Theatre Review<\/p>\n
Steven Sondheim\u2019s PACIFIC OVERTURES<\/strong><\/p>\n Reviewed by Lyle Sylvander (Yokohama-shi, 2001-02)<\/em><\/p>\n (Fall 2004 Issue of the JETAA NY Newsletter)<\/span><\/p>\n When the original production of Pacific Overtures<\/em> opened on Broadway in 1976, it marked the fourth collaboration between composer\/lyricist Stephen Sondheim<\/strong> and producer\/director Harold Prince<\/strong>.\u00a0 The team had challenged the notions of what a Broadway musical could be by dealing with such unconventional subject matter as the frustrations of marriage (Company<\/em>), illusion and the fallacies of the American dream (Follies<\/em>) and the fickleness of romantic relationships (A Little Night Music<\/em>).\u00a0 No one was prepared, however, for the bold theatrical experiment that Pacific Overtures<\/em> presented its audience.\u00a0 The show not only dealt with an academic subject \u2013 the opening of Japan to foreigners and its subsequent emergence as a world power \u2013 but it told its story from the Japanese point of view by approximating the style of theatre known as kabuki<\/em>.\u00a0 The result was an ambitious and admirable failure.\u00a0 After opening to mixed to negative reviews, Pacific Overtures<\/em> succumbed to its poor box office performance and closed within six months.<\/p>\n Amon Miyamoto\u2019s<\/strong> new production of Pacific Overtures<\/em> is based on one that he directed at the New National Theatre, Tokyo, in 2000 (the production briefly toured the US in the summer of 2002).\u00a0 This marks the first Broadway revival of the show (as well as the first Broadway show to be directed by a Japanese person) and, like the original, is entirely cast with Asian-American actors.\u00a0 Miyamoto dispenses with Harold Prince\u2019s elaborate kabuki<\/em> conception, which featured white make-up, outsized performances, and visually The gradual effects of Western imperialism and the opening of Japan are revealed through the two central characters of Manjiro (Paolo Montalban<\/strong>) and Kayama (Michael Lee<\/strong>), a samurai.\u00a0 As Japan becomes increasingly Westernized, Manjiro retreats into the traditionalism of feudal Japan while Kayama sheds his traditional garb and joins the march of progress.\u00a0\u00a0 This story is played against the historical backdrop of pivotal events largely told in extended musical sequences \u2013 the first appearance of Perry\u2019s fleet (\u201cFour effectively engage the audience.\u00a0 Upon realizing that his beloved feudal Japan is gone forever, Manjiro breaks down at the end of the show.\u00a0 Montalban does his best at conveying his character\u2019s anguish but he cannot overcome the weakness of Weidman\u2019s script, which hasn\u2019t developed the character very well.\u00a0 Kayama\u2019s acceptance of Japan\u2019s transformation is similarly unsatisfying.\u00a0 This is especially troublesome in Kayama\u2019s case, as the character is the more interesting one \u2013 he begins the play as a minor government official and, through Western diplomatic maneuvering, attains a level of power.<\/p>\n The epic historical events provide the backbone of the story and they unfold mainly through Sondheim\u2019s long musical sequences. Sondheim condemns the imperialism of the United States and the other Western nations (France, Russia, Holland, England) with such sardonic lyrics as \u201cWe don\u2019t forsee that you will be the least bit argumentative\/so please ignore the man-of-war we brought as a preventative\u201d.\u00a0 But the show is not a simplistic anti-Western creed; it more complicated than that.\u00a0 Implicated alongside the West are Sondheim\u2019s music imitates Eastern music by using pentatonic scales, limited harmony (Japanese music does not use any harmony), and Japanese percussion and flutes among the Western instruments.\u00a0 In this way, the score is representative as the show as a whole by being a fusion of two different cultures.\u00a0 As the show progresses, the score gradually becomes more and more Western sounding until the finale. The song \u201cNext\u201d, which encompasses the next 150 years as Japan industrializes and buries its feudal past forever, is Theatre Review Steven Sondheim\u2019s PACIFIC OVERTURES Reviewed by Lyle Sylvander (Yokohama-shi, 2001-02) (Fall 2004 Issue of the JETAA NY Newsletter) When the original production of Pacific Overtures opened on Broadway in 1976, it marked the fourth collaboration between composer\/lyricist Stephen Sondheim and producer\/director Harold Prince.\u00a0 The team had challenged the notions of what a Broadway […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":59,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-398","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/PkZ7m-6q","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":706,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/398\/revisions\/706"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/59"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nstunning scenery, and strips the show down to its bare essentials.\u00a0\u00a0 (For an interesting comparison, you can watch the original on video at the Museum of Television and Radio).\u00a0 Rumi Matsui\u2019s<\/strong> scenic design is made of a simple wooden floor and floating panels.\u00a0 A small pool of water surrounds the stage on three sides, which establishes a divide between the isolated \u201cfloating kingdom\u201d and the outside world.\u00a0 When Commodore Perry\u2019s crew makes its appearance, they enter from the central aisle of the theatre and cross a bridge onto the stage, forever altering Japan\u2019s solitary existence.\u00a0 This basic conceit works well and effectively dramatizes the shock that accompanied Perry\u2019s landing.\u00a0 But Miyamoto\u2019s intimate staging unfortunately brings the main story into focus and the weakness of that story is Pacific Overtures<\/em>\u2019s ultimate flaw.\u00a0 While there is much to admire in Stephen Sondheim\u2019s score, John Weidman\u2019s<\/strong> libretto (with additional material by Hugh Wheeler<\/strong>) is overtly didactic and lacks sufficient drama to make the show emotionally engaging.<\/p>\n
\nBlack Dragons\u201d), the signing of a treaty largely favorable to the United States (\u201cSomeone in a Tree\u201d), the commercial penetration of Japan by other foreign nations (\u201cPlease, Hello\u201d), and the eventual assertiveness of Japan on the world stage (\u201cNext\u201d).\u00a0 Acting as both a narrator and commentator on the action is the Recitor, expertly played by B.D. Wong<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0 The relationship between Manjiro and Kayama is meant to personalize the dramatic turn of events that are engulfing them but the characters are too stilted and one-dimensional to<\/p>\n
\nthose Japanese who conspire against their own country, such as Kayama and the Shogun\u2019s Mother, who sings \u201cthe tea the Shogun drank will\/Serve to keep the Shogun tranquil\u201d as she poisons her son. The musical also seriously examines the collision of two disparate cultures.\u00a0 The song \u201cPretty Lady\u201d is about three English sailors who mistake a young woman for one of the geisha they\u2019ve heard so much about.\u00a0 She sees their advances as threatening while they don\u2019t understand why she wants to run away \u2013 \u201cPretty lady with a flower\/Give a lonely sailor half an hour\/Pretty lady, can you understand a word I say?\/Don\u2019t go away.\u201d\u00a0 The scene ends in tragedy as the girl\u2019s father kills the three sailors.<\/p>\n
\ncompletely Western in orchestration and sound.\u00a0 Miyamoto has incorporated new dances into the number that detail Japan\u2019s conquest of Korea and China, the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the reemergence of Japan as a technological innovator and financial power.\u00a0 The number, like much of the show, is interesting from an historical and political perspective.\u00a0 But despite the admirable performers on stage and Miyamoto\u2019s slick and minimalist direction, this production can\u2019t escape the fact that\u00a0 Pacific Overtures<\/em> plays like an academic treatise.\u00a0 It provides much cerebral stimulation but, as an evening of dramatic theatre, it leaves much to be desired.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"