'Pacific Overtures': Bravo to Kunoichi's rare San Francisco revival at Brava Theater!

[Wayman_Wong]

Posted: 6/3/25 at 6:38pm

''Pacific Overtures,'' Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's amazing musical about Japan, turns 50 years old next year. But the advantages of seeing this Tony-winning show, about the Westernization of this Far East country, onstage "remain remote." I first saw the original Broadway Asian-American cast, led by the legendary Mako, play the Curran Theatre in 1976. Has ANY San Francisco theater company revived it since? That's all the more reason to offer kudos to Kunoichi Productions' strong and striking revival, now playing through June 15 at the Brava Theater, 2781 24th St., San Francisco. Staged on Yusuki Soi's elegant set, it's being co-produced by the Brava! For Women in the Arts, Theatre of Yugen and Playland Productions.

The theatrical and musical challenges of ''Pacific Overtures'' are many. It blends the sights and sounds of East meeting West, and incorporates elements of Kabuki and Noh, plus samurai swordfighting. Fortunately, it's directed with flair by Nick Ishimaru, co-founder of Kunoichi and former director of Theatre of Yugen, with musical direction by Diana Lee. It features an excellent ensemble of 11 and a fine 7-piece orchestra.

The original ''Pacific Overtures,'' directed by Hal Prince, offered a mostly all-male cast. And true to Kabuki tradition, they also played the women. But in this Kunoichi revival, women have a more pivotal role, like Keiko Shimosato Carreiro, a member of the S.F. Mime Troupe Collective. She not only plays the Reciter with gravitas and grace, she designed the show's cavalcade of lovely costumes. Also, Mayadevi Ross gleefully leads the geishas in 'Welcome to Kanagawa,'' and at our matinee, swing Julie Wright spilled the ''Chrysanthemum Tea'' as the Shogun's Mother.

On the men's side, Nick Nakashima anchors the show the way Commodore Matthew Perry's gunboat sat in Tokyo Bay in 1853. He portrays Kayama with presence and a beautifully vibrant voice. Originally, the haunting song of ''There Is No Other Way'' was sung by two Observers, watching Kayama and his wife, Tamate (Sarah Jiang). But here, we hear Nakashima and Jiang sing it exquisitely themselves. Nakashima's other duet, ''Poems,'' pairs him with Vinh G. Nguyen, who's boyishly charming as Manjiro, and they're a dazzling duo. And ''Someone in a Tree,'' which Sondheim often has cited as his favorite song, gets a soaring rendition from Edward Im (as the Boy), Lawrence-Michael Arias (as the Old Man) and Stephen Kanaski (as the Warrior). These are among Act I's highlights. However, Act II is a little more of a mixed bag. As a trio of British sailors, Ryan Marchand, Im and Kanaski sound sublime with ''Pretty Lady.'' But the ''Please Hello,'' where Lord Abe greets a comic quintet of foreign admirals, comes off rough and underrehearsed. Sondheim's score is tricky, and overall, most of the show's singers negotiate their notes better than others; with any luck, the latter will improve with more performances.

Next? ''Pacific Overtures' '' remaining dates are from June 4-15, so if you love Sondheim, catch it before it says ''Sayonara!''

https://www.kunoichiproductions.org/

[Hest88]

Posted: 6/3/25 at 7:36pm

Thanks for the review. I've been trying to figure out if we can fit it into our show schedule (and if it would be worth it). "Poems" is my favorite from Pacific Overtures, followed by "A Bowler Hat." Oddly enough, I've never cared for "Someone in a Tree" even though I know that was Sondheim's favorite. I always preferred "A Bowler Hat" -- which is similar thematically while appealing to me rather more melodically.

[bear88]

Posted: 6/8/25 at 3:03am

I saw the production Saturday night and really enjoyed it. The seven-person orchestra is terrific and several of the actors give excellent performances, especially Keiko Shimosato Carreiro as The Reciter and Nick Nakashima as Kayama. The latter has a powerful voice and is a strong actor who carried me through his saga with a mournful gravitas. Vinh Nguyen is good as Manjiro. I had never seen any of these actors before and I thought they acquitted themselves quite well. 

”Please Hello” is a tough song for a small theater company to pull off because it requires many actors to manage rapid-fire, overlapping comic patter. I was either more forgiving than Wayman Wong or they have gotten better since he saw it. The actor who played the Russian was very funny. ‘Don’t touch the coat!’

There were a few times when the actors’ voices were overwhelmed by the orchestra or didn’t build to the crescendo I hoped, but those are minor quibbles.

