來自寶冢 女扮男裝的百老匯

YOKOHAMA, Japan — On any given night outside a theater in central Tokyo, hundreds of women can be found waiting in neat phalanxes, dressed in matching T-shirts or sporting identical colored handkerchiefs — the uniform of what may be the most rabidly loyal fans in Japanese entertainment.

日本橫濱——不管哪個晚上，在東京市中心的一個劇院外，總有數百個女人排着整齊的方陣在等着，她們穿着同樣的T恤或拿着顏色相同的手帕——她們可能是日本演藝圈最狂熱、忠誠的粉絲。

The stars they’re hoping to glimpse are women, too, actresses who play both male and female roles in the 102-year-old Takarazuka Revue, an enduringly successful theater company that is bringing its gender-twisting take on the Broadway musical to the Lincoln Center Festival in New York from July 20 to 24.

她們期望瞻仰的明星也是女人：在有102年曆史的寶冢歌劇團(Takarazuka Revue)同時飾演男性和女性角色的女演員們。這個長盛不衰的戲劇公司正把自己經過女扮男裝風格改造的百老匯音樂劇帶到紐約的林肯中心藝術節(Lincoln Center Festival)上，演出從7月20日持續至24日。

In Takarazuka’s “Chicago,” women play the sultry Velma and Roxie as well as the swaggering Billy Flynn and the hapless-schmoe Amos. The dialogue is in Japanese, but at a recent dress rehearsal here, the attitude and staging wereall-American, loyal to Bob Fosse’s vaudeville-inspired production, which has been running on Broadway for two decades.

在寶冢歌劇團的音樂劇《芝加哥》(Chicago)中，由女演員飾演性感迷人的韋爾瑪(Velma)和羅克西(Roxie)、趾高氣揚的比利·弗林(Billy Flynn)和不幸愚蠢的阿莫斯(Amos)。對白是日語，不過在最近一次在橫濱進行的帶妝彩排中，從風格到舞臺佈景完全是美國式的，忠於鮑勃·福斯(Bob Fosse)以輕歌舞劇爲靈感的創作——該劇在百老匯已經演了20年。

In Japan, Takarazuka is a phenomenon that rarely tours outside the country.

寶冢歌劇團很少在日本之外演出。

Founded in 1914 by a railway company that hoped to lure travelers to a struggling hot spring resort outside Osaka, the group began with a handful of teenage singers and dancers and staged its first performances in a converted swimming pool. A century later, Takarazuka operates five sub-troupes and puts on 900 shows a year, in company-owned theaters in Tokyo and its original western Japanese base. Most of the shows sell out.

該劇團1914年由一個鐵路公司創建，目的是吸引遊客前往大阪郊外一個生意慘淡的溫泉度假區。劇團最初由幾位青少年歌手和舞者組成，最初的一些演出在改造後的游泳池進行。一個世紀後，寶冢歌劇團有五個演出組，每年舉辦900場演出，演出地點是該公司在東京及其日本西部發源地擁有的劇場裏。大部分演出都是滿座。

Cross-dressing, single-gender theater groups have a long history in Japan. This year’s Lincoln Center Festival also features the Kanze Noh Theater, whose stately, stylized dramas are older than Shakespeare and are performed exclusively by men. Kabuki — Noh’s somewhat newer, livelier cousin — was pioneered by all-female troupes, until a 17th-century public-morals crackdown put them out of business. Today, Kabuki, too, is all-male.

單性別變裝劇團在日本有悠久的歷史。今年參加林肯中心藝術節的還有觀世能劇團(Kanze Noh Theater)，它恢宏、藝術化的戲劇比莎士比亞還悠久，而且全部由男性表演。歌舞伎是能劇的近親，比能劇更新、更活潑。歌舞伎由全女性劇團開創，直到17世紀的一場公共道德清洗把女人排除到這個行業之外。如今，歌舞伎也全是由男性出演。

On the surface, Takarazuka looks like a rebellion against such classical Japanese art forms. Its touchstones are modern and Western — Parisian cabaret, Radio City-style variety shows and, since the 1960s, Broadway. The railway executive who founded the company is said to have banned Japanese musical instruments from its backing orchestra, fearful of a lingering public association between geisha and other traditional female performers and prostitution.

