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Pacific Overtures
“Priceless and peerless…a thrilling work of theatricality.” ―Wayman Wong, San Francisco Examiner
For over three decades, Stephen Sondheim has been the foremost composer and lyricist writing regularly for Broadway. His substantial body of work now stands as one of the most sustained achievements of the American stage.
Pacific Overtures, originally produced in 1976, combines an unsurpassed mastery of the American musical with such arts as Kabuki theatre, haiku, dance, and masks to recount Commander Matthew Perry’s 1835 opening of Japan and its consequences right up to the present.
This new edition of Pacific Overtures incorporates substantial revisions made by the authors for the successful 1984 revival.
For over three decades, Stephen Sondheim has been the foremost composer and lyricist writing regularly for Broadway. His substantial body of work now stands as one of the most sustained achievements of the American stage.
Pacific Overtures, originally produced in 1976, combines an unsurpassed mastery of the American musical with such arts as Kabuki theatre, haiku, dance, and masks to recount Commander Matthew Perry’s 1835 opening of Japan and its consequences right up to the present.
This new edition of Pacific Overtures incorporates substantial revisions made by the authors for the successful 1984 revival.
110 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1977
164 people want to read
About the author
Stephen Sondheim
310 books263 followersStephen Joshua Sondheim was an American musical and film composer and lyricist, winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards (seven, more than any other composer), multiple Grammy Awards, and a Pulitzer Prize. He has been described as the Titan of the American Musical.
His most famous scores include (as composer/lyricist) A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, and Assassins, as well as the lyrics for West Side Story and Gypsy. He was president of the Dramatists Guild from 1973 to 1981.
His most famous scores include (as composer/lyricist) A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, and Assassins, as well as the lyrics for West Side Story and Gypsy. He was president of the Dramatists Guild from 1973 to 1981.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
May 15, 2025
"A haiku: A gift unearned, and unexpected, often has a hidden price."
Pacific Overtures ~~~ John Weidman
Stephen Sondheim's Pacific Overtures ... what a gorgeous show ... Sondheim's Pacific Overtures ... what a problematic show ...
So many of the reviewers here mention that reading this was confusing. I understand why they feel this. If you have not seen this show performed, as well as know the music it is indeed extremely confusing.
At it's heart, Pacific Overtures is the story of two friends, both caught in the drama of change, as they tell of Japan's painful and harrowing Westernization. While this sounds simple, it is more complex in its perspective and its plot.
These two characters lives cross and then flip much the same as the United States and Japan historically did. This is without a doubt, Sondheim's least accessible show, while at the same time, one of his most brilliant.
Sondheim & Weidman tell the story from the Japanese perspective using a blend of Kabuki, Noh & musical theatre. Pacific Overtures is told in a series of chronological vignettes that can be confusing at times as characters appear and are killed off quickly; this in turns keeps the audience from becoming emotionally invested in the story. Sondheim & Weidman ask much of their audience, but they deliver much as well.
If your taste in musicals runs towards the star driven, Disneyesque, big name Broadway show, Pacific Overtures is not for you. But, if you are open to a show that is both exquisite and challenging, Pacific Overtures will reward you greatly.
Pacific Overtures ~~~ John Weidman
Stephen Sondheim's Pacific Overtures ... what a gorgeous show ... Sondheim's Pacific Overtures ... what a problematic show ...
So many of the reviewers here mention that reading this was confusing. I understand why they feel this. If you have not seen this show performed, as well as know the music it is indeed extremely confusing.
At it's heart, Pacific Overtures is the story of two friends, both caught in the drama of change, as they tell of Japan's painful and harrowing Westernization. While this sounds simple, it is more complex in its perspective and its plot.
These two characters lives cross and then flip much the same as the United States and Japan historically did. This is without a doubt, Sondheim's least accessible show, while at the same time, one of his most brilliant.
Sondheim & Weidman tell the story from the Japanese perspective using a blend of Kabuki, Noh & musical theatre. Pacific Overtures is told in a series of chronological vignettes that can be confusing at times as characters appear and are killed off quickly; this in turns keeps the audience from becoming emotionally invested in the story. Sondheim & Weidman ask much of their audience, but they deliver much as well.
