[ENG SUB] Somewhere in Time (Moon, 1995)

[nightless_castle]

Summary: While attending a graduation party in 1971, Richard Collier (Amami Yuuki) is approached by an old lady he's never met before in his life who tells him to “come back”. 6 years after this mysterious encounter, Richard is now a successful but burnt out screenwriter in an unhappy relationship and decides to go on a getaway to the Grand Hotel del Coronado. There he finds in the hotel’s Hall of History, an old photograph of an actress from the 18th century, Elise McKenna (Asano Kayo), and feels a strange connection to her somehow, which leads him to become interested in the topic of time and time travel…

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This translation was a special request. My thoughts on this sweet and lovely play + discussion of some differences between the original book, film, and zuka’s stage adaptation below.

If you liked the Somewhere in Time movie or book or if you like sweet old time-y romance then zuka's take on Richard Matheson's story is worth checking out.

I worked as closely as I could with the original novel (at least, as close as this adaptation did) for this one. I actually read the novel first before I watched the film or zuka play, and I have to say I came to appreciate the novel a lot more after watching the adaptations and seeing how much they cut out and changed.

The play is a lot lighthearted in tone (sometimes even comedic), so if that's your jam, then the zuka play is for you. The novel is a much heavier read. Another interesting thing to note is that the zuka adaptation categorized the genre of this play as a “fantasy” instead of science fiction.

Probably my favorite parts in this show were the dance sequences. They’re very beautiful. So was Asano Kayo. Asano Kayo is absolutely beautiful stunning GORGEOUS in this show. She was styled so well in every scene. She acted very gracefully as Elise and honestly any complaint I have about her character isn’t her fault but the writer’s and the story. It’s unfortunate that she didn’t get to sing that much.

Amami Yuuki was… Amami Yuuki. They sure loved to cast her as a writer who needs to get his life together. She was perfectly charming as always and was a really endearing Richard, she was really funny.

Shizuki Asato plays Elise’s old man gatekeeper manager Robinson. I like Shizuki Asato and I think she played him fine but I’d be lying if I didn’t keep thinking about how perfect Kuze Seika would be in this role. You know she’d be so good at it (I just love Kuze Seika).

WARNING: SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT

Book vs film vs play

The biggest difference between Richard in the novel and Richard in the film and play is that originally he was suffering from a brain tumor and had about a few months left to live, which was a pretty crucial part to his character and the entire plot of the story as a whole. Novel Richard would sometimes get on my nerves but then I remember he’s literally dying and has nothing else to live for. In the film, he’s just a perfect, successful playwright with a bright future ahead of him. In the zuka play, there’s at least an effort in making him a burnt out artist in an unhappy relationship, so his longing for escapism made sense. I’m not sure what the point of this change was other than to make Richard a less miserable man and more put together (and a more desirable zuka protagonist in general) but it also removed the depressing tone at the start and of the story as a whole. In the end though, zuka Richard is my favorite Richard. Amami Yuuki just made him really dorky and lovable.

Compared to novel Richard, film and zuka Richard aren’t quite desperately in love with Elise before the time travel, in the novel Richard himself goes through the records and countless books to find out anything he can about his beloved actress and the research of Elise was a pretty long and important part in the book because you can feel his obsession spiraling with every bit of information he finds about the reclusive actress, like striking gold in a mine. In the film, he meets with an author who just tells him all the information he needs to know about Elise. In the stage play it’s used as a device to have a chorus song with a bunch of people helping Richard and doing the looking and researching for him. I suppose there were many reasons for this change, one being since this isn’t a novel and you don’t have the same look into the depths of Richard’s mind, it wouldn’t be as easy to convey him falling in love with Elise (and in such a short amount of time) after seeing her photo in the Hall of History, maybe it makes more sense to make him just have a slight interest in her. (Still, I think they could have pulled it off though, especially if they made the song Richard sings when he sees her picture for the first time a little more impactful). Or, maybe they just thought it would be too boring to have Richard go through a bunch of books on stage while a monolog track plays. Though again, I must reiterate that Richard’s desperation and obsession with Elise only makes (more) sense if he’s dying and has nothing else to live for…

The best thing about the zuka play for me though is the ending + finale/encore. I hate sad endings so zuka's got my back on this front. In the end Elise and Richard are reunited in heaven and dance a really beautiful and romantic duet. (The happy reunion in heaven was in the film as well). The beautiful dancing truly is one of the highlights of this play.

I feel like the zuka play missed a few beats that were quite important in the book but it's still a fine adaptation overall. I enjoyed it a lot. It's also worth watching if you've read the book and got depressed about it and want to see a happy ending for Elise and Richard. Plus, there’s really pretty dancing to Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody. A perfectly short and sweet play.