“𝔑𝔢𝔳𝔢𝔯𝔪𝔬𝔯𝔢”

What to expect:

This is Takarazuka Revue’s take on “The Phantom of the Opera”—and since they’re the most famous all-female theatre company in the world, it’s naturally an all-female version

In theatre terms, these are non-replica stagings of Maury Yeston and Arthur Kopit’s “Phantom” musical

This version’s Phantom - Erik - is a sympathetic main character

There is more of a proper romance storyline between Erik & Christine (there is a Raoul-equivalent character, but he's much smaller and not treated as a serious rival)

Takarazuka have put on four productions of this so far and all of them are spectacular!

What not to expect:

It’s not the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, which means different music and a slightly different narrative. The music is actually great though, and the story and characters are not that different, so I’d strongly encourage you to still try it out if you want to see a woman as the Phantom 

Takarazuka is all about female actors playing male characters, so the “Phantom” character is still male, i.e. no canon lesbians :(

Why should you watch it?

Because you can, thanks to some very well-produced pro-shot recordings :)

Which version should you watch?

It's probably easier just to check yourself, so I've included a quick comparison video of the Phantom and Christine’s “You are Music” duet from all four productions above! But if you want a bit more elaboration, see below.

2004, Cosmos troupe: Wao Youka and Hanafusa Mari are the originators of Takarazuka’s “Phantom” for a reason. Long renowned among fans for her angelic soprano, Hanafusa was an obvious choice for Christine, and Wao’s handsome, velvety alto and ability to switch between gentleness and brutality make her an irresistible Phantom. And while this is certainly not the pinnacle of their chemistry, the clip above should give a good enough taste.

2006, Flower troupe: The second production of “Phantom” hones in on the Phantom’s human side, particularly his relationship with his father, and includes various changes to the staging and script which aren’t in the other productions. However, this version is more traditional in other ways, as Haruno Sumire (who plays the Phantom) is a respected vocalist with a haunting voice and ringing vibrato.

2011, Flower troupe: Possibly the version that comes closest to a straightforward romance. Ranju Tomu imbues her Phantom with a boyish innocence and Ranno Hana’s Christine is equally sweet, but the circumstances mean that this cute couple are unfortunately more in the line of star-crossed lovers.

2018-19, Snow troupe: Both Nozomi Fuuto (the Phantom) and Maaya Kiho (Christine) are known for their singing chops, and also for having wanted to do “Phantom” long before they were getting leads–they even sang one of the duets together at a fan event before being paired up. As the most recent production, it’s also the most lavish with its costumes, and gives a pretty good sense of what a modern Takarazuka production looks like nowadays.

Other trivia

The first Takarazuka "Phantom" was put on to celebrate the company's 90th (!) anniversary

Takarazuka’s staging productions are considerably more elaborate than prior productions of the Yeston-Kopit musical (compare against these various productions)

Erik's solo in the prologue, "Hear My Tragic Tale" (僕の悲劇を聞いてくれ), was newly written by Yeston & Kopit in 2004 for the first Takarazuka production

South Korea’s stagings of the Yeston-Kopit "Phantom" (5 productions since 2015) owe their existence to Takarazuka’s “Phantom” - they adopt a similarly lavish approach and include Takarazuka’s trademark solo for Erik, "Hear My Tragic Tale", which does not appear in English-language stagings of "Phantom", even after 2004.