Pacific Overtures

Overview

Pacific Overtures is one of Stephen Sondheim's most rarely performed musicals — this production at Theatreworks by Melbourne outfit Watch This is actually the work's first professional premiere in Australia. Perhaps its because it's set in 1853, with America and Japan on the brink of conflict, a story that demands the kind of diverse casting that mainstage musical theatre has traditionally done quite badly. The music, too, is challenging. Even if Sondheim himself rates some of its songs as those he's proudest of composing, the conflict between East and West is reflected in the score and setting, a fusion of chamber opera and Japanese kabuki theatre.

What's refreshing about the work's outing at Theatreworks is that it's Sondheim on an independent scale, with none of the bells, whistles, and revolving stages of a commercial theatre. After the success of the group's 2013 production of Assassins at fortyfivedownstairs (which will reappear on tour later this year) Pacific Overtures looks like a chance for Watch This to stake their claim on a brand of music theatre that's full of risk.