The Menier Chocolate Factory announced their co-production with the Umeda Arts Theater of Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman’s Pacific Overtures.
Nippon. The Floating Kingdom. One of Stephen Sondheim’s most ambitious creations comes to the Chocolate Factory. The story of the arrival of the West in 1853 in isolated Japan is seen from a western perspective but played in an eastern style. The score is filled with some of Sondheim’s most ravishing music, including “Someone in a Tree”, “Pretty Lady” and “A Bowler Hat”.
Matthew White directs Jon Chew (Reciter), Kanako Nakano (Tamate), Saori Oda (Shogun/Madam), Takuro Ohno (Kayama), and Joaquin Pedro Valdes (Manjiro), with Luoran Ding, Masashi Fujimoto, Rachel Hayne Picar, Eu Jin Hwang, Abel Law, Ethan Le Phong, JoJo Meredith, Patrick Munday, Sario Solomon, Joy Tan, Lee V G, and Iverson Yabut.
Set Design: Paul Farnsworth; Costume Design: Ayako Maeda; Sound Design: Gregory Clarke; Choreography: Ashley Nottingham; Musical Supervision: Catherine Jayes; Musical Direction: Paul Bogaev; Orchestrations: Jonathan Tunick; Hair and Make-up Design: Wakana Yoshihara; Cultural Consultant: You-Ri Yamanaka.
Pacific Overtures completes the Menier’s trilogy of Weidman/Sondheim musicals following their productions of Assassins and Road Show.
Stephen Sondheim (1930 – 2021) was one of the world’s greatest composer and lyricists. His works include Saturday Night, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Anyone Can Whistle, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Pacific Overtures, Sweeney Todd, Merrily We Roll Along, Sunday in the Park With George (Pulitzer Prize), Passion, Assassins and Road Show. Sondheim also wrote the lyrics for West Side Story, Gypsy and Do I Hear a Waltz?. He was the recipient of multiple awards, including 8 Tony Awards – one of which was a Lifetime Achievement Award, 7 Grammys and an Academy Award for Best Song for Dick Tracy, and was elected to The American Academy of Arts and Letters (1983). His final musical Here We Are will be staged in New York this autumn.
John Weidman has written the books for many musicals, including Pacific Overtures (Tony Award nomination, Best Book), Assassins (Tony Award, Best Musical Revival) and Road Show (Lucille Lortel nomination, Best Musical), all with scores by Stephen Sondheim; Contact (Tony Award nomination, Best Book; Tony Award, Best Musical), co-created with director/choreographer Susan Stroman; Happiness, score by Scott Frankel and Michael Korie, directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman; Take Flight and Big (Tony nomination, Best Book), scores by Richard Maltby Jr. and David Shire; and the new book, co-authored with Timothy Crouse, for the Lincoln Center Theater/Roundabout Theatre revivals of Cole Porter’s Anything Goes (Tony Award, Best Musical Revival; Olivier Award, Best Musical Production). From 1999 to 2009 he served as President of the Dramatists Guild of America.
Menier Chocolate Factory, 53 Southwark Street, London, SE1 1RU from 25 November 2023 – 24 February 2024. Times: Tuesday to Saturday: 7:30pm; Saturday & Sunday: 3pm. Admission: £39.50 – £59.50.
Box Office: 020 7378 1713 (£2.50 transaction fee per booking)
Website: www.menierchocolatefactory.com (£1.50 transaction fee per booking)
