Friday, February 3, 2012
Theater Stop Reading, Go See Sondheim's Pacific Overtures at Lipscomb
Posted by Jim Ridley on Fri, Feb 3, 2012 at 7:11 AM
In some ways, Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's musical — envisioned as a Japanese imagining of how an American musical might portray the Americanizing of Japan from the 19th century forward — may have been a victim of its initial Broadway staging, which played up stiffly formal elements of Japanese theater. The musical subsequently got a reputation for being slow, difficult and inaccessible, one reason it's rarely performed. It also revived the usual yap about how Sondheim doesn't write the kind of toe-tappers that lodge a show in the public's memory.
Blackbird directors Greg Greene and Wes Driver soundly shut down both those objections. They wisely turn what had been previously been staged as ponderous spectacle into a fast, funny near-vaudeville of cultural cross-pollination. (This is one case where seeing the play in the hinterlands is probably an improvement over Broadway: it should look a little fake and unpolished, more state-fair historical pageant than high-gloss prestige production. I kept thinking of the Robert Altman movie where American Indians play Buffalo Bill's idea of American Indians.) And in this context, played as show-stoppers rather than curios, the songs sparkle — music director Benjamin Van Diepen doesn't overhype the mock-Japanese aspects, allowing some of Sondheim's wittiest lyrics ("Please, Hello") and most affecting melodies ("A Bowler Hat") to shine.
It's still a polarizing show, but I expect it only to get better as the production continues through Feb. 18: on opening night it took a few scenes for the game cast to stick the show's extremely tricky tone, with its multiple layers of ironic remove. Since Martin Brady will be reviewing in next week's Scene, I'll leave the rest to professionals — but for me, Nashville's first production of the play in 36 years was worth the wait.
UPDATE, 2/3: Evans Donnell with a rave in ArtNowNashville: "Blackbird Theater has stripped away artistic barriers of style and pacing that might exist between actors and audience. That means Nashville theatergoers now have the privilege of seeing a thoroughly entertaining version of Pacific Overtures." He also mentions the blessing of sorts the production received from maestro Sondheim.
• Jeffrey Ellis in BroadwayWorld: "Resolute, though somehow expansive, in his vision for the piece, Greene is admirably aided and abetted by a talented ensemble of actors and theater artisans in creating a memorable production that is accessible to all audience members, regardless of their grasp of the history of the world during the 1850s."
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