Is this not a "reenactment"? Report on the "Girls' Revue Revue Starlight -The LIVE-#2 revival" performance, using three keywords.

The 2.5D musical "Girls☆Geki Revue Starlight -The LIVE-#2 revival" was performed at the Maihama Amphitheater from July 12 to 15, 2019. Here is a report on the "GENEPRO" (public final rehearsal) held on July 12.

The main feature of "Girls☆Geki Revue Starlight" is that the cast of the musical and the characters in the anime are voiced by the same voice actors.

The project began in January 2018 with the stage "Girls☆Geki Revue Starlight -The LIVE-#1". The other of the two wheels, the TV anime "Girls☆Geki Revue Starlight" was broadcast from July to September 2018.

To the surprise of fans, the stage "Girls☆Geki Revue Starlight -The LIVE-#2," which was performed in October 2018, started as a continuation of the conclusion of the TV anime "Girls☆Geki Revue Starlight". This clearly showed that the anime, stage, and prequel comic were all treated as one connected story.

The "Girls☆Geki Revue Starlight -The LIVE- #2revival" staged at the Maihama Amphitheater this time is a re-staging of the "-The LIVE-#2 Transition" staged at the Tennozu Ginga Theater in October 2018. Although the storyline and script are the same as the previous production, featuring the stage girls from Seisho Music Academy's rival school, Aorashi Sogo Geijutsuin, we will see a completely new performance at the Maihama Amphitheater stage.

A semi-circular theater full of gimmicks

First of all, let me introduce the Maihama Amphitheater, a special kind of theater. Maihama Amphitheater is a multi-purpose hall located within the Tokyo Disney Resort, and its most distinctive feature is its semi-circular protruding stage. An open stage more than 10 meters in length and width protrudes in front of the main stage of a normal theater, and the audience seats are spread out in a 180° fan shape around the stage. The bowl-shaped venue is somewhat reminiscent of the underground theaters that appear in the "Starlight" series.

The simplest and greatest advantage of the overhanging stage is that it is close to the stage and vast. Nine stage girls from Seisho Music Academy and three from Aorashi Sogo Geijutsuin. Teachers and ensemble members in various roles. The large space allows for a lot of freedom of action on this stage, where a large number of cast members are interspersed with killings, singing, and dancing. The cast of stage girls and teachers at Seiran Sogo Geijutsuin are skilled in action, but it is only on this stage that the "one-to-many" battles are able to express their magnificence. In particular, one should not take one's eyes off the action of Kyoko Yakumo, played by Yuka Kobayashi.

The relationship between the stage and the audience is not flat, but rather, the view and angle changes depending on the position of the audience and the position of the performers, which dramatically changes the impression. In the scene where Futaba Ishidou (Akira Ikuta) is devastated by the battle, you could feel her pain, and Shinya Tendo's (Maho Tomita) dance was so sharp and dynamic that it seemed as if she had released her limits, which was more strongly felt from the angle of the seats.

The first keyword that symbolizes this performance is the phrase "running 99 times faster," which Momoyo Koyama mentioned at the press conference. Naturally, the cast members had to move more distances when the stage space became vast, but the basic structure of the pauses between songs and dialogues remained the same. Even when they spread out their formation in the intro, they step forward forcefully with all their might and the action of running is included. The sight of the stage girls running with their costumes flipped up gave the stage a dynamic and uplifting feeling, an element unique to this stage.

It should be noted that the Maihama Amphitheater is a theater that was originally built for stage performances. The Maihama Amphitheater stage is equipped with a large circular stage in the center, a smaller stage in the back, and a revolving stage gimmick. The stage set up like a column being raised is frequently used in TV animation. Needless to say, the use of a real stage set is an effective way to reproduce an anime production that incorporates stage elements. The cast members on the revolving stage revolving around the cast members performing in the center of the stage seemed to simulate the feeling of the camera going around in an anime.

The second keyword was "I don't know where to look. This was also a phrase heard at the press conference. Cast members appearing from the audience seats and moving around are familiar from previous "Starlight" stage productions. However, Maihama Amphitheater is a multi-purpose hall used for live performances, with wide aisles and ample space, and a last light that illuminates the audience. When the stage girls pass through the audience seats, their performances are performed in various places with the same presence as on stage. The phrase "I want to see both, I don't know where to look," itself is a staple of multi-stage performances, but I really want more eyes to see where to look! I have never seen a stage where I felt so much like this.

Of course, there were parts of the performance that could only be enjoyed with the changes that only a revival can bring. The amount of effort the company put into optimizing the stage for the Maihama Amphitheater and how much it has evolved are elements that can only be understood if you have seen the first performance. And compared to the Seisho group, whose character expressions on stage have become more stable, I think I saw changes in the character expressions of the Aorashi group. Koharu Yanagi (Kanane Nanaki) seemed to have become more animated in a good way, with the gap between her quiet and reserved tone and her cheerful singing, and Minakaze Ryo (Minami Tsukudai)'s danger behind her fresh and uninhibited nature seemed to have become clearer.

As for Seisho, I was impressed by the performance of Ayasa Ito as Kako Hanayagi, whose singing voice was so elongated and her core Kako-like character was so clear that there were moments when I was captivated by her. The main cast of "Starlight" has a variety of backgrounds, including stage, idol, and voice actor, and I felt the talent of a musical actor when I saw Maho Tomita's perfect physical control in dance, and when I saw Hinata Sato, who plays Junna Hoshimi, jump higher than anyone else during the live performance. I can feel the idol gene in the way Hinata Sato, who plays Junna Hoshimi, jumps higher than anyone else during the live performance. In the same way, her singing voice this time made me want to say that she is second to none when it comes to putting character into her singing voice because her backbone is voice acting. I think that the sound of the Maihama Amphitheater and her voice are probably a good match in part.

The major change came in the second part of the live performance. -The songs that were released after the performance of "The LIVE-#2 Transition" were added to the setlist, and they were presented in a way that could only be done at the Maihama Amphitheater. The fantastic performance using light cubes with reflective materials and light sources inside the spheres was something I had never seen before.

What has changed significantly in the re-enactment, what has changed so much that it is unnoticeable, and what has remained the same. The final key phrase was "a reenactment, but not a reenactment. At the press conference, I asked Ms. Moeka Koizumi, who played the role of Nana Oba, the main character in the anime, how she felt about this "re-enactment. I could clearly see from the stage that this was the feeling of all the girls on stage.

What might be different between my feelings and Nana-chan's feelings (when she wanted the loop) is that I want to move forward even in the re-enactment. The theater is different, the production is different. I want to move on to a new future while keeping my feelings as a high school student attending Seisho." (Moka Koizumi, who plays Nana Oba)

(Reporting and writing by Kiri Nakazato)

Performance Information

■"Girls☆Geki Revue Starlight -The LIVE- #2 revival

Period: July 12 (Fri.) - July 15 (Mon.), 2019

Theater: Maihama Amphitheater

For more information about the performance, please see the official website on the right. # Project Revue Starli

ⒸProject Revue Starli