If your taste in musicals runs towards the star driven, Disneyesque, big name Broadway show, Pacific Overtures is not for you. But, if you are open to a show that is both exquisite and challenging, Pacific Overtures will reward you greatly.
February 16, 2024
The most random thing I have ever encountered. Scrolling through “things to do in London” online I found last minute (front row & middle) tickets to this show, two hours before the starting time. I’m not a huge musical enjoyer (especially when it comes to Sondheim), but Pacific Overtures being a musical about the build up to the Meiji Renovation, of all things, meant that I had to go, because I was so curious.
Exploring the westernisation of Japan from 1853 onwards, this really weird (but cool) collaboration between John Weidman, Stephen Sondheim. Jon Chew’s narration and the perfectly crafted choreography by Ashley Nottingham, was actually… really really great. From the satire of Western admirals to the portrayal of friendship torn apart by differing reactions to Western customs, and amazing costume design, I really recommend everyone go and check this out.
The scripting is probably the most cringe part of this musical, it’s very jokey and it’s not my sort of thing but it’s nothing criminal. The music is really good too, but same deal there.
Exploring the westernisation of Japan from 1853 onwards, this really weird (but cool) collaboration between John Weidman, Stephen Sondheim. Jon Chew’s narration and the perfectly crafted choreography by Ashley Nottingham, was actually… really really great. From the satire of Western admirals to the portrayal of friendship torn apart by differing reactions to Western customs, and amazing costume design, I really recommend everyone go and check this out.
The scripting is probably the most cringe part of this musical, it’s very jokey and it’s not my sort of thing but it’s nothing criminal. The music is really good too, but same deal there.
February 10, 2023
"I thought it was the end of the world..." "And it was."
One of Sondheim's most impressive yet most rarely performed shows. Also one of those shows in which you can listen to the score and learn very little about the characters and their dynamics, which is why I'm glad I finally read it. I maintain that Please Hello is one of Sondheim's most impressive songs--it's nearly ten minutes long and combines five different culturally significant styles of music, one for each foreign ambassador.
One of Sondheim's most impressive yet most rarely performed shows. Also one of those shows in which you can listen to the score and learn very little about the characters and their dynamics, which is why I'm glad I finally read it. I maintain that Please Hello is one of Sondheim's most impressive songs--it's nearly ten minutes long and combines five different culturally significant styles of music, one for each foreign ambassador.
November 11, 2022
Pacific Overtures is my favorite Sondheim score. I've had the original cast album since it came out in 1977, and I pretty much know it by heart. I've also got the libretto--an old Fireside Theatre edition that's at least 45 years old (can't find a photo of it here on goodreads!)--and I've read the script many times over the years. Pacific Overtures is a difficult and challenging work; it's also (probably irreparably) flawed; but it's gorgeous and passionate and spectacularly, intellectually stimulating.
It's a narrative of the history of the opening of Japan--an epochal event that happened in July 1853, when Commodore Matthew Perry of the United States Navy sailed to the mysterious and isolated island nation and demanded a resumption, after 250 years, of relations with the West. Pacific Overtures depicts the devastating effects of this unwanted intrusion on a culture that had grown inward and delicately refined. In the opening number, "The Advantages of Floating in the Middle of the Sea," symbols of stability--screen painting, an economy based on rice, and a complicated hierarchy of bows--are illustrated. The collective military and economic might of the U.S., Britain, the Netherlands, France, and Russia, overwhelming backward Japan with capitalism and cannons, is the subject of another song, "Please Hello." A misunderstanding between some British sailors and a lone Japanese girl (whom they mistakenly believe to be "one of them geisha girls") has tragic consequences in a song called "Pretty Lady." And in a stunning and spare musical piece called "A Bowler Hat," one Japanese embraces American/European culture and ways while another, who was once his friend and colleague, studies the traditions of the Samurai in what will turn out to be a futile last stand against westernization. The former, of course, is the one left standing: "One must accommodate the times," he sings, "as one lives them. One must remember that."
It is a fascinating history lesson and something of a cautionary tale. But this is only the surface of Pacific Overtures. What's underneath is much more interesting and much more involving. Sondheim's score is written with Japanese cadences--it's not authentic but impressionistic, a westerner's ear interpreting what Japanese music sounds like. Similarly, the show's book (by John Weidman) is told from a Japanese perspective, so that the Americans and Europeans are the "barbarians" in this tale; they're the ones whose words are presented as stilted, broken English.
