Pacific Overtures (Vocal Score): Piano/Vocal
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,Music
Pacific Overtures (Vocal Score): Piano/Vocal Details
Titles include: The Advantages of Floating in the Middle of the Sea * Four Black Dragons * Welcome to Kanagawa * Someone in a Tree * Lion Dance * Please Hello * A Bowler Hat * Pretty Lady * Next and more.
Reviews
I consider this to be among Sondheim's great scores. I regard Sweeny Todd and Sunday in the Park as co-first among equals in this regard, along with all the shows starting with Company (the first in which he achieves greatness), until the present with the exception of Assassins which I found ingenious but flat overall with an even more problematic ending. (It seems no accident that the book for both came from the same author, John Weidman.) Forum is fine work and part of the biggest commercial success but does not demonstrate the musical greatness of the later scores.I must take strong exception to the review of Mr. Briggs. This is by no means the weakest Sondheim score, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To the Forum, Anyone can Whistle, and Assassins are weaker. Nothing in these is even as good as "Someone in a Tree".The score stands well against any but the show itself has some issues.The main one is that the story line does not lend itself to a strong ending. After getting to a critical juncture between adaptation vs tradition (with the native Japanese character adopting new ways, the repatriated exile turning into a strictly traditional samurai then killing the other) the story stops with a quick jump to the present in the final number "Next" citing the progress and also the drawbacks of Japan's remarkable leap from closed feudal society to modern world power while never losing sovereignty. This just will never play like Maria gets the Captain crossing the alps, Curly wins Laurey after a fight to the death with Jud with a rousing tribute to Oklahoma or Nellie holding hands with Emile under the table as the curtain falls. On the other hand the degree and accuracy of cultural exposition makes the King and I (or the Mikado) look like a minstrel show.Another issue is that the original production used an all male cast in the Kabuki tradition with songs designed around the voice ranges of this cast. Actual Kabuki actors with experience playing female roles were used. This raises major difficulties for new productions. In an SF Bay Area mixed gender staging, the changing of keys to accomodate female singers added a noticeable shrillness to the score not heard on the cast recording.Nonetheless the show overcomes the extremely didactic nature of its subject and purpose to display effective characters, an engaging story line and outstanding musical numbers. The main thing I noticed after many listenings is that Pacific Overtures is softer with less edge than Sweeny Todd or Sunday in the Park. Show me any other show that so faithfully and deeply molds such different cultures into a composite of both that could even dream of running on Broadway (and tour as well).