IIUII1IUHIIII.......I........I.......HUM.....".....IIMM'M............11111,1111111...........1111111111'" Ueda Shinji, The Rose of Versailles, Takarazuka kagelddan, 1001. (Courtesy of Takarazuka Revue Company) THE ROSE OF VERSAILLES A Takarazuka Grand Romantik Play UEDA SHINJI TRANSLATED BY KENKO KAWASAKI The Rose of Versailles {Berusaiyu no bam) was first performed in 1974 and has remained the greatest hit in the whole history of the Takarazuka Revue Company, an all-female troupe that started to stage theatrical events in 1914. The most recent production of Ihe Rose of Versailles was in 1013. (Takarazukas productions usually are scheduled to run for no more than one month.) So far, more than 4 million people have seen this play. The Rose of Versailles has more than a dozen variants, depending on the year of the production and the various performances staged by Takarazaka's five troupes. The translation here, of about half the play, is based on Ihe Rose of Versailles 2001: A Story ofFersen and Marie Antoinette, which was the script used for the production of Takarazukas Cosmos Troupe in 2.001, directed by Ueda Shinji and Masazumi Tani and published in A Collection of Takarazuka Grand Theater Performance Scripts (Takarazuka daigekijo kith kyakuhonshu, 2002). The Rose of Versailles is an adaptation of a long series oishojo manga (girl comics) of the same title by Ikeda Riyoko, published in a weekly magazine of girl comics, Weekly Margaret, How Appropriate! in 1972 and 1973. The plot of The Rose of Versailles is based on the actual history of the French Revolution (1789-1799), although the main character, Oscar Francois de Jarjayes, the youngest daughter of General Jarjayes, is fictional. In the play, because the general has no son, he raised and educated his youngest daughter as a son, which allowed her to adopt the outlook of a man. Oscar lus nerved «s ihr royal guard of Mm if Aiitninrrrc rvri sin. t she was hMirll i age