My Musical Theater Voyage of Discovery; The Sondheim Files - Pacific Overtures

PACIFIC OVERTURES is such a lovely score – it’s so intelligent and Sondheim really tapped into music that sounds like it came from the East. I’m an ardent fan of films from the East, though not any kind of expert; but I don’t know a lot about the music of the land. However, it is clear that Sondheim did a lot of work to get this score musically and historically right. I am NOT good at history. All my life history has flown over my head. School was particularly difficult – I couldn’t retain the information or understand the politics of the eras past; so the historical facts used to create this show are up on my ceiling, so far above my head that I don’t get a lot of listening to the cd of Pacific Overtures, aside from the gorgeousness of the score.

Gorgeous is enough for me.

I listened to the OBC and the revival cast albums back to back. I actually liked both recordings enough to leave them both in my Ipod from start to finish, feeling like Pacific Overtures is a score best played from start to finish, allowing the listener to take the journey intended by the creator. I admit that some of the singing voices in the revival (which we saw, by the way, and loved a LOT) trump out over some of the singing voices in the OBC; but the commitment and acting abilities of those actors in the OBC is so splendid as to make the quality of the singing less important (Pat and I both loved Mako so much – boy he was marvelous). The orchestrations on both recordings are lovely and though I frequently find the music on revival cast albums to be a little tinny, a little too computerized (I would always rather hear a piano, rather than a Cassio), I did not find that to be particularly true of the Pacific Overtures revival cast album; but I do prefer the sound of the OBC musicians. It’s glorious.

So in a rare circumstance, I allowed both of these cds to take up room in my Ipod, knowing that I will listen to them both (B.D. Wong’s performance on the revival cd alone is worth the listen – whether singing of speaking, I could listen to him forever; he is an irreplaceable American actor). Usually, I will choose one cast album to keep from start to finish, choosing only tracks from extraneous cast albums, tracks I (especially) like. Pacific Overtures is special, though.

I will say this, too: there are days when I need a pick me up and I will go (first) to one cast album and (then) to the other, back and forth, back and forth, playing the two different versions of SOMEONE IN A TREE – this song, these recordings, always make(s) me happy. Isn’t that wonderful? To have one song that can turn a bad day into a good one, a bad mood into a good one?

That’s not nothing.