(seen at the afternoon preview performance on 2nd December 2023)
This much revised (down to a single hour and 45 minute act) version of Sondheim, Wiedman and Wheeler’s 1976 Broadway peculiarity has the audience gasping in delight at Paul Farnsworth’s set from the moment they enter.
Polished wooden floors, curling up at the ends. Artifacts displayed to maximum effect. To say why would spoil the pre-show, as would describing Leo Flint’s wonderful video projections and one particularly neat trick early on to deal with the language issue. Later there’s an inventive boat as well.
The story is very simple. Until the arrival of an American warship (or four) in July 1853, Japan had successfully cut itself off from all contact with the outside world under the guidance of Emperor Farage (actually, the monkey may have made that bit up). Anyway...
The local Shogun (Saori Oda) promoted minor Samuri Kayama (Takuro Ohno) to deal with it. Luckily, local fisherman Manjiro (Joaquin Pedro Valdes) had been stolen and returned by America and is on hand to assist with cultural differences – and get himself off capital punishment for desertion and return to boot.
A beach meeting seems to have seen the Americans off... but they return along with the rest of the world. Agreements are signed, a new Emperor is more open-minded, and the foreign population grows along with Japan’s determination to do to its neighbours what the West had just done to them.
It is as slight as it sounds. There are detours exploring how the local “ladies of the night” might entertain visitors in “Welcome to Kanagawa” (filthy pictures included – this isn’t a show for children) and what visiting sailors do to local girls “Pretty Lady” (Luoran Ding playing a difficult scene well as the victim).
Conversely, “A Bowler Hat” has Ohno, our narrator - Reciter (Jon Chew - engaging throughout) and Valdes exulting the benefits or decrying them.
The lengthy “Please Hello” outstays its welcome, though Sondheim’s wonderful Gilbert and Sullivan parody is beautifully executed by Patrick Munday under Matthew White’s direction and Ashley Nottingham’s choreography.
Likewise, “Someone In A Tree” drags as an interminably long song about what a boy saw at the historic first meeting; it yields little detail despite fine performances by Mashashi Fujimoto and Joy Tan.
The show is as bitty and episodic as the monkey’s report. Sondheim’s New York style in words and music comes through more frequently than one may wish, as he cannot resist a sophisticated internal rhyme or riff, a few of which are lost in unintelligibly sung ensemble numbers alas.
Yet it is a groundbreaking achievement in subject matter, another experiment from the master’s laboratory which cannot be easily dismissed or forgotten about. That it works at all is impressive, and the monkey’s lasting impression is of a five star production of a four star show.
4 stars.
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Regular reader Taljaard adds,
"Wow, what can I say. Saw it a long time ago, can't remember where but this production is absolutely stunning. It fits perfectly into the Menier Chocolate Factory space. Cast coming at you from all angles. The set is brilliant and the sound design perfect. It's much shorter than the first time I saw it and all the better as the focus is really on the songs. The rendition of Someone in a Tree was outstanding. The actor playing the person under the floor held a note for so long I was tempted to shout out 'breath'!
Just go and see it!"