So everything about Pacific Overtures is designed to feel alien--it's an excursion, for American actors and audiences both, into a world of unfamiliar sights, sounds, conventions, and attitudes. The notion, I think, is to let us experience some of what the isolated Japanese might have experienced, 170 years ago, when a fleet of awesome ships that looked liked enormous black dragons sailed into Tokyo Bay and dropped anchor near the town of Uraga.
But there's so much more going on here! As soon as the Japanese leaders understand the enormity of the crisis facing them, they appoint an obscure samurai, Kayama, to be Prefect of Police of Uraga and commission him to chase the Americans away. Certain that he cannot, he prepares himself and his wife for failure and an honorable death by suicide, singing "There Is No Other Way." But of course there is another way--many other ways. In succession, Sondheim's score shows us: two different accounts of the arrival of the American ships (a fisherman who sees "Four Black Dragons" and a thief who sees "Four Volcanoes"); four days of devising new strategies to urge the inert Shogun to take action against the foreigners (in the delicious song "Chrysanthemum Tea"); and countless perspectives for viewing, hearing, and mapping every momentous event in history: "Someone in a Tree," maybe the greatest theater song every created, which tells us:
This is a show best heard and seen as well as read. I love this production from San Jose Civic Light Opera; or check out the original Broadway production.
It's a narrative of the history of the opening of Japan--an epochal event that happened in July 1853, when Commodore Matthew Perry of the United States Navy sailed to the mysterious and isolated island nation and demanded a resumption, after 250 years, of relations with the West. Pacific Overtures depicts the devastating effects of this unwanted intrusion on a culture that had grown inward and delicately refined. In the opening number, "The Advantages of Floating in the Middle of the Sea," symbols of stability--screen painting, an economy based on rice, and a complicated hierarchy of bows--are illustrated. The collective military and economic might of the U.S., Britain, the Netherlands, France, and Russia, overwhelming backward Japan with capitalism and cannons, is the subject of another song, "Please Hello." A misunderstanding between some British sailors and a lone Japanese girl (whom they mistakenly believe to be "one of them geisha girls") has tragic consequences in a song called "Pretty Lady." And in a stunning and spare musical piece called "A Bowler Hat," one Japanese embraces American/European culture and ways while another, who was once his friend and colleague, studies the traditions of the Samurai in what will turn out to be a futile last stand against westernization. The former, of course, is the one left standing: "One must accommodate the times," he sings, "as one lives them. One must remember that."
It is a fascinating history lesson and something of a cautionary tale. But this is only the surface of Pacific Overtures. What's underneath is much more interesting and much more involving. Sondheim's score is written with Japanese cadences--it's not authentic but impressionistic, a westerner's ear interpreting what Japanese music sounds like. Similarly, the show's book (by John Weidman) is told from a Japanese perspective, so that the Americans and Europeans are the "barbarians" in this tale; they're the ones whose words are presented as stilted, broken English.
So everything about Pacific Overtures is designed to feel alien--it's an excursion, for American actors and audiences both, into a world of unfamiliar sights, sounds, conventions, and attitudes. The notion, I think, is to let us experience some of what the isolated Japanese might have experienced, 170 years ago, when a fleet of awesome ships that looked liked enormous black dragons sailed into Tokyo Bay and dropped anchor near the town of Uraga.
But there's so much more going on here! As soon as the Japanese leaders understand the enormity of the crisis facing them, they appoint an obscure samurai, Kayama, to be Prefect of Police of Uraga and commission him to chase the Americans away. Certain that he cannot, he prepares himself and his wife for failure and an honorable death by suicide, singing "There Is No Other Way." But of course there is another way--many other ways. In succession, Sondheim's score shows us: two different accounts of the arrival of the American ships (a fisherman who sees "Four Black Dragons" and a thief who sees "Four Volcanoes"); four days of devising new strategies to urge the inert Shogun to take action against the foreigners (in the delicious song "Chrysanthemum Tea"); and countless perspectives for viewing, hearing, and mapping every momentous event in history: "Someone in a Tree," maybe the greatest theater song every created, which tells us:
It's the fragment, not the dayAn entrepreneurial madam, hustling to Uraga beach to greet the newcomers, remembers a haiku:
It's the pebble, not the stream
It's the ripple, not the sea
That is happening.