A lot of thought has been put into this adaptation, some of which was outlined in a sheet of paper written by the dramaturg about the history of Japan during this period that I read before the musical. The musical is staged beautifully and the costumes are striking given the budgetary constraints.

For anyone in the San Francisco Bay Area who has never seen Pacific Overtures, as I had not in person, it’s worth checking out. The show closes June 15.

 

Updated On: 6/8/25 at 03:03 AM

[Wayman_Wong]

Posted: 6/11/25 at 2:49pm

Kunoichi Productions' strong and striking revival of Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's ''Pacific Overtures'' resumes tonight (6/11) and closes this Sunday (6/15) at the Brava Theater, 2781 24th St., San Francisco, Calif. If you're a Bay Area lover of Broadway and especially Sondheim, this 1976 musical about the Westernization of Japan is a must-see. Directed by Nick Ishimaru, ''Pacific Overtures'' showcases a marvelous Asian-American cast and a 7-piece orchestra. East meets West in Sondheim's ravishing score, which features his favorite song, ''Someone in a Tree.'' This show is rarely revived, and, sadly, rarely reviewed. I Googled and found only TWO full-length reviews: One by Lily Janiak in the S.F. Chronicle and one by Chad Jones at Theater Dogs.

Speaking of ''Pacific Overtures,'' one terrific actor who has experienced its ''cups of tea and history'' is Francis Jue. He did the 1984 York Theatre revival, as well as one at TheatreWorks in Palo Alto, Calif., in 1988 and the Roundabout's Broadway revival in 2004-05. At Roundabout, he shared the stage with the legendary Alvin Ing, who originally appeared in ''Pacific Overtures'' in 1976 and reprised his role as the Shogun's Mother, spilling the ''Chrysanthemum Tea.''

At Sunday's Tony Awards, when Jue won for David Henry Hwang's ''Yellow Face,'' he saluted Ing: ''I'm only here because of the encouragement and inspiration of generations of wonderful, deserving Asian artists who came before me and never got the opportunities that I've had.'' If you come to Kunoishi's ''Pacific Overtures'' this weekend, you'll see today's talented Asian-American actors who stand on their shoulders. And maybe someday a future Tony winner.

P.S. Bear88, thanks for your review! I'm so glad you saw this!

https://www.kunoichiproductions.org/

 

Updated On: 6/11/25 at 02:49 PM

[bear88]

Posted: 6/11/25 at 11:56pm

Here are the reviews. 

Chad Jones of Theater Dogs, an admirer of the musical, praised the production.

"The Kunoichi production at Brava, directed by Nick Ishimaru, embraces the less-is-more philosophy with a single unit set (by Yusuke Soi) and an adept 11-person cast to create a fable-like vision of Japan (mostly in the 19th century) and its “barbaric” invasion from the point of view of Japanese people.

The star here is Sondheim’s score, simple, intricate and bursting with lyrical gems. Music director Diana Lee and a superb seven-piece orchestra (featuring Shirley Muramoto on the koto) make the show’s 2 1/2 hours a sonic treat, as do some glorious voices in the cast."

https://www.theaterdogs.net/reviews/pacific-overtures

And then there is Lily Janiak's review in the San Francisco Chronicle. Aside from "A Bowler Hat," Janiak is not a fan of Stephen Sondheim's score, which she is entitled not to like (although she has an annoying habit of reviewing revivals as if they were new shows).

This is what she has to say about "Someone in a Tree":

"In the repetitive song 'Someone in a Tree,' the actors fail to justify why one character, recalling his observation of the first meeting of the Japanese and Americans, sings that he was 'younger then' six times. Sitting in the audience, you start to dream up possibilities. Maybe he’s senile. Maybe he’s overexcited or fond of hearing his own voice. Maybe his listener would be indulgent at first, since she yearns to hear his tale, only to grow confused, then impatient, then exasperated. But the actors don’t explore these possibilities or any other, probably better ones. Each iteration feels the same."

Again, Janiak is entitled to not like "Someone in a Tree," but the director, Nick Ishimaru, and the actors in the scene didn't handle the song much differently than Hal Prince did in 1976. I rewatched the YouTube video just to make sure I wasn't crazy. Has Janiak never seen Pacific Overtures, even on YouTube? Is she really trashing the director and actors of a small theater company for performing it in a very similar way?

