Reader Reviews
Pacific Overtures (Donmar Warehouse, West End)
Back to Show Details| Score | Comment | Date |
 | The writer of the review underneath forgot to add that the snippets of 'topical' knowledge about Japan at the end were completely unecessary and made me cringe. Please!!!!..we don't have to be cheezy to be relevant. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (80.189.48.218) | 03 Sep 03 |
| I did enjoy this production...I think. The performances were admirable although the cast didn't have a uniform excellence that I have come to expect from Sondheim at the Donmar. The main problem was the direction. Why bother to put this production in the round? The clash of cultures examined Sondheim's musical was echoed in the clash of performance styles in this Donmar production. Both conflicting elements impressed on their own but produced vulgarity when placed next to each other. But criticisms aside, it was well acted and sung and the clarity of design was hugely effective. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (80.189.48.218) | 03 Sep 03 |
| Quite simply this production blew me away. The elegant simplicity of the production meant we got the full range of the performers abilities. Having been brought up on Musicals which require a great deal of scenery, it was inspiring to just how much can be achieved with so little. A magnificent cast were all excellent and the multitude of characters makes it difficult to single any out.....so I won't try. A pity this must close so soon. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (194.200.154.253) | 01 Sep 03 |
| Excellent show. Great cast, great music, great theatre. Definitely recommend. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (195.102.142.238) | 28 Jul 03 |
| http://www.broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=33 - USER: Whatsonstage.com (213.86.234.1) | 07 Jul 03 |
| I thoroughly enjoyed Pacific Overtures. It was very different to any other muscial I've seen with its' in-the-round minimal staging and all male cast but this enhanced the performances of the cast who were all very good. However the stand out performers were Jerome Pradon (particularly his performance of Chrysanthemum Tea) and Joseph Anthony Foronda as the Reciter. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (195.92.168.175) | 07 Jul 03 |
| always welcome a Sondheim and this one more than most. a rare treat and for once the mix of US and UK cast works, you can not tell which is which they are all working and singing so well. a joy, slightly slow I must say in places - a little too much style! - but clean, clear, simplicity shines through. lets have more like it please! - USER: Whatsonstage.com (217.13.129.151) | 07 Jul 03 |
| I saw this production at its first preview. A long-time Sondheim fan, I had seen both the original Broadway production and the revival by English National Opera. Neither prepared me for the astonishing beauty, wit, and impact of this small-scale production. The entire audience was on its feet cheering at the end. I've been amazed that a couple of the newspaper critics have called it coarse and OTT: to me and my companions this was one of the most finely-tuned and exactly-performed musical theatre productions we'd ever seen. Unmissable; a masterpiece. - USER: Whatsonstage.com (132.162.40.214) | 03 Jul 03 |
| "Pacific Overtures" is an American musical about America's part in the history of Japan as performed by an all-male troupe of Japanese actors in the style of a Noh play. It is not an easy set-up to achieve and every production has to make compromises. The first is normally the casting of non-oriental actors, but this can be overcome by elaborate costumes and make-up. The austere Noh style is next to go and then the all-male cast is forfeited. It can still work as an American musical and indeed Sondheim's songs, which tell most of the story, are the firm basis of what can be a moving and thrilling entertainment. Now London sees a version originally produced in Chicago but largely recast with a mix of Asian, American and British male actors. The Noh style is earnestly followed and the Japanese taste for austerity translated into minimal decor and props, and mainly black robes with an occasional colourful flourish. It is the sort of approach which makes you salivate for a take-away sushi and thank God for Sondheim. It also makes you notice the cast and wonder just what this motley crew are playing at (literally)? Charades may be the answer. Of course they are supposed to be Japanese playing an assortment of other nationalities but here we have the process reversed, an assorted cast playing mostly Japanese. Sometimes they do it well and then it works, but there is an element of English musical hall which creeps in to add coarseness instead of delicacy and those Samurai strokes become more martial arts than Toshiro Mifune. Thankfully the plain approach concentrates one's attention most appropriately on the songs which can be stirringly dramatic or woefully touching. You can hear why "Someone in a Tree" is Sondheim's own favourite song (and why "Chrysanthemum Tea" is my personal least favourite!). John Weidman's book remains both epic and confusing so that by the end we sense a dramatic achievement has been reached by both Japan and the performance, but without knowing exactly how we got there. The Donmar stage is now "in the round" so we are up close and personal, a situation which becomes Brechtian when the performances are uncomfortably broad but yields great rewards from the better adjusted players who deliver subtlety, endeavour and a true sense of that Japanese inscrutabilty of which Messrs Sondheim and Weidman can be proud. (My comments and three-star rating are based on a preview performance and I see no reason why an extra star cannot be gained by Opening Night.) - USER: Whatsonstage.com (82.43.172.252) | 01 Jul 03 |
| This uncluttered production ran in Chicago in 2002. The all-male cast, spare staging and incredibly sensitive acting/singing performances illuminated a 19th Century imperialist incursion by an American Navy ship into an isolationist Japan. It has eerie echos in light of our current blundering into a geopolitical quagmire in the Middle East. A beautiful and accessible play. Cornelia Miller - USER: Whatsonstage.com (64.12.102.162) | 10 Feb 03 |
