Sing a song of gladness and cheer
For the time of Christmas is here!
Look around about you and see
What a world of wonders this world can be!
Sing a Christmas carol, sing a Christmas carol,
Sing a Christmas carol like the children do!
And enjoy the beauty, all the joy and beauty
That a merry Christmas can bring to you!

"Pacific Overtures" is strikingly beautiful and on several levels disturbing -- but it's a Sondheim musical, so that's not saying anything new. The story is that of Commodore Perry's visit to Japan, which ended over two centuries of isolation and brought Japan -- forcefully -- into the modern world, and the changes made to Japan by that visit (displayed in the interlocking stories of a minor Japanese official who becomes Westernized and a fisherman who lived briefly in America and re-embraces the feudal ways). The backstory is that this is a Japanese creative team's (librettist and composer) attempt at fashioning a Broadway-like musical about an event in their country's history.

The current production (running through January) has been staged by Amon Miyamoto, who is himself Japanese and who staged a Japanese-language version of the show last summer at Lincoln Center. The result is visually stunning, although several plot holes remain in John Weidman's script.

This production, like the original Broadway production, employs a mostly-Asian cast. Major difference: in the original production, men played the women's parts in traditional Japanese dramatic style until the last number when women joined the cast; in this production, some female characters are played by women, others (usually the comic ones) are played by men. I prefer the new production in this regard.

Another similarity between the original production and this one is the problem of hearing Sondheim's lyrics -- the most clever on Broadway -- because of either the speed of the music or the inevitable mushiness that goes with chorus numbers. In one number, "Please Hello", you can with little loss stop trying so hard to hear the lyrics and enjoy the comedy of five cartoonish foreign ambassadors alternately confusing and terrorizing the hapless Shogun. But the other number is the climactic "Next!", which in one number represents 150 years of Japanese progress, the pupil learning all too well from its foreign teachers. Here the picture is of grimly proud citizens dressed all in black-with-studs -- sort of Japanese punk -- and the image (as Bill-the-Honeybear pointed out to me) is a subtle insult to the Japanese who gained progress at the cost of giving up their heritage and soul. But you can't hear what they're saying. (I wonder if that's not intentional as well?)

Overall, though, this is an excellent show. I recommend you get seats in the front mezzanine -- the Roundabout Theatre Company is presenting this show at Studio 54, and they have (I think) unwisely left the orchestra section in the tables-and-chairs setup used to stunning effect in their production of Cabaret. Also note that evening performances start at 7:00, an hour ahead of traditional Broadway show starting time, with the resulting effects on travel and dinner times. Mezzanine and balcony seats are large and comfortable, as they are in so many newer theatres -- a plus when you're plus-sized like me.

Minor nit: The Roundabout Theatre Company bought Studio 54 this past year. If there was ever a theatre that could stand to be renamed to reflect Broadway history, this one is it. So why don't they? My guess: They couldn't find a corporation or an individual with enough dough to pay to have the name changed. Feh.