A 2.5-dimensional live performance where you can feel the presence of the characters! Report on the 1st StarLive "Starry Sky" of "Girls☆Geki Revue Starlight

The "Girls' Revue Starlight" Starlight 99 group's first solo live "1st Star Live "Starry Sky"" was held at Olympus Hall Hachioji in Tokyo on June 23, 2018.

The concept of "Girls' Opera Revue Starlight" is "a two-layered girl's opera spun by musical and animation. The first musical will be performed in September 2017 and January 2018 (again), and the TV anime will start airing on July 12, 2018, finally bringing the two halves of the two-tiered development together.

The live performance will feature Momoyo Koyama playing Hanako Aishiro, Suzuko Mimori playing Hikari Kagura, Maho Tomita playing Shinya Tendo, Hinata Sato playing Junna Hoshimi, Youo Iwata playing Mahiru Kurosaki, Moeka Koizumi playing Nana Oba, Aina Aiba playing Claudine Saijo, Teru Ikuta playing Futaba Ishidou, and Ayasa Ito playing Kako Hanayagi. The "Starlight Ninety-nine Group" is a group of actors who play the roles of the characters from the "Starlight Ninety-nine Group". The name "Starlight Kuukyuugumi" is derived from the fact that the nine girls are in the 99th year of the Actor Training Course at Seisho Music Academy.

The first part of the "Revue Starlight" stage is a musical, and the second part is a live performance that the audience can cheer on by waving psylliums.

The venue, Olympus Hall Hachioji, is an interesting theater with an atrium structure above the fifth floor of the building; the second and third floors are vertically high, and the audience seats extend over the walls on both sides, making the stage close by and giving the entire structure an upscale feel. Before the performance began, the stage was covered with a bright red carpet, adding to the gorgeous theater atmosphere. When the show was about to start, a retro-arranged sound was played and the red carpet was stylishly illuminated with green laser lights showing the cast roll and the title of the show.

After the laser show, the curtain was raised and the live was "opened". The stage consisted of two tiers, upper and lower, and the upper tier was divided into a mini-stage at the top, center, and bottom of the stage. The stage is divided into three mini-stages: stage left, stage center, and stage right. The members scattered on each stage smoothly switched formations and combinations by going up and down the stairs while singing. When Hanako and Hikari (Ms. Koyama and Ms. Mimori) stood side by side in the upper center, I was glad to see that the front row 0 center was Mahiru (Ms. Iwata) in terms of character relationships.

The opening number was "Yoroshiku Kugumi. It is a new song with a revue taste, a cute self-introduction that is standard on stage and in idol shows. The repeated sound of "Kukkugumi" was rhythmical and fun. After the song, the nine members said a few words. Ms. Ikuta, who plays the role of Futaba, had short hair with orange-ish coloring, which visually reproduced Futaba to a high degree.

The second song of the new composition was "Discovery! . The song is positive and cheerful, and one can feel the buoyant spirit of the girls as they set off on their adventures. Watching from the upper floor, I was very impressed with the smoothness of the formation changes. There was almost no pause just for movement, and the flow of shifting naturally from one row horizontally to two rows front to back with light dance steps was beautiful. The choreography was fun-oriented, with Ikuta-san and Koyama-san doing the "ASAHI MUIKE HOI" and a comical movement of spreading both knees and moving them apart. On the other hand, there were some cool moments, such as the pin spotlights that lit up in time with the rhythm, which the members posed vividly one after another, and the dynamic rondelettes by Tomita, Iwata, and Ikuta from the back to the front of the stage.

Romantic Cruisin" was a dance number that did not seem possible until now. While depicting the world of a story with a slightly different atmosphere, the lyrics are interspersed with the names of stars such as Spica and Altair. I was surprised to see the band members leaping into the aisle of the audience during the performance of the song. The members walked happily up close to the audience, received a star-shaped walking stick, and went back on stage. The distance between the audience and the stage was just like the stage itself. The way the members played the stick in the smoky atmosphere was somewhat similar to that of a stage performance.

Circle of the Revue" was performed in a cool V-shape formation. The ensemble dancers appeared for this song. The choreography of standing back-to-back with the dancers and leaning over with your body weight on the dancers' backs was innovative and interesting. The last shot of the nine dancers with their backs to the audience with their capes flipped up was very vivid.

The audience was excited to hear "Star Divine," which has become the theme song for the stage. The audience clapped their hands as the members took turns raising their right hands from left to right toward the center, with Ms. Aiba standing in the center of the stage raising her right hand in front of the audience in a final impressive gesture. This song featured a number of combinations that emphasized the sense of combination, such as Maya and Claudine, Futaba and Kako, and so on. There were also quite a few stage-like performances, with each of the nine taking up a weapon and performing a fierce battle against the koros (koros = dancers who visualize the intense training and trials at the school itself).

