Pacific Overtures

[GovernorSlaton]

Posted: 8/3/04 at 7:43pm

Any new information on the revival? B.D. Wong is going to be in it, but who will he be playing?

[MusicMan]

Posted: 8/3/04 at 8:06pm

Well, since the role of narrator starred Mako in the original, one can assume Wong will recreate the role.

[Glebb]

Posted: 8/3/04 at 8:06pm

I hope so! I want to see B. D. the whole time. :)

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 8/3/04 at 8:08pm

Wong will play Reciter. Here's an article:
http://www.playbill.com/news/article/85900.html

[bta212]

Posted: 8/3/04 at 10:59pm

Anyone else see "Overtures" at the Arden in Philadelphia? It was in-the-round and beautifully staged, although the sound system was uneven and distracting. The performances were excellent, though. It was a missing piece in my Sondheim experinces, and I really found it beautiful.

[Glebb]

Posted: 8/3/04 at 11:03pm

Saw it at The Promenade in NYC back in the 80s and at Chicago Shakespeare on Navy Pier about three years ago. Both very intimate and wonderful productions.

[bta212]

Posted: 8/3/04 at 11:08pm

Glebb--I read that you saw The Visit at Goodman. Pretty dreadful, huh? Shocked that it didn't make it to Bway....

[Glebb]

Posted: 8/3/04 at 11:10pm

I'm not shocked. I don't know how I made it to the 2nd act.

[The Goat]

Posted: 8/3/04 at 11:48pm

I really like most Sondheim, and really love some of his shows, but I have yet to be won over by "Pacific Overtures." Saw the production a Tokyo company did at Avery Fisher Hall within the last year and also the Donmar production (which was a restaging of the Chicago Navy Pier production). Neither clicked for me. It all seemed rather strained and pretentious. I will give the show another chance and go see the Roundabout production. But if it turns out to be "three strikes," I will consider this a rare Sondheim misfire for me. Oh, and to put in my two cents about Kander and Ebb's "The Visit" (since some folks on this thread are talking about it)--I also saw it in Chicago, and it was supposed to be a the Public Theatre in New York last year I think, but was cancelled. The show was rather flat for Kander and Ebb, but there was one scene that I still remember. The lead, played by Chita Rivera, is a woman with an artifical leg who comes back to her hometown to avenge herself against the man who did her wrong. She's now rich and has a male servant with her. The two are in a hotel room, singing a duet as her servant helps her off with her "day leg" (with a sensible shoe on it) and on with her "night leg" (with a high heel on it)! Wow! Like something out of a Bunuel movie. If only the whole production had been up to that scene.

[MusicMan]

Posted: 8/4/04 at 1:37am

Now, that's entertainment.

[leomaxfrank]

Posted: 8/4/04 at 3:03am

goat - do u dislike the score? b/c i think it is easily some of his most beautiful and memorable music

[bronxboundexpress]

Posted: 8/4/04 at 3:56am

B.D. Wong kicks ass!

[The Goat]

Posted: 8/4/04 at 9:21am

leomaxfrank: I agree that much of the score of "Pacific Overtures" is lovely--but, oddly enough, for me, I have appreciated those parts of the score out of the context of the show itself (that is, listening to them on the original cast album)! I think the subject of "Pacific Overtures" is interesting enough, but the book treatment--and, most likely, the stagings I have seen--makes the material seem too precious or obvious (in its messages), and the songs have tended to be "tainted" for me by their placement in the book and their execution in the productions I've seen. But I sort of felt this way about "Merrily We Roll Along" until I saw a production at the Donmar in London, when the staging and performances made everything click for me. So I'm hoping the Roundabout revival will do the same for "Pacific Overtures."

[leomaxfrank]

Posted: 8/4/04 at 10:29am

thanks for the insight...its nice to hear someone answer a question on here with clarity and tact. - i hope the roundabout staging is quite effective!

[GovernorSlaton]

Posted: 8/4/04 at 10:34am

This is probably the first time I agree with bronxboundexpress.

[kissmycookie]

Posted: 8/4/04 at 4:24pm

I believe the Roundabout's staging is based on the Tokyo/Lincoln Center Festival staging.,..