Pacific Overtures previews — Page 2

Not sure how big the band is, but Tunick did the (new) orchestrations.

I don't see this transferring. It's not even sold out right now.

If this new version is licensed without 'Chrysanthemum Tea', that'd be really sad.

Also - the show's content/running time isn't holding it back from being licensed. I doubt it's even the full cast of Asian Americans. It's just not a largely well known show, and the subject matter isn't the easiest to hook an audience to. Not sure that these cuts help to reduce either of those issues.

Oh, no. What disappointing news. Not only is "Chrysanthemum Tea" one of the best musical sequences, but the amount of cutting done to the book to bring the show to 90 minutes must be extensive. I know the book has its detractors, but I personally think it's John Weidman's best work with Sondheim and right up there with NIGHT MUSIC and FORUM. I've never enjoyed reading scripts/libretti, but I can sit and read PACIFIC OVERTURES like a novel. The crisscrossing journeys of Manjiro and Kayama are so beautifully and painfully wrought. I hope this cut-down version retains spirit, if not the scope, of their stories… though I'm tempted to say the two things are irrevocably intertwined

I saw it last night. I understand the skepticism about all the cutting - especially "Chrysanthemum Tea" - but this is a beautiful production that is completely true to the intent of the work.

To clarify a few things: Tunick is indeed credited with the orchestrations on the title page of the Playbill. The orchestra is just large enough to make songs like "There Is No Other Way" and "Pretty Lady" as lush as they need to be. Two keyboards, one woodwind, violin, viola, cello, bass, and two percussionists (surrounded by an impressive array of equipment!).

The stage, as you might expect, is rather bare, but the actors fill it with action. The vocal arrangements are beautiful and all are strong singers. All are in modern Western clothing, but large Japanese scarves (for lack of a better word) are used to symbolize the tension between Japanese and Western forces among the characters.

Cutting "Chrysanthemum Tea" means the loss of one of the cleverest songs ever written for the musical stage, but it also makes the plot much clearer. Frankly, in my earlier exposures to the show - the YouTube video of the original production, the Japanese production at the Kennedy Center, and the various recordings - I had come to think of Pacific Overtures as more of a sequence of scenes without much structure (somewhat like Assassins). Maybe that's my own stupidity, but in this version the story itself was much, much clearer to me.

In this intimate setting, certain things landed that had never made much of an impression on me before. "Welcome to Kanagawa," performed by Ann Harada with wonderful comic flair, was genuinely funny. The aforementioned "There Is No Other Way" was chilling and touching.

One cut I minded a bit more was for "Next": the "factoids" that relate the story of Pacific Overtures to the present-day status quo were cut entirely. I think that's a mistake, and it seriously reduces the power of the finale.

That being said, I want to stress again that this production, though very minimalist, is true to the show. The orchestra, cast, and the production itself all seemed close to perfect to me. So don't throw away your tickets. :)

Thank you, kdogg36, for the post. I saw the original 17 times. Looking forward to this production.

I'm sorry, it's not a question of Chrysanthemum Tea being a great song or the best in the show, it's IMPORTANT to the show, it wasn't put in to show off a good song, it was put there for a reason and it's brilliant and, for me, any "director" who would have the temerity and chutzpah to cut it is a moron. The original production was brilliant and it was brilliant because it had a real director. Yes, it was long and dry in certain ways, but it worked for those willing to invest the concentration - it was never going to be a mainstream show and the creators absolutely knew that and knew it would be a huge money loser. So, while I'm sure there are little trims that could be made, to lose one of the key songs in the show is just stupid. I have yet to see a John Doyle show that I haven't loathed. The guy is the Emperor with no clothes, who had a rather uneventful career until pretty late in his life when he got lucky. I shall now go play Chrysanthemum Tea.

bk I totally agree with your post!

But I wouldn't describe the book as dry- it is rich with ideas and imagery. It's just the show expects its audience to listen and think. What's wrong with that.

There is no need to cut a well-crafted show. I'm skipping this production.

The only Doyle show I've liked without reservation was A Catered Affair. I liked that very much (and I know I'm in a minority on that one). I've found his other stuff (Sweeney, Company, Mahagonny, Road Show) either reductively gimmicky or lifeless.

Well, John Doyle has left me all at sea with this Pacific Overtures.

The show opens with a neo-brechtian prologue where Megan Masako Haley enters the stage and stares at the rest of the cast, who are standing offstage at the end of the runway. They bow and George Takei announces via voiceover "Nippon, the floating kingdom..." The entire cast wears modern garb. As they sing "The Advantages of Floating In the Middle of the Sea" they use different fabrics to create adornments that represent... status? How connected to the ancient ways each character is? Heaven if I know. The show ends along the same lines, but whatever "frame" Doyle is using it as I cannot begin to comprehend. Perhaps Megan is in a museum and is looking at a picture of Japan from 1862 - and she wonders how Japan has come so far in less than 200 years? Your guess is as good as mine.

To explain how Doyle has cut the show, think of it like this: a production of The Seagull that focus entirely on Konstantin and Nina. Any scenes without them are cut. Or maybe even a Follies that is centered around Sally, Ben, Buddy, and Phyllis with all other songs cut. So we'd have time for "Beautiful Girls", "In Buddy's Eyes", and "Could I Leave You?", but say goodbye to the montage, "I'm Still Here", and "One More Kiss". Gone are all the side stories that The Reciter... recites. "Chrysanthemum Tea", "March to the Treaty House", and "The Lion Dance" are cut. Doyle does not even attempt kabuki style, and as a result, the show seems lopsided and unfocused. Before "Poems", the show has been centered almost completely around Kayama and Manjiro. But there is about a half hour ("Welcome to Kanagawa", "Someone In a Tree", and "Please Hello" where they disappear completely. With the entire script intact, this makes perfect sense. The show is not about these two people, and the show has delved away from them before. The Reciter interrupts them to tell stories, various other scenes with minor characters are played out, and the audience knows not to expect a perfect through-line of a story. But without these diversions, the show seems to forget about the two main characters and ignore them for an odd amount of time.