The practical birdThe journeys that Pacific Overtures takes us on are sublime--sometimes soaring with passion (as in the scene where Kayama and his friend Manjiro compose a series of poems on their way home), sometimes brimming with wit and surprise (as in the tour de force pastiche number "Please Hello"--almost a miniature one-act musical in itself--in which five European admirals compete for the, er, affections of the new Shogun).
Having no tree of its own
Borrows another's.
This is a show best heard and seen as well as read. I love this production from San Jose Civic Light Opera; or check out the original Broadway production.
February 5, 2024
كان اختيارًا أعمى، فكانت مسرحية موسيقية عن بداية الغزو الأمريكي «الناعم» لليابان بإغرائها أن تفتح أسواق تجارتها للخارج وتكفّ عن العزلة وتسمح للتأثير والطابع الأمريكي الطاغي أن يتسلل إليها، وقد جمعت، كما يقول د. عبد الوهاب المسيري في المقدمة، بين أساليب المسرح الغربي وأساليب المسرح الشرقي الياباني، في مزيج بديع جعل هذه الصفحات تموج بالسحر والألوان والرقصات والدمى ومحاربين الساموراي وفتيات الجيشا، وكل شيء ياباني فاتن! وأما اللغة فكانت أكثر ما أثار عجبي، كانت الترجمة لا يُعلى عليها بحال، فالمسرحية الموسيقية كم كانت ستكون عرجاء إذا تُرجمت نثرًا، ولكنها هنا تُرجمت إلى شعر غنائي مثلها يضاهيها تأثيرًا.
Emperor read our letter? if no,
Commodore perry very sad.
Emperor like our letter? if so,
Commodore perry very merry,
President fillmore still more glad.
الإمبراطورْ
هل قرأَ رسالةَ أمريكا؟
إنْ ما كانْ
فالربّانُ حزينًا جدًا سوف يكونْ
هل قَبِلَ رسالةَ أمريكا؟
سيكونُ الربّانُ سعيدًا
والأكثرُ مِنْهُ سيكونْ
مسرورًا مستر فيلمورْ
A détente! a détente
Is ze only thing we wish!
Same as zem, except additional
Ze rights to fish!
You'll be paid, you'll be paid
And we'll 'ave ze big parade
If we somehow can persuade
You to accept our aid.
(gestures to the sea — tiny explosion)
It is not to be afraid …
(another one)
As we merely wish to trade …
وِفَاقَ .. وِفَاقْ!
هذا ما نرغبُ لا غَيْرْ!
مثلهمو حتمًا لكنْ من دون الحقِّ
بصيد الأسماكْ!
وسنعطي ثمنًا .. لا ضَيْرْ
ونقومُ بعرضٍ حربيٍّ
إنْ أقنعناكم لنصيرْ
أنصارًا من دون الغيرْ
(يشير نحو البحر، يحدث انفجار صغير)
لا تخش الصوتَ الهدّارا
(يحدث انفجار آخر)
ما جئنا إلا تجّارا
حبذا هذه المسرحية المبهجة والتي لم تنس لحظة رسالتها في إظهار حب الرجل الأبيض للسيطرة على أيّ مكان تحت قبّة السماء، وإن كان في أقصى أقاصي الدنيا، لا ضير! وحبذا هذه الترجمة الغنائية، وهي لا شكّ من ترجمة محمود يسري حلمي، فقد بحثت عنه وهو شاعر ومترجم وكاتب للأطفال، وهو المترجم الثاني المكتوب اسمه مع اسم د. عبد الوهاب المسيري، أقول هذا لأن المسيري لا ينظم الشعر، فديوانه الصغير لابنته: «أغنيات إلى الأشياء الجميلة»، ليس بشعر ولا يجري على وزن، وإنما هو نثر ساذج ولا يشبه شيئًا مع ذلك من روح الشعر الغنائي في ترجمة هذه المسرحية، وأخشى أنها قد تكون آفة الأسماء الكبيرة، فترجمة هذه المسرحية (وهي تتراوح بين النثر والغناء، ولكن الغناء غالب) ستُنسب حتمًا إلى صاحب الاسم الأشهر، فيما أن سرّ نجاحها الواضح عندي هو غنائيتها التي لم تُطمس.
