Art Is Illumination: Pacific Overtures

A Blue Marble for Stephen Sondheim, given along with thanks. His musical Pacific Overtures has been a wellspring of artistic inspiration this year.

Pacific Overtures has a very interesting historical event as the source material — the arrival of Commodore Perry to demand the opening of Japan in 1853. Last summer, it was announced that San Francisco Opera's 2010 production of Madama Butterfly would be the Chicago Lyric production directed by Broadway legend Hal Prince, the director of the original 1976 production of Pacific Overtures. There would never a better reason to sneak in Pacific Overtures!

“Nippon. The floating kingdom. An island empire which for centuries has lived in perfect peace, undisturbed by intruders from across the sea…”

That is until Commodore Matthew Perry and an American fleet arrive in 1853 to “open” it up to the West, and a civilization of timeless tradition and seamless serenity begins to unravel under the impact of new ideas.

Someone in a Tree features an old man singing with his younger 10 year-old self, as he recalls the day when the Americans came ashore, demanding that Japan open its doors to the West. The boy can see everything from his vantage point in a tree nearby, but he cannot hear. A samurai is hidden underneath the floor of the treaty house. He can hear, but he cannot see. Together with the narrator, they tell us what happened on that historic day.

The brilliant number, "Bowler Hat," illustrates the changes that come with the developing relations between the East & West (the song begins at 3:30.)

The 6th graders have been working towards the creation of their own opera, and Pacific Overtures has been a touchstone. The story of two friends, is placed against a backdrop of history. The main characters of Pacific Overtures, Kayama and Manjiro, take journeys that lead them in opposite directions.

In preparation for the field trips to "Japanesque," the incredible collection of Japanese prints by masters such as Hokusai, Utamaro and Hiroshige, Cyndy and I took a trip to the Legion of Honor to scope out the area. We checked out this monument commemorating the arrival of the first japanese naval ship, the Kanrin Maru, to San Francisco after spotting the marker on Google Maps.

Imagine my delight when I started reading a book that I picked up from the Legion's bookstore called "The Great Wave: Gilded Age Misfits, Japanese Eccentrics, and the Opening of Old Japan." I discovered that Manjiro sailed into the bay on the ship Kanrin Maru 150 years ago as the ship's navigator and translator. If you have a chance, read this fascinating account by the author of The Great Wave. He reveals that John Manjiro's journey from Japan to Boston, was parallel to a journey taken in the opposite direction by Herman Melville, the author of Moby Dick, from Boston to Japan.

John Manjiro is seated second from the left. I wonder what Manjiro saw when he arrived in San Francisco. In this photo taken in 1932 by Ansel Adams, you can see what the Bay looked like before the Golden Gate Bridge was built... and here's the view today.