East West Players' Pacific Overtures 2024
(Pictures, video, and personal notes)
Poster featuring Jon Jon Briones and Gede Watanabe. Briones plays The Reciter while Watanabe here is the Shogun's Mother. The latter is Pacific Overtures alumni, having played the original Boy during "Someone in a Tree".
Another look at John John Briones as The Reciter.
The Shogun's court. Interesting things to note here:
There are several on-stage musicians at the left balcony. They're dressed in traditional wear, akin to musicians found in Kabuki. They seem to have taiko drums and a koto. The percussionist likely has other instruments on-hand.
The top half of the set is used to project images. Here, it displays the palace setting.
Here, Manjiro is wearing makeup. In later scenes, we see him without. Perhaps this is to better show the ongoing westernization? This production is also the first in a long while to have actors wear Kabuki makeup. No, all-white productions do not count.
The visual design is uses traditional motifs like screens and traditional patterns. The set resembles a sunrise over the ocean. However, it is relatively modern, compared to other Pacific Overtures sets. Sometimes, they use various high-saturated colors, colored lights, and projections. This is pehaps to keep interesting visuals and help bridge the gap between the past and present Japan. Of course, there are other reasons...
His wife is seen playing her koto. In some productions, they have her with a servant who plays the koto for her singing.
Kayama Izaemon (Right) and John Manjiro (Left) during "Poems".
I'm assuming this is during Poems since Manjiro holds what appears to be Tanzaku, japanese cardstock often used to write wishes or poetry.
Manjiro is also wearing a haori over his old western outfit, showing his budding re-assimilation into Japanese society and culture.
Madam and the Girls during the song "Welcome to Kanagawa".
Here, the Girls are portrayed by both men and women equally. Previous productions have done all men (Original), most women with one guy as the most chastised one (Original Japanese & Broadway Revival), and all women (2nd Japanese and West End revival). This is the first recorded time when there's an equal amount of men and women for the Girls.
The girls have distinctly cartoonishly extravagant outfits and wigs. Other outfits have been much more grounded. Recent productions have made the Girls' appearances intentionally silly, as to better convey their comedic and over-the-top personalities.
Also I choose to call them "The Girls", as written in the script. The official page lists them as "Geisha". I'm against this, as these characters are clearly prostitutes and Geisha are commonly misidentified as such, leading to misinformation and misbehavior towards the profession.
The Reciter and the Old Man at the start of "Someone in a Tree".
The old man here wears a flat cap with his kimono. Prior versions have the hat be a bowler or a boater hat. This is to show that the man grew up long enough to see the early 20th century Japan.
In the 1st Japanese production and Broadway revival, the old man instead held a wooden stick staff and a long head of hair and beard. I guess the idea was to give the man an otherworldly feel, since there, he's more heavily implied to be a ghost.
The projection displays a wooden house on a beach, with a cliffside tree looming over it.
This was a preview performance of Someone in a Tree by East West Players, featuring Gede Watanabe. Interestingly, none of the other actors are in the production. Perhaps they were brought in just for this performance or they ended up dropping out.
Commodore Mathew Calbraith Perry during "The Lion Dance".
Well, he has a long, wild, lion-like wig. Otherwise, his outfit is completely different from anything prior.
Perry usually wears an navy officer's jacket, commonly with kimono-like sleeves. But here, he's in a body stocking with a painted-on torso. His bottom half has a fringe...something barbaric, probably. He's wearing some more modern shoes. Am I forgetting anything...?
Oh yeah. His freaking BUSTER SWORD!?! Like, that's just straight-up Final Fantasy's Cloud Strife's giant ass sword!! He also seems to have leather straps around his arms. I guess a holder for the sword???
My guess is that they're not only showcasing Japan's westernization but also its modernization and future, our modern day. They will create Final Fantasy and everything we have today!!
...Insane new direction and I'm all for it, for as weird as it is!
The Imperial Court in Kyoto. Going from left to right, Manjiro, Kayama, the priests, the Emperor, and Lord Abe.
It took me a while to figure out which of the two guys was Kayama and Manjiro, due to the lighting and that they're both dressed in samurai dress. But I figured out that Manjiro's wearing a more torn and wrinkled outfit. It's not as smooth and the shoulder's are more droopy.
Now with a decently closer look, Lord Abe is played by a woman, Kerry K. Carnahan! This falls in line with the recent Japanese and West End production.
The stage projects an painting of the sun goddess Amaterasu, referencing the imperial family claiming her as their ancestor.
The Emperor puppet has no face, only two indents for eyes. He's also on a pedestal, I suppose so the actors don't have to sit down and to give room for The Reciter's reveal as the grown-up Emperor Meiji.
The fencing master's daughter during "Pretty Lady".
She's played by Ashley En-Fu Matthews, the same actress as Tamate and the Merchant's son.
Ensemble during the final song "Next", all dressed in modern clothing. We have a whole bunch of references here! Going from left to right:
Ash Ketchum or Satoshi from the Pokemon anime, complete with a Pikachu doll.
Tanjiro Kamado from Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. I'm assuming the two are meant to be cosplayers and not the actual anime characters.
Gede Watanabe as Yayoi Kusama, a Japanese contemporary artist known for her dot motif and signature bright red hair.
A race car driver, wearing a jumpsuit displaying the motorsport division "Toyota Gazoo Racing" and several sponsers. Can't identify a specific driver.
Shohei Ohtani, a Japanese player for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball. Either that or a big fan of the player.
I'm assuming that's Kayama and Tamate projected above, in place of the common ending of them coming on-stage to fish.
Got any photos or additional changes you've seen of the actual proudction? Any additional observations? Please share them with me!
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