[ENG SUB] Angel's Smile, Devil's Tears (Moon, 1989)

[nightless_castle]

Summary: A Takarazuka musical based on Goethe’s Faust. The angel Mephistopheles (Suzukaze Mayo) is condemned to fall from heaven after committing a sin. He is told that he can only return to heaven if he can bring a human being on the path of salvation. Mephistopheles refuses, believing that man is inherently evil. Vowing to drag a human down to hell along with him, he descends onto Earth and sets his sights on a man named Faust (Tsurugi Miyuki), an aged professor with no will to live.

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thank you matchala and mel for proofing~

EDIT 5/10/2022: fixed font issue
EDIT 5/11/2022: fixed line

I’ll refrain from comparing this to the original text or other productions but… let's just say it's what I expected out of a Koike Shuuichiro directed Faust. Which is a good thing, don't worry. He also directed Puck, which is a favorite of mine, among many other famous Takarazuka works that are considered to be classics. If you're a fan of his works then you'll probably like this one.

Takarazuka's Faust isn't really meant to be anything deeply philosophical. In fact “God” is an entirely absent entity (somewhat replaced by Raphael, also played by Tsurugi Miyuki). The heaven prologue which serves to characterize Mephistopheles and his drive was quite short. I do wish Mephistopheles had a dramatic long winded speech about the damnation of mankind. Instead they just kicked Mephistopheles right out of heaven which was a little funny. But it's alright because this retelling of Faust is instead really, really… cute. Which is the last thing you’d think of when you think of Goethe’s Faust. In Takarazuka’s version, the angels are portrayed as pure childlike beings and Mephisto is like a kid throwing a tantrum, trying to prove a point to his big brother Raphael. This show is very much instead focused on the romance aspect of the story: Faust’s relationship with Margaret. It is a Takarazuka production after all. I thought it was sweet, especially because of how they characterized Faust, a funny old man who’s just a hopeless romantic dork. Tsurugi Miyuki was hilarious as him. There’s also apparently a shoujo manga based on this show that was published and serialized in Takarazuka Graph, in case you wanted to know just how much of a shoujo romance this Faust is. That being said, this show still goes to some dark places though. Especially after the first half.

But perhaps the most appealing aspect of this show is that it shows off all of its actors' skills very well. In singing and acting mostly, unfortunately there wasn't much dancing in this (which I imagine is what the post-revue is for). But my god this era of Moon Troupe's singers… they're just amazing. The soundtrack for this show was mostly lifted from classical music, which might not sound enticing to people who were expecting completely original songs, but I love classical music and having great timeless melodies sung by this era of Moon Troupes’ amazing singers was a treat. Everything was just very pleasant to listen to.

I can see why this is considered a Takarazuka classic. Some might think the Faust story watered down, but I thought Takarazuka's additions were really interesting.

I’m still wondering why they couldn’t manage to get a decent wig for Suzukaze Mayo to wear though.

Translator’s Notes

The Sherlock Holmes story that Margaret reads is an excerpt from “The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual”