Tema: El hilo de los musicales

Desde Cole Porter, Irving Berlin y Rodgers & Hammerstein pasando por Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim y Andrew Lloyd Webber hasta llegar a Michael John Lachiusa, Jeanine Tesori y Jason Robert Brown, charlemos acerca de musicales. ¿Cuales son tus autores favoritos de ayer y hoy? ¿Cast albums preferidos?.

¿Representaciones de las que guardas un grato recuerdo?.


Empiezo con una pregunta. ¿Hay algún admirador en este foro de Pacific Overtures de Sondheim?. A día de hoy me sigue pareciendo una de las obras más brillantes y originales que jamás se han hecho en el medio del teatro musical. Contiene alguna de las letras más bellas jamás escritas por Sondheim, y la música, que hace uso de las escalas e instrumentación japonesas con sentido combinandola con una orquesta sinfónica tradicional, es sublime.

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The bird sings, the wind shies,

The air stirs, the bird shies.

A storm approaches.

(...)


The song stops, the bird flies,

The mind stirs, the heart reply

"There is no other way"


Sublime.



Cartel original del estreno en Broadway, en 1976:






In 1853, Commodore Perry’s forceful display of naval might off the coasts of Japan forced that country to open up trade relations with the rest of the world, thus ending 250 years of complete isolation. Perry’s “pacific overtures” inspired John Weidman and Stephen Sondheim to create a musical, with producer/director Harold Prince suggesting that the story be told from the point of view of the Japanese.

Thus was born Pacific Overtures, an American musical using the techniques of traditional Japanese theater, and interpreted by Asian and Asian-American actors. In keeping with the Kabuki conventions, men played women’s parts; it was narrated by a Reciter, played by Mako; it made extensive use of a “hanamichi,” a ramp that brought the action into the audience; its participants were heavily made up and bewigged; the set changes were handled in full view by stagehands clad in black; and its score featured traditional Japanese instruments that supplemented the standard orchestra conducted by Paul Gemignani. All of this might have made the production too alien to regular Broadway audiences, and despite its brilliant and innovative approach, Pacific Overtures closed after a short run of 193 performances, following its premiere at the Winter Garden Theatre on January 11, 1976. It nonetheless garnered ten Tony Award® nominations, and its score is considered to be one of Sondheim’s best. First LP release: February 1, 1976

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En cast albums reviews (algo así como filmtracks pero para albums de musicales), reseñaron la edición en CD de Pacific Overtures.


Original Broadway Cast, 1976 (RCA) 5 out of 5 stars (5 / 5)


Only Harold Prince and Stephen Sondheim could find musical possibilities in the opening up of Japan to the West in 1853. Only Sondheim could make such a brilliant score out of such material, and only Prince would have the nerve to produce the show on Broadway. Pacific Overtures is based on a play by John Weidman about East-West diplomacy. (Hugh Wheeler provided additional book material.)

Add a production utilizing Japanese theater techniques and (until the finale) an all-male, all-Asian cast, and you have a perfect recipe for box office poison. Although the show didn’t last beyond a few months on Broadway, it has a unique, brilliant score with clever, pointed lyrics set to austerely beautiful melodies informed by Japanese harmonies. Some numbers, such as “There Is No Other Way” (a tense exchange between a fearful wife and her husband) and “Poems” (in which two men trade haikus) are tersely eloquent, aided by Jonathan Tunick’s fine orchestrations.

But the score also contains two of Sondheim’s most elaborate set pieces: “Someone in a Tree,” which recounts a treaty signing from multiple points of view, demonstrates that history is in the eye of the beholder; “Please Hello,” in which Japan is invaded by diplomats from abroad, blends pastiches of various musical genres into a scalding satire.

The final number, “Next,” brings the story up to the present day, and is devastating in its irony. On this excellent recording, the original cast, led by Mako and Sab Shimono, performs with notable skill. Sondheim may have written more moving scores, but none surpass the glittering intelligence and excitement of his work here.




Mini documental de la época, con Sondheim, donde además desgrana la canción Someone in a Tree.





Synch, a ti que te va lo de la autoría, el proceso creativo y demás, echale un ojo.

Buena idea, abrir un hilo sobre musicales ¿teatrales solamente?, últimamente ando muy desconectado, aunque yo soy mas de clásicos de siempre: Rodgers & Hammerstein, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern... y gracias al cine claro, porque al teatro no he ido nunca a ver nada de estos autores, ya que en España poco se representa y menos ahora con la pandemia.

Mi nivel de inglés es casi nulo, así que las letras no las entiendo salvo que las vea por ejemplo en una película o en una grabación en dvd o bluray... como verás lo tengo difícil... Lo mío es todo de oido, si me gusta la melodía, me vale...

El otro día compré en bluray la representación de "42nd street, the musical" (ya lo puse en el hilo de musicales de teatro) y sólamente viene con subtítulos en inglés. ¡Aunque me gustó mucho!.

https://www.amazon.es/gp/product/B08...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Ese musical de Shondheim "Pacific overtures" no lo conozco... ni me suena.

Podemos discutir musicales cinematográficos también, claro. (¿existen las series musicales?).


Por ejemplo, Kiss Me Kate de Porter es un musical clásico esplendoroso, sorprendentemente desvergonzado para la época, y su adaptación cinematográfica es una delicia. Creo que André Previn se encargó de adaptar la partitura para el film y de dirigir a la orquesta.