.
.
وهامش:
لم أمل ��لى ترجمة العنوان كثيرًا، فهو ليس موحيًا ولا ينعكس بشيء على ذهن قارئه عن موضوع المسرحية، وكنت طول الوقت أقول لنفسي لماذا لم يترجموها إلى «فتوح المحيط الهادي»، على وزن «فتوح الشام»، أو فتوحاته، فهذه هي ثيمة هذه المسرحية، ويكفي أن الإمبراطور الياباني يقول في نهاية هذه المسرحية (والفقرة نثرية في الأصل):
سوف ننظّم جيشنا ونزوّد بحريّتنا بأحدث الأسلحة، وعندما يحين الوقت سوف نرسل البعثات لنتزاور مع جيراننا الأقل استنارة، سوف نفتح فورموزا، وكوريا، ومنشوريا، والصين، سوف نفعل ببقية آسيا ما فعلته أمريكا بنا!
فهي فتوحات إذن
فتوحات الباسفيك
Emperor read our letter? if no,
Commodore perry very sad.
Emperor like our letter? if so,
Commodore perry very merry,
President fillmore still more glad.
الإمبراطورْ
هل قرأَ رسالةَ أمريكا؟
إنْ ما كانْ
فالربّانُ حزينًا جدًا سوف يكونْ
هل قَبِلَ رسالةَ أمريكا؟
سيكونُ الربّانُ سعيدًا
والأكثرُ مِنْهُ سيكونْ
مسرورًا مستر فيلمورْ
A détente! a détente
Is ze only thing we wish!
Same as zem, except additional
Ze rights to fish!
You'll be paid, you'll be paid
And we'll 'ave ze big parade
If we somehow can persuade
You to accept our aid.
(gestures to the sea — tiny explosion)
It is not to be afraid …
(another one)
As we merely wish to trade …
وِفَاقَ .. وِفَاقْ!
هذا ما نرغبُ لا غَيْرْ!
مثلهمو حتمًا لكنْ من دون الحقِّ
بصيد الأسماكْ!
وسنعطي ثمنًا .. لا ضَيْرْ
ونقومُ بعرضٍ حربيٍّ
إنْ أقنعناكم لنصيرْ
أنصارًا من دون الغيرْ
(يشير نحو البحر، يحدث انفجار صغير)
لا تخش الصوتَ الهدّارا
(يحدث انفجار آخر)
ما جئنا إلا تجّارا
حبذا هذه المسرحية المبهجة والتي لم تنس لحظة رسالتها في إظهار حب الرجل الأبيض للسيطرة على أيّ مكان تحت قبّة السماء، وإن كان في أقصى أقاصي الدنيا، لا ضير! وحبذا هذه الترجمة الغنائية، وهي لا شكّ من ترجمة محمود يسري حلمي، فقد بحثت عنه وهو شاعر ومترجم وكاتب للأطفال، وهو المترجم الثاني المكتوب اسمه مع اسم د. عبد الوهاب المسيري، أقول هذا لأن المسيري لا ينظم الشعر، فديوانه الصغير لابنته: «أغنيات إلى الأشياء الجميلة»، ليس بشعر ولا يجري على وزن، وإنما هو نثر ساذج ولا يشبه شيئًا مع ذلك من روح الشعر الغنائي في ترجمة هذه المسرحية، وأخشى أنها قد تكون آفة الأسماء الكبيرة، فترجمة هذه المسرحية (وهي تتراوح بين النثر والغناء، ولكن الغناء غالب) ستُنسب حتمًا إلى صاحب الاسم الأشهر، فيما أن سرّ نجاحها الواضح عندي هو غنائيتها التي لم تُطمس.
.
.
