Well seeing as Jose is obsessed with mentioning them, I thought I would bring them back. (and before anyone jumps, Mary_Ethel bequeathed the title of TP Coordinator to me long before he left).
So here goes again:
One of Stephen Sondheim's most underrated works is the wonderful Pacific Overtures. It opened January 11, 1976 at the Winter Garden Theatre and ran for just 193 performances.
It's competition that year was the big hit A Chorus Line, and the moderate hit Chicago. It did, however, manage to get a higher tally of Tony Awards than Chicago's nil, winning awards for design.
It tells it's story using traditional Kabuki styles (in the recent revival this was largely changed to Noh), and has a very traditional score by Mr. Sondheim.
The story is narrated by a figure called the Reciter.
Partway through the story he says:
The bird from the sea, Not knowing pine from bamboo, Roosts on anything.
Welcome to Kanagawa MADAM I own a small commercial venture With a modest clientele In Kanagawa.
GIRLS I think I see one over there behind the trees!
MADAM Sh! (to the audience) It's been my family's for centur- Ies and doing very well — For Kanagawa.
GIRLS I hear they're covered all with hair, like some disease.
MADAM Sh!
FOURTH GIRL Except their knees.
MADAM Sh! (to audience) The arrival of these giants Out of the blue, Bringing panic to my clients, Alters my view. With so many of them fleeing, Conferring, decreeing, I find myself agreeing With the ancient haiku:
RECITER The nest-building bird, Seeking the tree without twigs, Looks for new forests.
MADAM Exactly. (As a "forest" forms on the stage, she and the girls search for Americans.) Welcome to Kanagawa.
GIRLS Welcome to Kanagawa!
MADAM No … Welcome to Kanagawa.
GIRLS Oh … Welcome to Kanagawa.
MADAM So … With all my flowers disappearing In alarm, I've been reduced to commandeering From the farm. But with appropriate veneering, Even green wood has its charm.
GIRLS (searching) Yo-ho! Yo-ho!
MADAM (beckoning them) Yo-ho! (She hands out pornographic fans to the girls and points to each in turn.) That you'll have to bend for — Can yo see why?
FIRST GIRL Yo-ho!
MADAM That you'll need a friend for — Still, you might try.
SECOND GIRL Yo-ho!
MADAM That you do through the kimono — Not very much.
THIRD GIRL Yo-ho!
MADAM That you use glue, then you — No, no, no, no, Those you don't touch!
ALL Welcome to Kanagawa, Music and food for twenty yen — Music and food —
MADAM And maybe then —
ALL Welcome!
Welcome to Kanagawa! Music and food and company! Music and food —
MADAM — And for a fee —
ALL Welcome!
MADAM (to the audience) When a country is in trouble, Choices are few. And apart from charging double, What can you do? With my clients off defending, And strangers descending, I find myself depending On the ancient haiku:
RECITER The bird from the sea, Not knowing pine from bamboo, Roosts on anything.
MADAM Exactly.
GIRLS Welcome to Kanagawa!
MADAM Glow!
GIRLS Welcome to Kanagawa!
MADAM Low!
GIRLS Welcome to Kanagawa!
MADAM Grow!
GIRLS Welcome to Kanagawa!
MADAM Go!
(as they all move into the "forest") GIRLS Yo-ho! Yo-ho!
OLD MAN Maybe over there, But there were trees then, everywhere. May I show you?
RECITER If you please.
OLD MAN There were trees Then, everywhere.
RECITER But you were there.
OLD MAN And I was there! Let me show you.
RECITER If you please.
OLD MAN (tries to climb) I was younger then … (tries again) I was good at climbing trees … (again) I was younger then … (again) I saw everything! … (again) I was hidden all the time … (again) It was easier to climb … (again) I was younger then … (again) I saw everything! … (again) Where they came and where they went — I was part of the event. I was someone in a tree! (tries once more) I was younger then!
(Suddenly, a Young Boy appears, scurries across the stage, and up the tree.)
BOY (to the Old Man) Tell him what I see!
