The 101-year-old all-female Takarazuka Revue company is currently staging a double bill of "Like a Black Panther" and "Dear Diamond!!" at its Takarazuka Grand Theater in the city of Takarazuka, Hyogo Prefecture, prior to a long Tokyo run from late March that will see its top star, Reon Yuzuki, take her final bow after 16 years' service.

Since 2009, Yuzuki has been the lead male-roles actress (otokoyaku) in the Revue's Hoshi Gumi (Star Troupe) — one of its five sections of 80-plus members each, also comprising the Hana (Flower), Tsuki (Moon), Yuki (Snow) and Sora (Cosmos) troupes. However, whereas Snow Troupe's forte is, for example, traditional dance and opera, Yuzuki's Star Troupe specializes in musical theater.

So, during her time at the top — often playing alongside Nene Yumesaki, Star Troupe's lead female-roles actress (musumeyaku) — Yuzuki has become known for her interpretations of classical and modern protagonists and historical figures, including Romeo in the 2010 and '13 productions of "Romeo and Juliet," Danny Ocean in a 2011 adaptation of the movie "Ocean's Eleven," and the doomed French king Louis XIV in "Le Roi Soleil" ("The Sun King").