وهامش:
لم أمل ��لى ترجمة العنوان كثيرًا، فهو ليس موحيًا ولا ينعكس بشيء على ذهن قارئه عن موضوع المسرحية، وكنت طول الوقت أقول لنفسي لماذا لم يترجموها إلى «فتوح المحيط الهادي»، على وزن «فتوح الشام»، أو فتوحاته، فهذه هي ثيمة هذه المسرحية، ويكفي أن الإمبراطور الياباني يقول في نهاية هذه المسرحية (والفقرة نثرية في الأصل):
سوف ننظّم جيشنا ونزوّد بحريّتنا بأحدث الأسلحة، وعندما يحين الوقت سوف نرسل البعثات لنتزاور مع جيراننا الأقل استنارة، سوف نفتح فورموزا، وكوريا، ومنشوريا، والصين، سوف نفعل ببقية آسيا ما فعلته أمريكا بنا!
فهي فتوحات إذن
فتوحات الباسفيك
September 24, 2017
This book was the play of the musical Pacific Overtures. Having never seen the musical I did not really enjoy the play. It is about the Japanese becoming aware of the United States coming in for a visit. However, it was against the law for non-Japanese people to walk on their homeland. The leaders select Kayama to go out and order the Americans away. When they refuse, he sets up a "meeting" at a place that is technically not Japanese land, in the hopes that they will thereafter go away. Much to the chagrin of the Japanese, the Americans come back, along with the British, Russians and other country representatives. The play then goes on to show the repercussions of having first allowed the Americans to "open the door" to Japan.
This is not a bad book, though trying to read a musical I have not seen left me unfulfilled when I finished the book, which is why I rated it only 2 stars. I feel like I missed things, and did not have a complete understanding as to what was going on during the scenes, and would therefore recommend it only to people who have seen the play.
This is not a bad book, though trying to read a musical I have not seen left me unfulfilled when I finished the book, which is why I rated it only 2 stars. I feel like I missed things, and did not have a complete understanding as to what was going on during the scenes, and would therefore recommend it only to people who have seen the play.
January 1, 2024
I’m not usually, on principle, the most interested in stories told by white people about POC culture and history as opposed to own voices. It can be done, and is pretty common in musical theatre, but I always try to take it with a grain of salt. This however, does seem to stay very respectful. I cannot comment on its accuracy, but I do have a soft spot for musicals that use other forms of theatre/live performance in a way to enhance the story and themes.
December 19, 2018
read for class
November 9, 2021
I forgot what a strong book this musical has. Great to revisit the OBC as well.
Whoever thought THIS topic would make a great musical?
Whoever thought THIS topic would make a great musical?
February 13, 2015
Pacific Overtures is a 1976 historical musical about how America used warships to forced Japans borders open to trade in 1854. Soon, the little feudal island was overrun with Yankee, Brits, French, Dutch, and Russian traders. In 130 years after this invasion, Japan modernized, attacked us in WWII, and then slowly became our economic partner.
It’s a great idea for a musical. In fact, Japan has a rich history of theater that Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman pulled many ideas from. That might be the problem – warm, brassy Broadway and quiet, formal Japanese theater are two different beasts.
Kabuki – which is used throughout Pacific Overtures – is a theater of show, high style, and alienation, not of deep character revelation or emotional outpouring. Broadway shows – and especially the songs – are about letting people into the human heart in expansive ways. That’s why Japan didn’t ever have the great stage ballad – not then, not now – that the world accepted as a standard, Japan has thousands of years of theater history to cull from; yet, this never happened. Their theater is cold, presentational, and removed, and the songs they attached to their works also exemplified this.
It’s cool. It just doesn’t gel with the a style that includes Gypsy, Avenue Q, and Sweeney Todd.
Pacific Overtures shows all those strict Japanese qualities, despite Weidman’s writing being adjustable to a more modern, intimate style. In fact, I’d love to see some of these brilliant scenes done without the artifice of kabuki.
Sondheim’s music mostly follows kabuki’s cold, distant lead, even though some of it is exceptionally wonderful, showy stuff. “Please Hello” – when all the traders come to get their contracts negotiated for better deals – is brilliantly funny. Each country- the US, England, France, the Netherlands, and Russia – sings in their stereotypical musical style. “Welcome to Kanagawa,” where a madam tries to keep her house going despite all her best girls having fled the foreigners – is classic. Even more frigid fare – “Chrysanthemum Tea” – where a widow pushes her shogun son to deal with the foreigners – is clever if a bit too formal.
