Welcome to my new series that will be discussing and honoring various works of the greatest composer to have ever lived in the world of musical theatre: Stephen Sondheim.
In many ways, I do feel like Sondheim was without peer. He reshaped the artform of musical theatre and what could be accomplished in its structure. He truly was the Shakespeare of musical theatre and his loss is a monumental one.
Still though, he will remain immortal through his work...and I will always treasure it.
My hope with these posts will be to create a discussion around these musicals, tell a little bit about how they were developed, the original productions themselves, the score, and then expressing how it affected myself and others. I also hope that it will lead others who may not have heard or seen a single song or a production of the musical in question. Discovery can be quite fun, and I feel like the richness of Sondheim's work will often lead you to great results.
The first musical I chose is 1976's Pacific Overtures.
Right off the bat, you are probably thinking "What?" Why?" or maybe even "Never heard of it..."
Smack dab between his Original Broadway Productions of A Little Night Music and Sweeney Todd came a musical that was about how Japan was forcibly pushed into becoming a westernized society when American ships arrived beginning in 1853.
On top of that, the original production, which was directed by fellow theatrical legend and then Sondheim stalwart Harold Prince, was done in the traditional Kabuki theatre style in which men also play women's parts...and there was no whitewashing here. Asian actors (and actresses would join towards the end as an ensemble) played all the roles. Not all were Japanese, but most were of Japanese descent.
Think about that for a second.
This is the mid-70s. Broadway and NYC as a whole are struggling immensely but the biggest successes of the era are musicals like A Chorus Line or Grease. Sure, Sondheim may have gotten a lot of acclaim with his productions of Company and A Little Night Music but both had their detractors. Follies, in particular, was met with a lot of disdain with its elaborate costumes and managed to lose the Tony for Best Musical to the long forgotten musical adaptation of Two Gentleman of Verona that was made by the composer behind Hair.
Amongst all of this, Sondheim, Prince, and Book writer John Weidman gave us a MUSICAL about how Japan was overtaken by western society all done in the style of a Japanese Kabuki theatre that many probably weren't even aware of at the time as a thing.
And THAT, dear readers, is why Sondheim deserves so much credit for being an innovator who wasn't out to coddle the masses or the "Bridge & Tunnel" crowd who schlepped in from Piscataway or Briarcliff Manor.
...and we haven't even gotten to the musical in which he had a barber and a pie-shop owner murdering innocent people to bake them into meat pies yet!!
Anyways...Pacific Overtures:
It must be said right off the bat that Sondheim wasn't the driven force behind the musical at first. This was actually the brainchild of Harold 'Hal' Prince.
Prince was very intrigued by Japanese theatre conventions, particularly that of Kabuki, in which the actors involved would sing and dance while wearing prominent/stylized makeup. Sondheim and many of Prince's regular collaborators were less than enthused with the idea simply because most found the idea "unusual" and "unfamiliar"...but they were persuaded to go along with it.
The story was based in 19th Century Japan, chronicling the 1853 arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry and how America's gunboat diplomacy would force Japan out of centuries of isolation.
In order to find an entryway into the world, especially in Sondheim's case as he had no real familiarity with Japanese music, the team acted as if this were a show written by a Japanese playwright who visited New York and wrote a show that blended traditional Japanese elements with moments of Tin Pan Alley flourish.
In an effort to try to humanize the story, Book writer John Weidman added two characters: a samurai and a fisherman (who had lived in the US briefly) who are friends caught up in their home country facing immense change.
In the end, I can understand the frustration that Sondheim and Weidman felt early on. Despite the effort, a lot of Pacific Overtures seems more driven by ideas rather than character development. You could argue that Sondheim loved "concept" musicals but even the grandfather of the concept musical: Company had a rather interesting character journey with its lead character of Bobby...not to mention a lot of distinctive supporting players.
When it premiered in 1976, it received mixed reviews with many describing it as feeling isolating and didactic. In his book Finishing the Hat, Sondheim didn't mince words:
"It was the most bizarre and unusual musical to be seen in a commercial setting"...at least to that date...but I would argue that we've never really seen another musical quite like Pacific Overtures.
A professionally filmed video of the OBC is available on YouTube. The audio quality isn't the greatest but I think it is worth checking out just because the production is simply too unique.
Do I love Pacific Overtures?
That's a complicated question to answer.
I definitely don't dislike the musical, but I can't deny that it can feel a little slow and dry at times. I completely understand why some might find it to be just too boring or strange, but I think that the boldness of that original staging pays off.
I have seen the show staged on one occasion prior, but that production was missing a significant amount of energy that left 90% of the material feeling merely adequate at best.
It wasn't until I listened to the OBC recording and discovered video of it that I began to see a lot of merit in the material and in Sondheim's score.
What Sondheim managed to achieve with this score is quite an admirable feat. He wrote most of it in parallel 4ths with no leading tone as to give it what he called a "quasi-Japanese style". He would then add those Tin Pan Alley flourishes in moments at the score progressed.
One particular song would stand out as being the most "western" in tone: "Please Hello".
"Please Hello" would serve as the Act Two opener, and in true Sondheim fashion, it continues the trend of his solid track record of killer Act Two openers.
Shogun Lord Abe is displeased to learn that Americans have returned wanted to settle a trade agreement.
To a tune sounding similar to a Sousa march, the American ambassador sings jubilantly speaking in condescendingly Broken English.
Soon to follow is a British Ambassador straight out of The Pirates of Penzance who was sent there with tea via Queen Victoria also in hopes to also make an agreement.
Then we get a clog-dancing Dutchman who tries to pawn off chocolate bars; a gloomy Russian who insists what they don't touch his coat ("DON'T TOUCH THE COAT!"); and then perhaps the catchiest part of the song, a dandy Can-can Frenchman arrives with word "from Napoleon ze Third" that all they want is a "detente" (essentially to ease their strained relations).
The song eventually descends into a chaotic mess that somehow all fits together with each of the ambassadors singing over each other while Lord Abe looks helpless carrying all of the paperwork that has been thrust upon him.
"Please Hello" is one of Sondheim's best songs and one that doesn't get enough attention for its lyrics and the brilliance of combining so many musical styles.
I have included a link to the song below, which shows live footage from the OBC production but with audio coming from the OBC recording.
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