I generally appreciate critics who don't whitewash a production's flaws, even a small theater group, but if you're going to do that, it might help if your review doesn't betray your own ignorance. Janiak manages to say at the end - after insulting the actors' singing ability in a rather gratuitous way - that the musical "makes for a provocative revisit." But she clearly doesn't know the show at all. Janiak, the newspaper's main theater critic, should at least know how "Someone In a Tree" is normally staged and performed. It's painfully obvious that she doesn't.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/entertainment/article/kunoichi-productions-pacific-overtures-review-20353433.php

[Wayman_Wong]

Posted: 6/13/25 at 2:07am

Bear88, thanks for your thoughtful insights on those reviews. You really know ''Pacific Overtures.'' I, myself, saw the original ''Pacific Overtures'' in 1976, plus the revivals at York Theatre in NYC (1984), the New National Theatre of Tokyo at Lincoln Center (2002), the Roundabout on Broadway (2004) and John Doyle's one-act, Off-Broadway version at Classic Stage Company (2017). I've also been a professional theater critic, so I bring certain expectations of shows and their reviewers. 

In this case, I'm surprised that neither Chad Jones, who really enjoyed the San Francisco revival, nor Lily Janiak, who didn't, didn't acknowledge at all that this is NOT how ''Pacific Overtures'' is usually performed. I've always seen a man play the Reciter, a role originated by Mako, who was Tony-nominated for his performance in 1976. Even the Doyle version starred George Takei. This is the first time in nearly 50 years that I've seen a woman (Keiko Shimosato Carreiro) play the Reciter. Traditionally, Kabuki features men playing female roles as well, so I've always seen, say, men playing Tamate, Kayama's wife; the Shogun's Mother, and the Madam at Kanagawa ... until the Doyle version, where Megan Masako Haley played Tamate and Ann Harada was the Madam. Of course, I don't expect other critics to have seen ''Pacific Overtures'' as many times as I have, but the 1976 cast album can be found at YouTube, and so can a filmed version of the original Broadway cast, shot for Japanese TV. 

At any rate, for those who have never seen ''Pacific Overtures'' onstage or want to see it again, go! It might be another 50 years before you get another opportunity in San Francisco. 

Updated On: 6/13/25 at 02:07 AM

[bear88]

Posted: 6/13/25 at 4:43am

Hi Wayman,

I think it’s safe to say that you know a lot more about Pacific Overtures than I do. This was my first time seeing it. I always worry a bit when seeing ambitious shows by small theater companies, but it’s often very rewarding (and sometimes brings something different out of a show). I knew in advance that women were in the cast, but because I had never experienced the traditional version in person and am not a purist, that didn’t bother me. 

I thought the greater focus on the Japanese perspective was welcome and often interesting without being didactic or taking away from the musical’s strengths. I appreciated the thought and care that went into the production. For that reason, Janiak’s review hit me wrong.  It’s one thing to blast a big, national touring production or an out-of-town Broadway tryout. Crapping on this production from a relatively new theater company that’s trying to give a voice to Japanese-American performers… I didn’t care for it.

In fairness to the Chronicle, they wrote a story about the production before it started and wrote a review, so the show wasn’t ignored. But if all I had seen was Janiak’s review, I might not have gone at all based on her conclusion that the direction was horrible and that many of the singers were bad. Luckily, I have other sources of information and heard positive things.

But it felt like a strangely cruel review even though it started out with praise. There were caustic sentences in there that just felt unnecessary. Janiak frequently includes her left-of-center political perspective in her reviews (and this one is no exception), but I guess her progressive politics don’t extend to Asian-American performers and directors in small theater companies trying to pull off Pacific Overtures.

It was made all the more irritating when Janiak then put her ignorance on display with her ridiculous critique of the way ‘Someone in a Tree’ was performed - not much different than the original staging.

That paragraph combined mean girl nastiness with a shocking obliviousness to one of Stephen Sondheim’s personal favorite songs - and certainly the most famous one from Pacific Overtures. And this is Janiak’s actual job! She doesn’t have to like the song, but criticizing the actors and the director for it made her, not them, look like a fool.

While I have seen a decent number of shows in my life, at least compared to the average person, I only really got interested in theater during the past decade. Almost everything - even famous shows that people have seen countless times - is new to me. I always assume that most actual theater aficionados know a lot more than me. So it’s always a little surprising when a professional critic doesn’t know something that I thought was common knowledge.

Updated On: 6/13/25 at 04:43 AM

[bear88]

Posted: 6/14/25 at 2:35am

I'm sure people have run across this before, but it's fascinating nonetheless. "Someone in a Tree, Anatomy of a Song" - it's in two parts (the second part ends with a performance by the original cast with Sondheim on piano):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFkldZHOp_k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPmRiJNOVz0
 

 

Updated On: 6/14/25 at 02:35 AM

[Wayman_Wong]

Posted: 6/14/25 at 10:46am

Thanks, Bear88! I have seen ''Anatomy of a Song,'' and what a treat it is to have Sondheim exploring his favorite tune. I also just discovered that the 2005 Tony-nominated Roundabout revival of ''Pacific Overtures,'' starring B.D. Wong, is on YouTube. As is the 2002 New National Theatre of Tokyo version (in Japanese), which was directed by Japanese director Amon Miyamoto. Sondheim loved the Japanese version so much that it inspired the Roundabout revival.

