Off The 花の道

Stage Photos are the ones you buy. They are currently on sale at QR and those sales matter. Those sales are factored into the popularity of actresses, which is why fans rejoice when a younger actresses gets her first photo. Scanning them and posting them for free is disrespectful and frankly, quite rude. They are 330 yen each.  

The other photos you may seen are taken for promotional purposes. those photos found in articles, announcements, poster, press conferences, the Takarazuka facebook page et cetera. Those are made to be shared as promotional material. Those nobody has a problem with being reposted to various websites, they are meant to be shared.  

If you ever have any doubts about where a photo is from, you can check the bromide section at the TCA pictures website, which I have linked below. There all the stage photos and stills from all the recent production and older ones are linked, complete with names of the actresses in the pictures. 

Beautiful Garden stage photos.

I’m glad the top musumeyaku got so many great things to do in this revue! And Rei is fabulous in drag…

And you are light to me🔪

……………nyantom.

[click for info on buying the book!!]

黒燕尾 - Black Tailcoat

(pg63)

The black tailcoat, formal evening wear for gentlemen named for its trademark swallowtail back, is one of the defining ensembles for Takarazuka otokoyaku.  To say it’s the otokoyaku uniform would be an understatement as only fully fledged otokoyaku can pull them off stylishly.  The more senior an otokoyaku, the more they fuss over their sleeve and trouser length down to the millimeter to achieve the best look. (Props to the wardrobe department who have do do all the tailoring)  Naturally, they style their hair in the Regent style to match their formal dress!  Watching a group of gentlemanly otokoyaku dance together in tails is the best!  Furthermore, when some Top Stars retire, they descend the Grand Staircase donning the black tailcoat.

変わり燕尾 - Fancy Tailcoat

(pg55)

Fancy tailcoats are basically the standard tailcoats the otokoyaku wear but with a few additions.  While it goes without saying that black and white tailcoats look sharp, when it comes to bringing out the actress’ personalities the fancy tailcoat leaves a strong impression.  In Takarazuka Dream Kingdom (Yuki 2004), the black tails were hemmed with a peek of blue.  Wao Yoka’s asymmetric tails accentuated her style in Neo Voyage (Sora 2005).  Wonderland (Yuki 2005) even sported playing-cards themed tailcoats.  Couldn’t they just put a collection of fancy tailcoats on display in a museum somewhere when the wardrobe department doesn’t need them?