Here, there was a corner to test the depth of the bond between the members. The blindfolded member shook hands with the rest of the members, patted them on the head, or hugged them from behind, and the audience had to guess which member was the first to shake hands with the blindfolded member. The clues were that each member's handshake was unique, with Sato's handshake being strangely forceful and Ikuta's handshake graceful and with a nuance that made the audience feel a thrill. I was surprised that Mimori-san, who was patted on the head, instantly recognized the way Ito-san and Koizumi-san patted her. The most dynamic part of the guessing was to guess who was hugging who from behind. The expressions varied from Ms. Tomita who tackled the hugger with her whole body, to Ms. Aiba who hugged the hugger like a lover, to Ms. Sato who lifted the hugger up like a German maneuver without throwing him. The guessing order was usually correct after about the second guess, but regardless of the correct answer, it was a triumph of the project to see how well the members got along with each other.

From here on, it was on to the unit song corner. The song "Jounetsu no Awakening" was performed by Iwata, Sato, and Koizumi. The tension was kept low and the emotional heat slowly built up. Ms. Sato's emotional singing was especially compelling with her singing ability and expressiveness.

GANG☆STAR" consisted of the four members, the Kyo duo of Ms. Ito and Ms. Ikuta and the rival duo of Ms. Tomita and Ms. Aiba. Ms. Ito, sitting on the stairs, expressed provocative nuances with her facial expressions and singing voice, while Ms. Ikuta used gestures and dance moves. What stood out in particular was Ms. Ikuta's bewitching dance, which seemed to be an attempt to show "what Futaba Ishidou is acting and expressing on stage," rather than either Ms. Ikuta herself or Futaba herself. The duality of the gangs represented on stage in the music and the relationship between the characters who perform them and the audience is one of the best parts of a work with a stage theme.

The Mayakuro duo of Tomita and Aiba was also terrific. Among the nine members of the 99 group, Ms. Tomita stands out in terms of her stage career. Not only is she a good dancer, but she has perfect control of her body, as if she knows how to move, turn, and maneuver her costume-clad body to look good on stage and convey the character's personality. Mr. Aiba's expression is to go head-to-head with Shinya, who is played by Mr. Tomita, and he seems to be putting all his energy into making his movements sharp and powerful. It is a characteristic of "Starlight" that Ms. Aiba's efforts overlap with those of Claudine, who continues to challenge the genius that is Tendo Shinya.

The second unit, "Fancy You," was performed by Koyama-san and Mimori-san. Hikari is a bit of a twit in the production, and Hanako often looks a bit sad to see her, so it was a special pleasure to see the two singing happily as if they were having fun together. The smoothness of the pantomime-like choreography they showed in their solo dance made me feel the high level of Koyama's basic dance skills. If Hanako is like the strong and bright sun in all the songs, in this song she is full of joy of being with the person she loves. Koyama's cute and clear voice in her solo part from "Even if you stumble on a gravel road" and Mimori's slightly bitter and gentle voice following her were very beautiful. The final part of the concert ended with both of them pointing to the star of Takami.

Mimori and Koyama, who remained on stage, again announced the TV anime that will start on July 12, 2018. In this vein, they decided to perform "Hoshi no Dialogue," the opening theme of the TV anime "Girls' Opera Revue Starlight," for the first time. It was a rare and joyful experience to hear the full-size version of the song for the first time. Mimori and Koyama sang the opening lines of the song, and I wondered if it was just the two of them. I was wondering if it was just the two of them, but then the familiar duo appeared one after another from various places on stage. The second number featured the trio of Sato, Koizumi, and Iwata huddled together on the stairs.

During the fun and bright turn, the two marched around the stage with their hands on each other's shoulders as if they were playing with a train. Although the boundary between the two-dimensional and three-dimensional worlds is blurred in this work, it is only in a live performance under the name of a unit that the "people inside" can be brought to the forefront. The turn performed by all the performers at the same time while maintaining a circular formation was so vivid that one could not help but admire it. It was amazing to see the nine members, who have come from various backgrounds, show such a uniformity of sharpness in their movements, and I felt the cumulative efforts of the members, especially those with voice actor backgrounds. It is only possible for the theme song of a work bearing the title "Revue" to close such a brilliant and varied song with a slightly disturbing foreboding sound.