The emotional part of the story concerns two men who become unlikely friends. A local Japanese man is promoted and forced to manage the foreigners. A fisherman lost at sea and educated in Boston becomes an unlikely emissary to his country, and later a samurai. They have to work together to supervise the foreign operations, but their lives take them on totally different paths. There is a humanism to these stories that is harmed by traditional Japanese formalism.
This is the sort of structure that inspired Brecht – it creates alienation.
Besides that, the musical is all pastiche – told in fragments and chunks, skipping around. Especially the second act uses montage at the forsaking of emotional arc. We flit all over Japan, only getting to know most characters for a single scene. The script asks for an all-Japanese, mostly male crew, making it nearly impossible to produce.
All of this is in the name of mixing two styles, Broadway and kabuki. It’s a bit like mixing pudding and gravel – sometimes things just don’t work together.
It’s a great idea for a musical. In fact, Japan has a rich history of theater that Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman pulled many ideas from. That might be the problem – warm, brassy Broadway and quiet, formal Japanese theater are two different beasts.
Kabuki – which is used throughout Pacific Overtures – is a theater of show, high style, and alienation, not of deep character revelation or emotional outpouring. Broadway shows – and especially the songs – are about letting people into the human heart in expansive ways. That’s why Japan didn’t ever have the great stage ballad – not then, not now – that the world accepted as a standard, Japan has thousands of years of theater history to cull from; yet, this never happened. Their theater is cold, presentational, and removed, and the songs they attached to their works also exemplified this.
It’s cool. It just doesn’t gel with the a style that includes Gypsy, Avenue Q, and Sweeney Todd.
Pacific Overtures shows all those strict Japanese qualities, despite Weidman’s writing being adjustable to a more modern, intimate style. In fact, I’d love to see some of these brilliant scenes done without the artifice of kabuki.
Sondheim’s music mostly follows kabuki’s cold, distant lead, even though some of it is exceptionally wonderful, showy stuff. “Please Hello” – when all the traders come to get their contracts negotiated for better deals – is brilliantly funny. Each country- the US, England, France, the Netherlands, and Russia – sings in their stereotypical musical style. “Welcome to Kanagawa,” where a madam tries to keep her house going despite all her best girls having fled the foreigners – is classic. Even more frigid fare – “Chrysanthemum Tea” – where a widow pushes her shogun son to deal with the foreigners – is clever if a bit too formal.
The emotional part of the story concerns two men who become unlikely friends. A local Japanese man is promoted and forced to manage the foreigners. A fisherman lost at sea and educated in Boston becomes an unlikely emissary to his country, and later a samurai. They have to work together to supervise the foreign operations, but their lives take them on totally different paths. There is a humanism to these stories that is harmed by traditional Japanese formalism.
This is the sort of structure that inspired Brecht – it creates alienation.
Besides that, the musical is all pastiche – told in fragments and chunks, skipping around. Especially the second act uses montage at the forsaking of emotional arc. We flit all over Japan, only getting to know most characters for a single scene. The script asks for an all-Japanese, mostly male crew, making it nearly impossible to produce.
All of this is in the name of mixing two styles, Broadway and kabuki. It’s a bit like mixing pudding and gravel – sometimes things just don’t work together.
May 16, 2016
I'll admit to being a little confused by Pacific Overtures; it is quite critical about Western involvement with Japan, but by the end it seems to celebrate Japan's role on the national stage. Maybe I'm tryng to politicize it more than Sondheim and Weidman intended, but the apparent argument (Japan=good, West=eeeeevil) doesn't support its own weight. Whatever the case, this is one musical that is better seen than read. The style and spectacle inherent in any production are lost on the page.
March 16, 2011
Done well, this show could be a visual marvel, but on the page, it falls a little flat, especially if you don't know much about Japanese history and Kabuki theatre (like me). However, there are several classic Sondheim songs in here, notably "Chrysanthemum Tea" and "Please Hello." Not my favorite Sondheim show, but still pretty good.
November 15, 2016
A classic. The opening up and modernization of Japan "told" from the Japanese point of view, without apologies to what Western civilizarion has done to Japan. Extremely insightful, considering that it is written by Westerners.
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