PACIFIC OVERTURES in Los Angeles
PACIFIC OVERTURES in Los Angeles
#1PACIFIC OVERTURES in Los Angeles
Posted: 11/13/24 at 3:08pm
Had the opportunity to see this excellent production at East West Players last week, and hey, Sondheim lovers, this production contains a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
While there were some rough-around-the-edges line stumbles at the second preview, the production is beautifully thought out and the cast is really solid, including an understudy (Jordan Fan) who never missed a beat with presumedly way less rehearsal time than everyone else. A really solid presentation of an underperformed show would have been worth the drive from San Francisco for me, but the riveting performance of Jon Jon Briones as the Reciter made it a can't miss; he was searingly intense and magnetic.
But an excellent production of a rarely performed Sondheim show is one thing; a production that manages to change the nature of one of the songs through casting is another. Gedde Wantanabe's performance is delightful for the length of the evening; his performance of "Chrysanthemum tea" is a highlight of the evening and he provides able support in a small supporting role elsewhere. But then he comes out for "Someone in a Tree", playing the Old man, the older version of the character he created in 1976. "If it happened, I was there," he sings, and the philosophical nature of the song became something more. Suddenly, the song was about about the history of the show, the history of theater, the history of this theater company, the history of this community. A beloved member of the Asian American arts community is both in character looking back at his life and out of character looking at his career. I'm not a member of the AAPI community, but I felt the weight and wonder of this moment so strongly. It was something I'll never forget.
#2PACIFIC OVERTURES in Los Angeles
Posted: 11/13/24 at 3:12pm
What a beautiful write-up, especially regarding Gedde's participation. We see the show this Monday and can't wait.
chrishuyen
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/12/14
#3PACIFIC OVERTURES in Los Angeles
Posted: 11/13/24 at 3:16pm
Happy to hear they kept Chrysanthemum Tea! Did they do Lion Dance as well?
#4PACIFIC OVERTURES in Los Angeles
Posted: 11/13/24 at 3:19pm
I really hope New York gets a top notch production one day soon.
#5PACIFIC OVERTURES in Los Angeles
Posted: 11/13/24 at 3:22pm
chrishuyen said: "Happy to hear they kept Chrysanthemum Tea! Did they do Lion Dance as well?"
Was just coming to ask this. Interesting, when the Menier did it in London early this year, they claimed they were only allowed to perform the one act version (that started with the Doyle revival) without either of those... Which seemed odd since Signature in DC had just done the two act version (albeit I think they cut Lion Dance but that's been cut off and on since the 1980s York revival)
#6PACIFIC OVERTURES in Los Angeles
Posted: 11/13/24 at 3:24pm
Lion Dance is included; the show is performed essentially without cuts.
#7PACIFIC OVERTURES in Los Angeles
Posted: 11/13/24 at 3:36pm
ChairinMain said: "Lion Dance is included; the show is performed essentially without cuts."
Fab! I know Weidman has permanently cut a number of the reciter interjections (he said he grew to be embarrassed by them as he realized they weren't remotely authentic Japanese and more an orientalist cliche)
#8PACIFIC OVERTURES in Los Angeles
Posted: 11/13/24 at 3:51pm
I'll clarify; there's still some dialogue changes and small cuts compared to the published script I own, but all the musical numbers were performed without cuts. (i think they're performing the revised lyrics of "Welcome to Kanagawa" but original lyrics for "Someone in a Tree")
#9PACIFIC OVERTURES in Los Angeles
Posted: 11/13/24 at 8:18pm
ChairinMain said: "I'll clarify; there's still some dialogue changes and small cuts compared to the published script I own, but all the musical numbers were performed without cuts. (i think they're performingthe revised lyrics of "Welcome to Kanagawa" but original lyrics for "Someone in a Tree")"
Ah but WHICH revised Kanagawa? There have been at least five (though Sondheim only provides the example of one i think in the Finishing the Hat book) Someone said that even for the Doyle production he was at final rehearsals revising the lyrics (which I guess, as he's mentioned, he has never thought were funny enough.)
And yes, now I'm just being annoying--I don't think I would be able to tell which revised lyric would be used (the three major cast recordings each have different lyrics though, to varying degrees.) (The edit made after the original production that I've never understood why it was cut is the "rickshaw" scene.)
#10PACIFIC OVERTURES in Los Angeles
Posted: 11/14/24 at 12:51pm
I thiiiiiiiink they're using the lyrics from the 2004 revival.
Wayman_Wong
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/22/04
#11PACIFIC OVERTURES in Los Angeles
Posted: 11/14/24 at 7:44pm
Here's Gedde Watanabe spilling some ''Chrysanthemum Tea'' on ''Pacific Overtures. In the 1976 original Broadway cast, he played the Boy in ''Someone in a Tree''; now, he's playing the Old Man in that same song in East-West Players' ''Pacific Overtures.'' And he serves up ''Tea'' as Shogun's Mother.
https://www.theatermania.com/news/interview-gedde-watanabe-returns-to-pacific-overtures-decades-after-starring-in-it-on-broadway_1755311/
#12PACIFIC OVERTURES in Los Angeles
Posted: 11/19/24 at 8:05pm
Thanks to Eric from Montreal for steering me toward this thread (I was searching under East West Players).
We just saw the extraordinary production of PACIFIC OVERTURES now playing at the East West Players in Los Angeles for just a couple more weeks. This is hands down the best show we've ever seen at EWP.
The cast (including Jon Jon Briones and Gedde Watanabe) is brilliant, the voices are gorgeous, the music-making is impeccable, the staging is so specific and personal and right for this culture. Sets and lights are lovely, costumes are glorious and even funny, but the projection design is on another level-- just astonishing use of woodblock design that gives way to images from nature and ultimately 21st century anime and zoom boxes and photorealist animation-- a perfect complement to the story being told. The entire score is presented here at long last, including some new verses to "Welcome to Kanagawa" that actually made us laugh out loud, and a stunning Lion Dance that proves why it is an integral part of the play and should never be cut again.
A special mention has to be made for Gedde Watanabe's performance here, famous for appearing in the OBC back in 1976 as the boy in the tree (a performance I saw in its Boston tryout.) Gedde acquits himself with great style as the Shogun's Mother earlier in Act 1, but when he enters as a hesitant old man for "Someone in a Tree" (my avatar!), my heart was in my mouth. In his very presence onstage, you felt the meaning of the lyrics. Gedde was so nuanced and warm and in such glorious voice that the harmonies swelled and the tears fell and remained falling till the end of the Act. Gedde and Jon Jon and all the others just lift you up and deliver a Pacific Overtures for the ages that goes straight to the heart.
Dan6
Broadway Star Joined: 8/7/10
#13PACIFIC OVERTURES in Los Angeles
Posted: 11/19/24 at 8:14pm
Seeing this next week and can’t wait…it’s the only Sondheim show that I’ve never seen a production of!
#14PACIFIC OVERTURES in Los Angeles
Posted: 11/19/24 at 9:17pm
Dan6 said: "Seeing this next week and can’t wait…it’s the only Sondheim show that I’ve never seen a production of!"
Enjoy! I wish I could see this one.
I've had the good fortune to see three versions of Pacific Overtures (Japanese production at the Kennedy Center in 2002, Doyle revival at CSC, and Signature Theater), but I still haven't seen Saturday Night, Anyone Can Whistle, or A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (though I'll see that soon).
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