Pacific
Overture is a Broadway musical from the 1970's, and attempted
to blend the elements of musical and comedic theater with those of
classical kabuki theater. Last week, our class watched the opening
segment of the production and then discussed our reactions.
Prior to this
course, my exposure to theater was mostly limited to broadway
productions and musicals; however, since I have been in this course,
we have focused on traditional forms of Asian theater and I have not
seen any musicals outside of class. When I watched Pacific
Overture, it was bazaar to
see an all Asian cast, dressed in their cultural garments, which was
not speaking Japanese or moving around the stage as kabuki dancers.
It felt unnatural to watch such an Americanized version of what I
expected to be traditional Japanese dance. This entire semester I
have worked to become a more engaged audience member, but this style
of this musical transitioned me back to my previous constructs of
interpreting a play.
As
we critiqued Pacific Overture, our professors reminded us to consider
the relevance of the time period and where American and other Western
cultures stood on issues of race and Japanese culture. This
production was the first ever to house an entire Asian cast, and
while they were all Asian-Americans, this was potentially
groundbreaking for broadway audience members of the time. The
directors and actors needed to address the sensitivity of social
issues at hand: on one extreme, a Caucasian dressed and performing as
a Japanese character might seem demeaning and racist, and on the
other extreme an all Japanese cast might be scrutinized and drive
away certain audience demographics. Thus considering the time period,
it was very difficult to produce a balanced that kept the
authenticity of kabuki traditions and that appealed to a wide variety
of audiences.
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