And for the record, I wanted to add my two cents on Lily Janiak of the S.F. Chronicle. For nearly the past decade, she's been very dedicated to Bay Area theater and covers a lot, sometimes navigating the tricky balance of previewing a show and then reviewing it. In this case, I aligned much more with Chad Jones' positive rave for Kunoichi's ''Pacific Overtures,'' than Janiak's writeup, which was harsher than I ever would've been. By sheer coincidence, she also recently panned the Shotgun Players' revival of David Henry Hwang's ''Yellow Face,'' but luckily for them, it was so popular that it extended and sold out its run (which closes today: 6/14).

Even so, I don't necessarily share your assessment that  ''her progressive politics don’t extend to Asian-American performers and directors in small theater companies trying to pull off 'Pacific Overtures.' '' I can think of times where she's really supported Asian-American artists, notably when Janiak raved about David Henry Hwang and Jeanine Tesori's bold  ''Soft Power,'' when it played San Francisco's Curran in 2018. She called it ''the first defining musical of the Trump era.''

Anyway, I'm glad you're a fellow soulmate when it comes to Kunoichi's revival, and I hope to catch it one more time!

 

Updated On: 6/14/25 at 10:46 AM

[bear88]

Posted: 6/14/25 at 5:43pm

I said in my first comment about the review that I appreciate critics who don’t whitewash a show’s flaws just because it is a small production. It must be awkward to both cover the local theater scene - and many San Francisco Bay Area theaters have closed since 2019, which Lily Janiak has written about - while also being an honest critic.

But there’s a line between honest criticism and nastiness, especially when aimed at actors and directors who are doing this as a part-time gig. My expectations are different for a Broadway production or a national tour than a small theater company on a shoestring budget. Sharp-tongued zingers seem more appropriate for the former, not the latter.

And if you’re going to fire away like a latter-day John Simon, I guess I think it’s fair to call the critic out when the critique of the director and actors of Pacific Overtures is based on some alternate version of a famous Sondheim song that’s never been done the way she would prefer. Janiak has every right to find ‘Someone in a Tree’ tedious and repetitive. But she should know, and convey to the reader, that the repetition is part of Sondheim’s design for the song. She should know that’s how it was staged in the original 1976 version. (ETA: It’s how the song was staged in the 2004-05 Roundabout revival too.) YouTube is available. You have seen many productions of Pacific Overtures. Has it ever been done in which The Reciter grows confused and then impatient/irritated with the Old Man?

It just seems strange to blast the director and actors of a small theater company for staging the song in traditional fashion, as if they’re too dense to come up with a more interesting version that, to my knowledge, doesn’t exist.

ETA: I got tickets for the final performance on Sunday. We’ll see what my spouse thinks.

Updated On: 6/14/25 at 05:43 PM

[bear88]

Posted: 6/16/25 at 12:50am

It was nice to see a good turnout for the final performance by Kunoichi Productions' production of Pacific Overtures at the Brava Theater Center in San Francisco. The audience was enthusiastic and the company was even more revved up than when I saw it last weekend. Keko Shimosato Carreiro, who played The Reciter, spoke emotionally to the audience after a standing ovation at the show's conclusion.

I've made my positive comments before, but I can only reiterate how much thought and care was put into this show. The performances, my wife agreed, were excellent, as was the small but gifted orchestra. I can only reiterate what a standout performance was given by Nick Nakashima as Kayama, who excelled as an actor, in his duets with Sarah Jiang (as his wife) and Vinh G. Nguyen as Manjiro, then alone in "A Bowler Hat," which feels like the musical's climax. I also really enjoyed whoever played The Russian (I still haven't totally figured it out and don't want to get his name wrong, but he was hilarious in "Please Hello"]. 

I'm dense, but I realized the parallels between "Someone in a Tree," and Hamilton's "The Room Where it Happens" only yesterday. Others have mentioned this, and the songs' role in the shows are not the same (Burr is a central character, the characters in "Someone in a Tree" are not) - both both dramatize historical events not by recounting the event itself but by viewing them through the perspective of outsiders. 

Updated On: 6/16/25 at 12:50 AM