OLD MAN I am in a tree. I am ten. I am in a tree.
BOY I was younger then.
OLD MAN In between the eaves I can see — (to the Boy) Tell me what I see. (to the Reciter) I was only ten.
BOY I see men and matting. Some are old, some chatting.
OLD MAN If it happened, I was there!
BOTH I saw/see everything!
OLD MAN I was someone in a tree.
BOY Tell him what I see!
OLD MAN Some of them have gold on their coats.
BOY One of them has gold. (to the Reciter) He was younger then.
OLD MAN Someone crawls around passing notes —
BOY Someone very old —
OLD MAN (to the Reciter) He was only ten.
BOY And there's someone in a tree —
OLD MAN — Or the day is incomplete.
BOTH Without someone in a tree, Nothing happened here.
OLD MAN I am hiding in a tree.
BOY I'm a fragment of the day.
BOTH If I weren't, who's to say Things would happen here the way That they happened here?
OLD MAN I was there then.
BOY I am here still. It's the fragment, not the day.
OLD MAN It's the pebble, not the stream.
BOTH It's the ripple, not the sea. Not the building but the beam, Not the garden but the stone, Not the treaty house, Someone in a tree.
WARRIOR (slides panel open underneath the house) Pardon me, I am here — If you please, I am also here —
OLD MAN They kept drinking cups of tea.
BOY They kept sitting on the floor.
BOTH They drank many cups of tea. (to each other) No, we told him that before.
WARRIOR If you please, I am here.
RECITER You are where?
WARRIOR In the treaty house.
RECITER In the treaty house?
WARRIOR Or very near.
RECITER Can you hear?
WARRIOR I'm below.
RECITER So I notice.
WARRIOR Underneath the floor, And so I can't see anything. I can hear them, But I can't see anything.
RECITER But you can hear?
WARRIOR But I can hear. Shall I listen?
RECITER If you please.
WARRIOR I can hear them now … I shall try to shift my knees … I can hear them now … I hear everything … I'm the part that's underneath, With my sword inside my sheath. I can hear them now … One is over me … If they knock, then I appear. I'm a part of what I hear. I'm the fragment underneath. I can hear them now!
RECITER, OLD MAN, BOY Tell us what you hear!
WARRIOR First I hear a creak and a thump. Now I hear a clink … Then they talk a bit … Many times they shout when they speak. Other times they think. Or they argue it … I hear floorboards groaning … Angry growls … Much droning … Since I hear them, they are there, As they argue it. I'm the listener underneath.
BOY (peering into the house) Someone reads a list From a box.
WARRIOR (listening) Someone talks of laws.
OLD MAN Then they fan a bit.
BOY Someone bangs a fist.
WARRIOR Someone knocks.
OLD MAN Now there was a pause.
ALL Then they argue it:
WARRIOR "But we want …" "No, you can't And we won't …" "But we need it, And we want …" "Will you grant — ?" "If you don't …" "We concede it …"
OLD MAN WARRIOR And they sat I can hear Through the night Them. And they lit Yellow tapers. BOY I was I'm a And they There Fragment of the Chat Then. Day. And they fight And they sit Signing papers. If I If I I am Weren't, who's to Weren't, who's to There Say Say Still. Things would Things would If I Happen here the Happen here the Weren't who's to Way Way Say That they're That they're That they're Happening? Happening? Happening?
ALL It's the fragment, not the day. It's the pebble, not the stream. It's the ripple, not the sea That is happening. Not the building but the beam, Not the garden but the stone, Only cups of tea And history And someone in a tree.
P_E, it's possible you misundstand the meaning of obsession.
An example of an obsession is the demonstrated need to type complete song lyrics jconstantly in message threads.
Buy, hey, M_E, has "bequeathed the title of TP Coordinator to" you, so I assume that along with the title the obsessive behavior is attached.
Oh, and if you aren't aware, I thought that you might want to know that in the States the capitalized initials "TP" commonly refers to toilet paper. You might want to look at that title you were gloriously and aptly given.
