#lady & sebby are my main ship for her

[pamy92]

Tango on the Campania (Ishikawa run) Review

This is a fan review of the Ishikawa run of Musical Kuroshitsuji: Tango on the Campania (TotC), for both 3rd February (setsubun special) and 4th February shows. I also had a glorious close-up view of Ciel and Sebastian when they appeared behind my seat. SO READ ON TO FIND OUT MORE! 

ABOUT ME

 I have been watching Kuromyu ever since the first musical. I am glad to be able to finally watch it live in person after all these years. I am also a huge musical nerd, and am musically and dance trained. I also live in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, right now. 

I attended the opening show on Saturday and the closing show on Sunday! Super happy to be part of the special setsubun celebration during the curtain call, and I’ll share more later in this review. My seats were on row 10 (Saturday) and row 18 (sunday), so I am pretty close to the stage!

This review will not contain huge spoilers or a full summary of the entire plot, so you can go ahead and continue reading without dying from spoilers.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

IT. WAS. AMAZING! I was pretty bummed about the circus version last year because the music was just...bad. Pretty sure their entire budget went into the costumes and acrobatics department instead of music 

For TotC, It is pretty fast paced but it has the key stuff from the Campania arc! The set is beautiful, the Bizarre Dolls were great, dance choreography marvellous as usual. Kudos to the supporting cast! There was no bad singing at all (unlike in Noah’s Ark Circus).  You’ll tear up at the sad parts and you’ll get chills at the scary parts and great singing! It’s THAT good!

There are some slight changes in the Saturday and Sunday ad-libbed parts, in consideration to fans who attended both days. Bless them! <3

MUSIC & SONGS

The music in TotC was so good! But of course, it cannot beat the masterpiece of Lycoris featuring our vocal prowess Akane Liv. Yuta Furukawa (Sebastian) was so good, and his songs really show off his vocal talent. 

My favourite song is ‘私は執事、あなたは伯爵’ (I am a butler and you are an Earl), especially Part 2 reprise of this song when Sebastian sings about Ciel’s soul after realising his little Master isn’t content with just being an Earl and wants revenge. The lyrics then changed to ‘I am a demon butler and you are a fake Earl’. So so SO GOOD!! 

The other side characters had very nice songs too, especially the 2nd comic-relief song ‘Ey yo, Ey yo!’ sung by Viscount Druitt. It was hilarious! Druitt is a GREAT singer and in his first song, he did this flamboyant pose and crooned ‘PHOENIIIIiiiIIIX~!’ at his entrance. Yes, lucky dude got to sing two solos! I know some of you may be thinking oh man, a comic-relief song when zombies are killing everyone? Don’t worry! Because the whole second half of the story was super intense, the comic relief song by Druitt was refreshing and helps steer us out of this depressive wave. This song ended with Ciel, Sebastian, Grell, Ronald doing the fabulous mass Phoenix pose that is exactly like in the manga! The dancers encouraged us in the audience to clap along too! 

The actress for Lizzie sang really well in her solo song too! Her voice was very cute and she kept up the moe-vibe. But her song was really sad and some people cried when she sang about ditching everything to be cute for Ciel. 

BIZARRE DOLLS

The Bizarre Dolls (supporting cast) was marvellous! Their zombie-walk was great and their dance choreography was to die for (pun not intended). Remember the basement scene where Ciel, Lizzie and Snake discover thousands of coffins with Bizzare Dolls rising from the dead? The show used a projection screen to project the rattling coffins and it looks really good and realistic! Then suddenly, this screen was raised to reveal a hoard of Bizarre Dolls lunging forward for them. Accompanied by the music, I literally got chills running all over my skin. 

To make up for the lack of BIzarre Dolls, extra zombie mannequin dolls were used and tossed around to fill up the zombie numbers on stage. 

FLOODING & SINKING SHIPS

Screen projections were used to create many of the effects on the ship. They used a transparent projection screen to project the rising flood-waters as well as water raining down from the ceiling. It was pretty realistic considering they cannot have real knee-length water flooding the stage.

