran: You reflected?

Yuzuki: Yes. A Chauvelin-type reaction would have been best; that wasn't the place to say "yameto!"

Aran: I won't do that adlib again.

Yuzuki: Why!? Because I couldn't reply well!?

Aran: Because it's gotten cold.

Yuzuki: Ah........

Aran: (laughs). Well then, maybe it'll appear again sometime.

Yuzuki: Got it! This show really lets us feel your kindness.

Aran: Eh? Why?

Yuzuki: Every time Grapin appears in various scenes and does various things, but if you get a huge laugh you don't do the same thing in the next show. I think it's because you feel sorry for Chauvelin if he gets laughed at too much.

Aran: (laughs) Is that why?

Yuzuki: That's right! I want to learn that kindness you have.

Aran: I don't know if it's kindness or what, though.

Yuzuki: ............... (Stares firmly at Aran.)

Aran: Scary... That's a scary expression! .....Right, it's kindness, and my love (laughs).

Yuzuki: That's right (laughs).



Aran: A man who came to see the show told me that he empathized with Percy during the wedding scene. "For such a thing to happen on your wedding day is tough. I could really understand Percy's feelings during his song ('Prayer')," he said.

Yuzuki: Really?

Aran: When we first began rehearsals, I couldn't go from the heights of happiness that the wedding filled me with to immediately singing such a painful song; I couldn't switch over my feelings at all. The show had barely begun at that point, and already there was such agony, I thought. But it seems that the men can empathize.

Yuzuki: That's true. I love that song too. Songs of agony are the best! I dance and sing, "O, Lord~!" along with you from the wings (laughs).

Aran: (laughs). I say, "O, Lord" three times, don't I? All I do is ask favors of the Lord (laughs). Chauvelin's song "Falcon in the Dive" is really intense. When you're singing on the Silver Bridge, your heat is too great. We should pass out vinyl sheets to the audience members in the first row so that when you come close they can use them for protection and watch you that way (laughs).

Yuzuki: When I come closer, they'll say, "Ah, she's coming, she's coming", and start to get ready by putting on the sheet (laughs).

Aran: That's right. Not just the audience members in the first row, but those in the last row of the first floor too- No, the balcony needs them too!

Yuzuki: It's not *that* great!!

Aran: Ah, not quite that far?

Yuzuki: Right (laughs).

Aran: (laughs). But, really, you seem to be enjoying yourself. How does it feel singing?

Yuzuki: If I enjoy myself too much when I'm singing, my voice gets higher, doesn't it?

Aran: Yes.

Yuzuki: Because of that, I always have to keep it in mind when I'm singing.

Aran: Really.

Yuzuki: When you're singing, it's better not to listen to your own voice. Myself, I have a tendency to listen to my own singing, and when I do that it feels like the tempo is slowing down more and more. You told me before, "You should sing with the feeling that the melody is coming out from inside you."

Aran: Yes.

Yuzuki: Up to that point I had been singing as if I were riding the melody, but for this show I've been singing while conscious of bringing the melody out from inside. When you sing, doesn't it feel as if you're ahead of the melody?

Aran: Yes.

Yuzuki: I've been fighting to be able to achieve that way of singing. But it becomes more and more difficult when I'm trying to stay conscious of not letting my voice get high.

Aran: I see. But is it really that high? I haven't noticed it lately.

Yuzuki: I'm glad. During rehearsals whenever I was able to enjoy singing, I often had the high voice pointed out to me.

Aran: You can really produce a high pitch.

Yuzuki: I've come to be able to.

Aran: Those who can produce a high pitch tend to unexpectedly find they've gone too high.

Yuzuki: That's true.

Aran: That's why I think that even the audience on the balcony needs the vinyl sheet (laughs).

Yuzuki: You need a vinyl sheet for that!? (laughs)

Aran: Yes (laughs). Everyone in the theater needs one. No, the people in the lobby too, and the people walking along the Hana no Michi² too (laughs).

Yuzuki: The Hana no Michi!? Them too!? (laughs)

Aran: That's right (laughs).



Yuzuki: This time you sing a lot of big numbers, don't you, Touko-san?Do you consciously change the way you sing for the various songs?

Aran: No, I don't. When it's a happy scene I have a laughing voice, and when it's a tragic scene I have a pained voice. Because there are many kinds of voices. It's not a matter of "for this song, I'll sing like this!", but rather that I sing with the emotions of those moments. So first I have to create the mood for that moment of song.