As a new announcement, a smartphone game application for "Girls' Opera Revue Starlight" was launched and pre-registration was started. The title of the game is "Girls☆Geki Revue Starlight -Re LIVE-" (abbreviated as "Starilla"), and it is being developed by Ateam. The second song of the live performance, "Discovery! will be the theme song of "Starilla.

The last spurt started with "Wish Become Light. The bouncy steps of this song are fun. What was impressive was the choreography of Mimori-san and Koyama-san walking hand in hand and looking at each other (instead of at the audience) as they sang, which really showed the emphasis they put on expressing their relationship. I felt that the choreography was trying to capture the lyrics in the scene where Ms. Ito touched Ms. Ikuta and pulled her hand to go down the stairs in the phrase, "It would be a boring life if you are protected forever. Toward the end of the song, the emotion in the singer's voice became stronger and stronger, a sensation only possible at a live performance. In "Kirameki no arika" (Where the sparkle is), the gentle voices of the nine members matched the atmosphere of the time when the fun time of the live was coming to an end and there was a hint of loneliness in the air. In this song, Ikuta-san was seen pulling Ito-san's hand this time (please forgive the combination of the duo, which could hardly be seen due to the angle of the seats).

In the MC corner here, they talked about the postrecording of the anime, and it was evident that Ms. Mimori was really relied upon by the first-time voice actors.

And of course, it would not be complete without this song, "Stage Girl's Heart's Content. In this song, the beauty of the movements that assume stage costumes, such as the skirts and the inspiration of the costumes, stand out. The nine members sang with a lively and gorgeous voice, and one could feel their joy in being on stage and their pride as stage girls in their freshness. Although I could not grasp the exact details of the part divisions, I felt Sato-san's (Junna) singing voice was strong in "Just don't cry for nothing," and she seemed to play the leading role in several phrases with strong characterization. The solo of Ms. Mimori and Ms. Koyama from "Let's fly away" was the world of Hanako and Hikari. Ms. Koyama embodied the incompleteness and purity of the stage girls, while Ms. Mimori embodied their flexible strength.

The last number of the main program was "Starlight Theater. With the sparkling "KIRARILLA! filled with sparkle, the performance was filled with the joy and brilliance of the stage. It was heartbreaking to bring the welcome song, which welcomes you into the theater, to the end of the live performance inviting you into the world of this work. On balance, Ms. Iwata is often in a trio with Ms. Sato and Ms. Koizumi, but in this song she had more scenes singing with Ms. Koyama and Ms. Mimori. It is evident that Mahiru also values her connection with Hanakoi. In the latter half of the song, Ms. Iwata showed a beautiful solo dance with a ballet-like image at the 0 (center) of the stage, and when she went up the stairs, Ms. Koyama and Ms. Mimori were waiting for her there, and I felt a story in that. The emotion of the singers' voices reached its climax when they sang solo toward the end of the show, and the beautiful and elongated falsetto of Ms. Mimori's "It was a treasure" in the last song was especially breathtaking.

For the encore, the members changed into live T-shirts and performed "Glittering Stars" and "Star Divine. Glittering Stars" was a grand and glittering finale to the stage. Star Divine" was performed live for the second time today, and it was a luxurious experience to see both the stage version and the live version in one day.

One thing I discovered was that the encore performance wearing a live T-shirt was quite a different impression from the one with the glittering stage costumes. The smoothness of Mr. Koyama's weight shifts and the habits of his individual movements were more easily recognized. One of the most interesting performers was Hinata Sato. In the stage and in today's live performance, I tended to focus on Ms. Tomita's and Ms. Mimori's amazing movements and expressions when they danced in stage costumes and characters, but I felt that Ms. Sato's presence increased dramatically in the live dance performance in which she showed her performance in a simple T-shirt. Perhaps this is the difference in the quality of dance between those who have their roots in dancing as idols and those who have honed their skills in the stage field.

In their last speeches, each of them spoke in their own words about how much they enjoyed today's live performance, their gratitude to the audience and the love of the people involved, and their expectations for the anime that will soon begin.

The fulfilled and happy expressions and atmosphere of the nine on stage and their fellow members of the "stage creation department" (the collective name for the fans of this work) sitting in the audience left a lasting impression. At the end of the show, all nine members expressed their gratitude in their own voices, bringing the curtain down on the first solo live performance by the 99 group.

(Reporting by Kiri Nakazato)

Set List

M01: Yoroshiku Gumi

M02: Discovery!

M03: Romantic Cruisin

M04:Circle of the Revue

M05:Star Divine

M06:When Passion Awakens

M07:GANG☆STAR

M08:Fancy You

M09:Hoshi no Dialogue

M10:Wish Become Light