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Pacific Overtures was an ambitious 1976 musical by Stephen Sondheim, with a libretto by John Weidman, and additional material by Hugh Wheeler, set in 1853 Japan. Four Western ships arrive omniously, opening the feudal country for the first time in 250 years. Some of the Japanese resist the outside invasion, reverting to ancient feudal tradition, while others embrace the Westerners and assimiliate. Commodore Perry arrives and the Convention of Kanagawa is negotiated. By the end of the play it is 1976 -- and Japan's shoguns and emperors have been replaced by businessmen in three-piece suits.The play was presented in Kabuki style, with men playing women's parts and set changes made in full view of the audience by men dressed in black. "Pacific Overtures" opened to mixed reviews and closed after six months, yet the score remains one of Sondheim's finest. Built around a quasi-Japanese pentatonic scale, the music contrasts the Japanese passivity ("There is No Other Way") with Western ingeniousness ("Please Hello," "Pretty Lady"). Sondheim has said that "Someone in a Tree," where three witnesses describe negotations between Japanese and Americans, is the most favorite of the songs he's written. "A Bowler Hat" also neatly encapsulates the show's theme, as a samurai gradually sells out to the Westerners. Weidman wrote an underrated libretto, telling the massive story from the points of view of two Japanese men, a samurai and a fisherman.
The title of the play is ironic, nodding toward "overture" as a musical form, and archly noting that the initiatives of the Western powers for commercial exploitation of the Pacific nation were anything but pacific overtures.
Pacific Overtures opened at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York on January 11, 1976 on closed after 193 performances on June 27, 1976.
This show was most recently performed at the North Shore Music TheatreThe North Shore Music Theatre or NSMT, as it's called by locals, is a regional theatre in Beverly, Massachusetts. Its most popular musical productions include West Side Story Phantom Kiss Me, Kate and a yearly production of A Christmas Carol''. Yearly cel in Beverly, MassachusettsBeverly is a city located in Essex County, Massachusetts. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 39,862. The mayor is William Scanlon, who was elected to his fifth term in 2003. History and Trivia Beverly was first settled in 1626 and w in August of 2003.
A BroadwayThis article is about the street in New York City. For other articles with the name Broadway, see: Broadway (disambiguation). Broadway as the name implies, is a big, wide avenue in New York City, New York, and is one of the main north-south thoroughfares revival is being prepared to open at Studio 54Studio 54 was a legendary New York City disco located on West 54th St. It opened on April 16, 1977 and closed in December, 1979. It was operated by the flamboyant, publicly visible Steve Rubell and retiring silent partner Ian Schrager. Hedonistic Rubell w in late 20042004 is a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 2004 calendar), and has also been designated the: International Year of Rice International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition Elections are to be held in 73 co, starring B.D. Wong .
1 Musical Numbers
1.1 Act One
- "Prologue"
- "The Advantages of Floating in the Middle of the Sea"
- "There Is No Other Way"
- "Four Black Dragons"
- "Chrysanthemum Tea"
- "Poems"
- "Welcome to Kanagawa"
- "March to the Treaty House - Orchestra
- "Someone in a Tree"
- "Lion Dance"
1.2 Act Two
- "Please Hello"
- "A Bowler Hat"
- "Pretty Lady"
- "Next"
Musical theatre
