Pacific Overtures

"Pacific Overtures is a show like none other," said director Nick Ishimaru. "It has some of Sondheim's best music--by his own estimation, Act 1's finale 'Someone in a Tree' is the most perfect song he ever wrote--woven throughout a nuanced and thought-provoking text by John Weidman. The production is an incredible challenge because it utilizes Japanese concepts like ma, loosely meaning "negative space," or the Japanese tendency to leave endings and meanings implied, rather than stated. For me, the opportunity to work on Pacific Overtures is a perfect synthesis of art with identity. As a person, I have spent my life navigating Japanese and American cultural hybridity. As an artist, my passion is bringing that exploration to the stage."

Mixing elements of Kabuki theatre with the conventions of the Broadway musical, PACIFIC OVERTURES is a highly original, inventive, powerful, educational, and surprisingly humorous theatrical experience. Considered by many to be the artistic pinnacle of the legendary Stephen Sondheim/Hal Prince collaborations, this exploration of culture and imperialism pushes the boundaries of musical theatre further than ever before.

Commodore Matthew Perry's 1853 mission to open trade relations with isolationist Japan through gunboat diplomacy forges an unlikely friendship between the samurai, Kayama, and the Americanized fisherman, Manjiro. Kayama and Manjiro--and all of Japanese society--must face the wave of Westernization that follows.

PACIFIC OVERTURES explores how structures of power are dislodged and replaced by one another, be it in the name of modernity, imperialism, or survival. It presents a range of characters who see their lives upended in the face of global upheaval. The grandiose aesthetics of kabuki embellish the story in larger-than-life scope as the characters struggle to reconcile tradition with modernity, the world around them rapidly transforming through the inevitable ebb and flow of history.

The cast of PACIFIC OVERTURES will bring over 50 roles to vibrant life in this rarely done Sondheim work. They are (in alphabetical order): Lawrence-Michael C. Arias (Abe), Faustino Cadiz III (Swing), Keiko Shimosato Carreiro (The Reciter), Edward Im (The Boy), Sarah Jiang (Tamate), Stephen Kanaski (The Warrior), Ryan Marchand (Perry), Eiko Moon-Yamamoto (The Shogun's Mother), Nick Nakashima (Kayama), Vinh G. Nguyen (Manjiro), Mayadevi Ross (The Madame), and Julia Wright (Swing).

Directed by Nick Ishimaru, the creative team for PACIFIC OVERTURES includes Bando Hirohichiro (Assistant Director/Assistant Choreographer; Cultural Consultant), Diana Lee (Music Direction), Justin Kelly-Cahill (Lighting Design), Yusuke Soi (Scenic Design), Keiko Shimosato Carreiro (Costume Design), Megan Kurashige and Shannon Kurashige of Sharp & Fine (Choreography), and Ai Eibashi (Puppets and Props; Dramaturg).

Kunoichi Productions produces thought-provoking original plays with Japanese aesthetics, breaking traditions, taboos and gender/cultural assumptions; casting new light on old ideas or old stories; and engaging and challenging our audiences artistically, intellectually as well as politically through the fusion of different art forms--poetry, music, movement, visual arts, storytelling and puppetry. They are committed to supporting local artists with diverse backgrounds and talents, working and growing with them in an experimental, collaborative environment, and to bringing a fresh, multicultural perspective to the Bay Area and beyond.