Doyle seems to have missed the entire point of the show. Pacific Overtures is not about a samurai and a sailor and how their relationship changes through time. It is about the forced westernization of Japan and how an entire culture and way of life was destroyed along with it. Kayama and Manjiro change along with the country and their opposing views on the events are touching, but they are not the centerpiece. Pacific Overtures is perhaps the only musical about ideas rather than people, moreso than even Sunday In the Park With George. And it is also a deeply moving musical about ideas, its power retained through its form. You would never get that from this production.

The cast is good, with my major exception being Steven Eng. Neither his voice nor acting seemed in the same world as anyone else. Megan Masako Haley is wonderful in a thankless role (a cypher added for this production, as well as the briefly seen Tamate). Ann Harda was lovely, though out-of-place when surrounded by men (Megan's role seemed to be from the present, visiting the past, so it was odd that a woman was involved in the "traditional" cast of the show). George Takei seems to have lost a bet. He has virtually no lines and still manages to mess them up. He shows no warmth, and, considering the concept of this production, serves no purpose to the piece. He is there purely as a star to sell seats. Doyle has directed the cast to have sort of "wink wink nudge nudge" attitude towards the audience about some of the lines and lyrics. It is awkward and feels disingenuous to the piece, Weidman, and Sondheim.

The orchestra sounds lovely, and fill up the small space quite well. The actors are heavily mic'd, for some reason, and they still muddle their words. "Please Hello" was garbled, with most of the cast gasping to get the words out. The lyrics you could hear were mostly unintelligible, especially from the British Admiral, the Dutch Admiral, and the choral section that ends the song. Ann Harada seems to have gotten the key changed for her french section, but for the choral end (in the original key) she is so uncomfortable in the register it was hard to hear any of her words. "Welcome to Kanagawa" was so unfunny it was hard to see why it was kept in. "Next" is cut to shreds and does not feel like a finale at all.

But "Someone In a Tree" is gorgeous, moving, and all around thrilling. If any part of this production is worth it, it is the eight minutes they sing this fantastic song. Some of the best music and lyrics ever written, and the staging was simple and almost elegant (apart from some haphazardly thrown paper made to look like leaves). Just cups of tea, and history, and someone in a tree...

Sondheim says, "Content Dictates Form". Doyle has thrown form away and is left with a confused, half-baked production that is unlikely to initiate new fans for the piece or please old ones. If recent productions of classic shows have been billed as Arthur Miller's The Crucible or Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie, there is no doubt how Classic Stage should bill this. Call it John Doyle's Pacific Overtures, because it sure isn't John Weidman or Stephen Sondheim's.

Updated On: 4/11/17 at 09:53 PM

Gaveston, I have the script to the production you speak of. Just briefly flipping through it, it seems Doyle has used it as the starting point for this production. There are numerous changes to the book, but at least Sondheim's score remains intact. However, entire scenes and diversions have been cut in this new production, which runs a scant 90 minutes.

For another example of the odd staging techniques used in this production, Doyle uses a prerecorded scream and red lights to indicate a death. It works well for the discovery of Tamate, but makes less sense when "Pretty Lady" ends and a scream is heard and the red lights glow. No dialogue indicated who killed the sailors or why. The climatic duel is laughable because they stand at opposite ends of the stage, raise their swords, and the scream plays with the red lights. I have no idea what Doyle is trying to do with it. (I was also annoyed that Tamate and Kayama sing "There Is No Other Way" to each other as opposed to having two ensemble members sing it while Tamate dances - the piece is also known as "Tamate's Dance", after all).

But if you haven't seen it, I recommend you watch the pro-shoot of the original Broadway production in all its lavish glory. The book may not be as streamlined as the revised version (from the 80s), but it is in no way less moving. I actually think the diversions add to the impact of the final scenes.

Pacific Overtures

Updated On: 4/12/17 at 11:07 PM

FWIW, according to my friend who is a prominent member of the cast, Weidman was heavily involved in the rehearsal process and supervised all the alterations to the text. That doesn't validate the changes, but it does indicate that they are authorized and are not the work of Doyle alone.



I enjoyed the production more than others here did, but it's certainly very austere and non-traditional.



The musical direction is superb, and the orchestra and the vocals are marvelous. "Someone In A Tree" is absolutely the high point, as it probably should be, and it got a HUGE response at the Sunday matinee.



i thought it was nice that George Takei wasn't given a separate bow in the curtain call. He was very kind and gracious with folks at the stage door afterwards.

I have a history with this show; two performances at the Winter Garden (including the final performance- I met Boris Aronson), the revival at the Promenade, somewhat streamlined (no Goble, no ricksha- it probably wouldn't get through the stage door), the snoozer from Japan at Avery Fisher, and the IRMA LA DOUCE-influenced production at the Donmar in London (via Chicago), with it's ridiculous reference to 9/11 (WHAT?????)! I thought I'd never pass up a production that came my way. I was wrong. I'm disheartened. I'm done. This year's PACIFIC OVERTURES, like this year's TEENY TODD, is something I will just have to live without.

I've waited so many years to see a full production of this show, and I'm worried that I've paid full price for a cliffnotes concert.