Pacific Overtures. Music & Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Book by John Weidman. The Menier Chocolate Factory, 53 Southwark Street, London SE1 to 24 February 2024.

4****: William Russell.

“A superb revival of a difficult Sondheim musical - not to be missed.”

One of Sondheim’s less often revived shows this superb co-production with the Umeda Arts Theatre of Pacific Overtures directed by Matthew White is revelation. It was originally performed in Tokyo in Japanese, but here adapted to fit the confines of the Menier, it is sung in English by a largely Asian cast and the Japanese origins make the result a revelation. It has always seemed one of those too clever by half Sondheim musicals of which there are a few but this time round the story of how in 1853 four American warships under the command of Commodore John Perry arrived in Tokyo bay and forced the until then closed to the rest of the world Japan to open up – everyone else followed post haste - works perfectly. Previous productions have been praised and won awards but this one, which has been changed with some songs dropped, is outstanding. Performed in traverse fashion, which is always tricky but used by White perfectly here, it tells how the Shogun, effectively the ruler of Japan, (Saori Oda gloriously icy and doing a terrific double act as the madame of the local geisha house coping with servicing the new arrivals), faces up to Perry and those who follow – the British, the Germans, the Russians and the French. The story is narrated by the Reciter (John Chew, agile and in fine voice) and although you can wonder at the cultural appropriation in writing and staging such a musical by white Americans in the first instance that really is one of those intellectual concerns which this Japanese co-production deals with. The set by Paul Farnsworth is gorgeous as are the costumes by Ayako Maeda and there are some stunning lighting effects – the scene with fish swimming in a pool on the floor of the stage is one – and novel use of props like the way Perry’s battleship is created out of black silk or the paper folded boats the cast wear as the ships arriving in harbour. The plot follows how two men, Kayama (Takuro Ohno), the local police chief who keeps getting promoted to deal with events, and Manjiro (Joaquim Pedro Valdes) a sailor who has been to America end up on different sides of what Japan should do and how the Emperor, until then a child and shown as a puppet figure, suddenly becomes a force to be reckoned with. The chances of leaving humming the tunes are remote although the Please, hello number when the foreigners arrive is pure Mikado and delightfully done. It is one of those if it is done, when it is done, then it were well when it is done like this evenings. Forget Miss Saigon by the way. This is a production not to be missed in every respect. The cleverest thing perhaps is that while the audience is settling down young Japanese men and women, perhaps members of the audience, wander across the stage, inspect the installations, take photographs, are told not to touch the puppet emperor by a man who looks like an usher - and then suddenly the show begins and we have been watching the cast.

Cast

Jon Chew – Reciter.

Takuro Ohno – Kayama

Saori Oda – Shogun, Madam.

Joaquin Pedro Valdes – Manjiro.

Kanako Nakano -Tamate.

Rachel Jayne Picar – Councillor/Kanagawa Girl.

Eu Jin Hwang – Councillor/Dutch Admiral.

Lee V G – American officer/Russian Admiral.

Ethan Le Phong – Fisherman/American Admiral.

Sario Solomon – Thief/French Admiral.

Joy Tan – Kanagawa Girl/boy in a tree.

Luoran Ding – Kanagawa Girl/Pretty Lady.

Masashi Fujimoto – Old Man/Priest.

Patrick Munday – British Admiral/ Sailor.

Iverson Yabut – Warrior/Sailor.

Abel Law, JoJo Meredith – Ensemble.

Creatives

Director – Matthew White.

Set Design – Paul Farnsworth.

Costume Design – Ayako Maeda.

Lighting Design – Paul Pyant.

Sound Design – Gregory Clarke.

Choreography – Ashley Nottingham.

Musical Directot – Paul Bogaev.

Video Designer – Leo Flint.

Fight Arranger – Paul Smith.