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Hello Kitty Must Die has an extremely strong cast with killer vocals and a dark and twisty plot. With over 3,000 shows at the festival, it is difficult to say with much confidence that any one show is truly unique but I can’t imagine there’s anything else quite like Hello Kitty Must Die.
The core concept is undeniably robust and is brought to life by a charming cast that delivers with gusto. Yet, despite its promise, the romantic comedy turned murder-mystery plot twist is not distinct enough. Fiona’s murdering spree seems to randomly happen to her. The change in her character is barely visible in Sami Ma’s interpretation of the role and so she loses the audience’s confidence in the humour of the story; what could have been a fun villainess a la Killing Eve feels rather timid and undecisive. Hello Kitty Must Die is a show that possesses the potential for greatness but leaves a lingering sense of what might have been. One song about looking for love has a classic musical theatre sound, and you can really imagine this number being performed on a main stage. However, the songs throughout the show are not memorable, the only number I left remembering was “Hello Kitty Must Die” but this is repeated a couple of times within the show, so that is probably why. The vocals are strong individually, but the harmonies could be improved upon, and no one’s vocals stand out compared to the others. Hello Kitty ( ハローキティ, Harō Kiti) is the best-known of Sanrio's fictional characters, created in 1974. Hello Kitty is drawn simply with a trademark red bow. Registered in 1975, Hello Kitty is now a globally known trademark. Hello Kitty has been marketed in the United States from the beginning and has held the position of U.S. children's ambassador for UNICEF since 1983. The brand rose to greater prominence during the late 1990s when several celebrities such as Mariah Carey adopted Hello Kitty as a fashion statement. My Melody is a little girl rabbit who always wears a red or pink hood that also covers her ears. Her birthday is on January 18. My Melody's rival is Kuromi. So would SIX producer Alchemation strike gold twice with a musical treatment of Angela S Choi’s Hello Kitty Must Die, her bestselling satirical novel about Western perceptions of Asian femininity?As her parents, partners and employers demand sweetness and subservience, protagonist Fiona Yu battles to escape the Hello Kitty prison in which she lives. Unable to overcome these oppressive expectations, Fiona takes sadistic delight in eliminating the problem at its root. The result is not a moving, activist commentary as much as a chaotic tale of exploiting the prejudices of others for personal satisfaction. But this result is a lot of fun. I would cradle my Sony Discman and privately blare the opening number of Miss Saigon. I’d sit patiently through the cacophony –“The heat is on in Saigon / The girls are hotter than hell / One of these slits here will be Miss Saigon”– waiting for Kim’s entrance. I’d mouth silently along with Lea Solonga, “I’m 17 and I’m new here today / The village I come from seems so far away”.
The ‘Hello Kitty’ of the show’s title is a reference to the image of the stereotypical subservient Asian woman, a married baby machine who stays at home, because she wouldn’t have the required intellect to hold down a meaningful job anyway and does whatever it is her husband tells her to do – and what to wear and all the rest of it. Yes, sir, no, sir, right away, sir. That sort of expectation of women, Fiona Yu (Sami Ma) believes, ‘must die’. And while she might have reason to believe she’s killed it off for herself, living in the United States and working as an attorney, her father disagrees, continuing to assert his parental authority to the point of arranging a marriage for her. Hello Kitty Must Die, Curtis Brown Photography. Jewelpet ( ジュエルペット, Juerupetto) are a group of animal characters created in 2008 as a joint-venture between Sanrio and Sega Toys. There are 39 characters in the franchise and each of the animals are named after famous birthstones, minerals, and jewels. They each have a different kind of sparkling jewel for their eyes, used for casting special magic called "Jewel Flash". They belong to magicians and live in a mystical place called Jewel Land, attend a school to learn more about magic, and each of them are paired with their own human partners. The main Jewelpets in the series are Ruby the white Japanese Hare (whose birthday is on July 29), Sapphie the blue and yellow Cavalier King Charles spaniel (whose birthday is on September 1), Garnet the pink Persian Cat (whose birthday is on January 8), and Labra the pink and white polar bear (whose birthday is on December 27). Mimmy White is Hello Kitty's cute twin sister and playmate. Mimmy wears a yellow bow on her right ear while Kitty wears a red bow on her left and is also mouthless like her sister. Mimmy seems to have a slightly less outgoing, but more polite and thoughtful personality than Kitty does, and they seem to highly enjoy each other's company. Anyone would describe Mimmy as shy and very girly. Mimmy's hobbies include sewing and dreaming of marriage.
Dear Daniel ( ダニエル・スター, Danieru sutā) is a sensitive and naïve little boy character from the Japanese company Sanrio. Dear Daniel is Hello Kitty's childhood friend and also her boyfriend. His birthday is May 3rd, which makes his zodiac sign Taurus. He's the same age as Kitty. Daniel and Kitty have known each other since they were babies. He gave a pet hamster named Sugar to Kitty. He finds wonder in even the smallest things and pays special attention to how he looks – very trendy! The concept of vengeance upon those who do Fiona wrong is a somewhat appealing one, and the way school bullies are dealt with has more than a whiff of Heathers the Musical about it. I’m not sure, however, that it’s really as feminist as it might initially come across at surface level – how much would have been achieved without the outdated outlook of Fiona’s father and the determined will on Sean’s part to take the law into his own hands? At least the dark humour comes across loud and clear thanks to an energetic cast.