Yuzuki: I thought so... It's about substance?

Aran: Substance, substance.

Yuzuki: During rehearsals, I was told that "Falcon in the Dive" and "Where's the Girl" sounded the same. Even though they're completely different songs. So even though I thought I ought to sing differently, aware of the difference, in the end I see that the important thing is the heart.

Aran: It's the heart.



Yuzuki: You use the Grapin mask a lot. Even though they're both played by one person, you, Percy and Grapin have completely different faces.

Aran: They used my actual face to cast it, so it fits amazingly.

Yuzuki: Even your line of sight is different. Grapin has extremely drooping eyes.

Aran: It seems that the shape of the eyebrows changes your impression.

Yuzuki: It's because you're that different that you're able to fool Chauvelin.

Aran: Though my voice isn't all that different. (like Grapin:) I think it's a liiiitle odd that I could fooool you so well (laughs).

Yuzuki: (laughs) When rehearsals began I thought having to create the character of Grapin looked tough, but you pulled it off perfectly.

Aran: I suppose.

Yuzuki: I also wondered how you were going to sing as Grapin, but when the time to rehearse came up, you had it almost right away.

Aran: I managed it. When we had our first song rehearsal I really had no idea how I should sing, and I couldn't really comprehend what Koike-sensei was telling me. But sensei was all: "Try it! Try it! If it's *you*, Touko, you can do it!" I don't know where he got this conviction from, but when I started, I really could do it (laughs).

Yuzuki: Amazing.



Yuzuki: The finale begins on the Grand Staircase with Touko and the onnayaku, and it's really beautiful. The beginning position of the onnayaku changes too.

Aran: That's right. But when the onnayaku flow away, then the otokoyaku make their entrance, and as there's a surrounding shout of "Un! Deux! Trois!" it becomes messy for a moment. Particularly after I've slipped away, it's amazing (laughs).

Yuzuki: There's a lot of shouting (laughs).

Aran: (laughs) You're not there at all, are you? That group of otokoyaku waiting for the sabre dance.

Yuzuki: That's right. We had independent rehearsals for that dance. Because even if the angles of the sabres are off a tiny bit, it seems enormous from a distance.

Aran: That's true.

Yuzuki: And then after that group of otokoyaku, there's the duet dance. It's very adult! You and Asuka (Toono) don't have any pretense. It's because there's no pretense that the stage is overflowing.

Aran: No, no. It may be that there are no intense pretenses, but you need some to fill things in.

Yuzuki: It's filled plenty!

Aran: (laughs)

Yuzuki: (laughs). And when you come down the stairs gazing at each other, that's another good one! Those eyes! Between you, your eyes are telling a story.

Aran: That's not true. Our eyes aren't telling a story (laughs).

Yuzuki: They are!

Aran: (laughs). But you can't see that scene, can you, Chie?

Yuzuki: I saw it during rehearsals. When you were gazing at each other, I was sitting right in your line of sight. From my position I could see your face, Touko.

Aran: Eww (laughs).

Yuzuki: Touko-san, it looked like you were gazing at Asuka, but the truth is that you were looking at me!

Aran: Liar! Really?

Yuzuki: Yes, I thought so (laughs).

Aran: (laughs).

---

(1) "Yamero" means "stop" or "cut it out". "Yamete" means the same thing, roughly (it's a slightly different verb form).
(2) The Hana no Michi is the path that runs out along the side of the theater to the station in Takarazuka.

---

From the "Drips" section at the back of Graph:

On Percy VS Grapin

Yuzuki: Grapin seems popular enough that he could have his own fan club.

Aran: True. My father asked me, "Who's more popular, Percy or Grapin?" so I called my sister to ask.

Yuzuki: Because he had you worrying (laughs).

Aran: If you just heard, "Who is more popular?", it would sounds strange all by itself, wouldn't it? But my sister....

Yuzuki: (laughs).

Aran: My sister apparently was able to answer, because she said, "I like Grapin."

On The Translation

Yuzuki: This time, instead of making all new lyrics, Koike-sensei had them translated from the original English, but I think even in Japanese they fit the melody really well.

Aran: Yes.

Yuzuki: When I think that the "Inari~" ("O, Lord") in "Prayer" must be "Jesus" or something in the original English....

Aran: No! No way (laughs).

Yuzuki: I'm wrong? (laughs)

Aran: If it were "Jesus" it wouldn't fit the melody and it'd be hard to sing! They made the English lyrics first, you know (laughs).