表面上看，寶冢是對這種日本傳統藝術形式的反叛。它的根基是現代的、西方的——巴黎的卡巴萊歌舞，無線電城(Radio City)風格的綜藝表演，以及從20世紀60年代開始引入的百老匯風格。據說，創立該公司的鐵路公司高管禁止劇團的管絃樂隊使用日本樂器，以免觀衆依然把她們與藝妓、其他傳統女性演員或妓女聯繫在一起。

Yet in many ways, Takarazuka could not be more Japanese. Training is rigorous and the troupes are strictly hierarchical, with designated “top stars” and ranks of junior performers. Rules are strict and extend beyond the stage: Members are not allowed to marry and often “retire” in their late 20s or early 30s. The most popular make the transition to mainstream acting or singing careers.

但是，從很多方面講，寶冢也具有濃重的日本特色。它訓練嚴格，等級森嚴，明確劃分“主演男役/娘役”和各個級別的初級演員。嚴格的規矩還延伸至舞臺之外：劇團成員不能結婚，往往在30歲左右就“退休”。最受歡迎的演員轉向主流表演或歌唱事業。

“You can’t have fans imagining you changing diapers,” said Saori Mine, a veteran Takarazuka actress who plays the amoral lawyer Billy in “Chicago,” explaining the injunction against marriage.

“你不能讓粉絲們想像你給孩子換尿布的情形，”寶冢出身的女演員峯佐緒理（Saori Mine，音）在解釋劇團禁止結婚的規定時說，她在在《芝加哥》中飾演道德敗壞的律師比利。

For all its flapper-era razzle-dazzle, “Chicago” is morally darker and more satirical than most Takarazuka fare. The company usually favors more earnest stories about gallant heroes and pure-hearted maidens, its upended casting put to the service of the most conventional kind of sex roles. Irony is not part of the mix.

《芝加哥》儘管具有摩登女郎時代的歡鬧，但在道德上比寶冢的大部分劇目更陰暗，更具諷刺性。該公司通常青睞關於勇敢英雄和純潔少女的真誠故事，它女扮男裝的選角方式更適合最傳統的性別角色。諷刺不是它的特長。

“Takarazuka is bright and glamorous; ‘Chicago’ is dark, black,” said Yoka Wao, who plays the vaudevillian-turned-murderess Velma Kelly. (That’s the role that won Catherine Zeta-Jones an Oscar for the movie version.) “There are lines in ‘Chicago’ that we would never normally say. You have to put humility aside and remember that these characters are living for themselves.”

“寶冢的劇目通常歡快迷人；《芝加哥》則陰鬱黑暗，”飾演輕歌舞劇演員出身的殺人犯韋爾瑪·凱利（Velma Kelly，凱瑟琳·澤塔-瓊斯[Catherine Zeta-Jones]憑藉電影版中這個角色獲得奧斯卡獎）的和央葉華(Yoka Wao)說。“《芝加哥》中的一些臺詞是我們在正常情況下永遠都不會說的。你必須收起謙遜的作風，記住這些角色是在爲自己而活。”

Despite its Western trappings, Takarazuka draws on “ideas of purity that are very primitively Japanese,” Akio Miki, a veteran Takarazuka director, said. They show up in its productions and in the way the company — whose official motto is “modesty, fairness, grace” — regulates its performers’ private lives.

寶冢的資深導演三木章雄(Akio Miki)說，儘管寶冢表面上看具有西方色彩，但它借鑑“日本傳統的純潔觀念”。這些觀念反映在它的劇目以及公司對演員私生活的管理上。該公司的官方座右銘是“清、正、美”。

“Chicago” is a rare Takarazuka show without a dreamy male hero. An all-female theater company might be counted on to lay bare men’s flaws and follies onstage, but at Takarazuka the approach is gentler. Its shows depict men not as they are, Miki said, but as they ought to be.

《芝加哥》是寶冢劇目中非常罕見的沒有夢幻般男主角的劇目。一個全由女性組成的劇團可能要依靠在舞臺上揭露男人的缺點和愚蠢，不過寶冢的方式更溫和。三木章雄說，它的劇目展現的不是男人的真實面貌，而是應有的面貌。

“It’s an idealized male image, seen through women’s eyes: The heroes are more romantic, more divine,” he said. “They don’t tend to lie or cheat. It’s what the audience would like from men but doesn’t usually get in reality.”

“它是女性眼中理想化的男人形象：更浪漫、更崇高，”他說，“他們通常不會撒謊或欺騙。他們是觀衆想要的、但在現實中往往遇不到的男人。”