Projections were also used to show the Campania breaking in half and when the ship started tilting as it sank! 

KEY/ FAVOURITE MOMENTS

1. The playback of the pre-show announcements featured Reo’s super cute voice. I could see some fans of him squealing when they heard his voice.

2. Characters (AbberHank duo, Midford family, Ciel, Sebastian and Snake, Ronald) entered the stage from the audience exits and not from stage left/right. I am not sure if it is done at other shows or just for Ishikawa. In previous musicals, they did not have character entrances from the audience except for Hank/Abberline. 

In the Saturday show, Ciel, Sebastian and Snake appeared and stood behind my seat (to my shock and delight). I could see their gloriousness up close! Reo/Ciel was just scowling and man, Reo is so skinny up close! His black tights made his legs look like chicken legs! Yuta/Sebastian looked utterly (and perfectly) demonic! I swear my heart stopped beating right there and then. Unfortunately, my Sunday show seats were further back but the trio did not stop behind my Saturday seat but instead continued walking towards the stage.

3. The opening for TotC is also different from previous musicals. We usually start the musicals with the contract scene but this time around, we had a Campania song with the characters boarding the ship.

4. The amount of Campania wordplay jokes..god! They were so funny!

(While boarding the ship)

Abberline: I heard they are selling merchandise on the ship.

Hank: What? What kind?

Abberline: Cam-badge (Campania + can badge)

Audience: LOL

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(At the banquet)

Ronald, Abberline, Hank: Kampai-nia! (kampai (cheers) + Campania)

5. Yuta/Sebastian & Reo/Ciel doing the Phoenix pose was hilarious! Reo/Ciel was wearing heels so he was wobbling on one leg. The rich man from the Aurora Society circled Reo/Ciel to make sure he is keeping his Phoenix pose and the audience laughed. 

In the Sunday show, poor Reo actually lost his footing but thankfully Yuta quickly caught his hand to stabilise him! It looks so authentic and in-character, and it delighted the audience! I am so sad that this probably won’t be in the DVD release... 

6. Ryan Stoker also interviewed the front row audience about what is the most crucial thing aside from life, and the poor lady (on both days) kept giggling uncontrollably.

7. In the scene where Yuta/Sebastian fights the hoard of Bizarre Dolls in the ship’s basement, a giant red silk cloth was run over the audience’s heads towards the stage to signify a bloodbath/ wave of blood. This scene then led to the belated contract scene song!

8. YES. THERE IS AN ICE-BERG IN THE MUSICAL! It is huge, it is fabulous and it had Grell standing on top of it as it neared and crashed into the ship! What a fabulous entrance!

9. Yes, the fan-favourite scene of Sebastian calling Grell a hentai (pervert) is in the musical and it is super hilarious.

Grell: Ehhhh. So mean! I even bought some bromides (of myself) as presents.

Audience: LOL

10. Lizzie’s badass reveal was perfectly executed! She even did the same fighting choreography in the anime movie! She also the same poses in the manga! It was so good and I think Momoko really delivered and a perfect casting choice. 

11. Undertaker’s shinigami reveal was really nice too! HIS DEATH SCYTHE IS GLORIOUS!!!!

12. In the stabbing scene, both Reo and Yuta were lifted by the supporting cast so it looks like they are ‘falling’ off from the top floor. The projection screen behind then projected the blood splatter as Undertaker’s scythe stabbed through Sebastian’s torso. 

13. My favourite part in the whole musical is when Sebastian narrated his initial life as a butler to Ciel. As we all know our!Ciel is not the real Ciel! Reo actually portrayed our!Ciel very well. He hesitated before calling himself with his dead twin brother’s name. Sebby says 「 かしこまりました/ I understand.」 in the most super lazy, sarcastic and reluctant way, it was super funny. In the Sunday show, Yuta/Sebastian sat on the Earl’s bed after serving him milk & honey, which led to Reo/Ciel shoving him off. Yuta/Sebastian also made a ‘tsk’ sound when Reo/Ciel reprimanded him about cooking everything from scratch like a real human butler should. And as he walked away, he spat out 「クソガキ」(stupid brat) before launching into my favourite song  ‘私は執事、あなたは伯爵’ (I am a butler and you are an Earl

14. The final Bizzare Doll fight scene in the middle of the ocean was beautifully executed. You can refer to the official trailer on the website to see how it was done! 

15. Grell was more worried about his false eyelashes after Ronald and Grell found a boat. It was super funny!

16. The musical ended with a reprise of ‘私は執事、あなたは伯爵‘  and the Campania theme song. 

SETSUBUN SPECIAL CURTAIN CALL 

So setsubun was on Saturday and the cast prepared a special curtain call for us! Abberline and Hank did their ad-libbed comedy routine, and here are some of my favourite parts:

Hank:「鬼はoutside！福はinside！」(starts rapping)...あ、でも、鬼がいないので‥ （‘Oni outside, luck inside, ahh, but there aren’t any oni inside here...)

Hank: Oh, look so many oni! (gestures to audience)

Abberline: Oi, don’t be rude! (smacks his head)

Hank: ...you’re right, there is only one oni...(gestures to one poor audience member in the first row)

Audience & Cast: LOL

Abberline:じゃ、「鬼はなし！福は内！」にしてた！(Well, let’s do `There is no Oni, Luck is inside’ then!)

The supporting cast then entered the hall and spread out, they tossed packets of 福豆 at us. I did not manage to catch a packet but the lady beside me did. Lucky girl.... 

The main cast also threw the packets of beans and Reo/Ciel got too excited and tried to fling the packet further out, and his Phantomhive ring flew out from his finger. He had to leap off the stage to recover it from the first row. The AbberHank emcees teased him about it 

How can Earl Ciel do that? 

That’s not something Ciel will do? (LOL)l

SATURDAY & SUNDAY CHANGES

As mentioned earlier, the cast made an effort to make every show unique so it doesn’t matter if you attend just one show or many shows. Each show has special changes in the actions and ad-libbed dialogue. Here are some of my favourites:

1.  Opening Entrance: On Saturday, Abberhanks appeared together in the audience. On Sunday, only Hanks appeared alone and was super happy. But he met Abberline as he was walking to the ship who pretended not to recognise him. 

Hank: Aren’t you Fred Abberline?

Abberline: No, I am Fured Abburraineee...(exaggerated accent)

Hank: No-th-that, besides the accent. The name is the same isn’t it? Fred Abberline! 

Abberline: It’s Fured Abburraineee...

2.  Banquet scene: Ronald taught Abberline how to pick up ladies, but Abberline was being socially awkward when flirting with them in the Sunday show. The trio only kept drinking in the Saturday show.

3. Ronald & Grell on a boat scene: In the Sunday show, Grell ad-libbed something random. Not sure if he forgot his lines but it was really funny...

Grell: (pauses before gesturing to the sky)  Look so many birds, I want to be a bird too...

Ronald: (bursts out laughing)

4. Curtain call: We did not have long thank you speeches on Saturday due to the Setsubun special. But we had it on Sunday for the closing show. 

Abberline: TADAIMAAAAA ~!  Audience: OKAERIIIIIIIII~!

Congratulations, you made it all the way to the end of my super long review! 

I will attend the live-viewing of their final performance at the cinema again on the 12th  (just so I can see the set/costumes and all that in super high-definition on the big screen). Also I kinda wanna see the cast start crying when they make their final thank you speeches! Also because they mentioned we will be watching exclusive back-stage clips and I really wanna watch it! 

Please, please PLEASE order a copy of the DVD/BLU-RAY. Please support the cast and giving them a well-deserved income from these sales.  

The DVD/BLU-RAY will be released in Japan in June 27. You can order it off CDJapan, Amazon Japan or Animate International.   I will be buying a copy myself as well!