2005 Winter
Visionary director Amon Miyamoto turns Broadway on its ear
photograpy by Jason Bell
 This winter, 150 years after the "black ships" of U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry arrived in Japan, Amon Miyamoto is on Broadway with his production of Pacific Overtures, Stephen Sondheim's musical about the encounter. Miyamoto, who took two years off from theatrical production, is known for his acute social awareness, and this tale of the clash between two very different cultures inspired him to leave his doubts behind and cross the Pacific.
In November 2004 Pacific Overtures returned to New York, directed this time by Amon Miyamoto, the first Asian ever to produce a musical on Broadway. His road to reviving this 1976 musical by Sondheim and John Weidman has been long and rough. When he staged new types of musicals in Japan, the critics panned him. Typical comments read, "Miyamoto's productions are too complicated for entertainment" and "Miyamoto has totally lost his sense of staging." His sense of defeat and disappointment drove him to give up completely for a period of two years. Nevertheless, being passionate about musicals since age 18, he has renewed his dream of becoming a successful director.
When he was in New York for rehearsals in 2001, he witnessed the horrendous September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. After seeing ash and debris filling the streets, candles set out everywhere in remembrance, and people weeping in public, he strengthened his resolve. He recalls, "I realized my life could be terminated at any moment. From that point on, I no longer felt hesitant or fearful about expressing my thoughts and feelings in my musicals."
A new message for every era
Pacific Overtures' story takes place nearly 150 years ago, at the end of the Tokugawa shogunate that ruled feudal Japan from 1603 to 1867. Commodore Matthew Perry and his ships had made their historic visit in 1853, demanding that Japan open its door to the outside world after 200 years of seclusion. The entire country was suddenly thrown into confusion, exposed to alien cultures. Desperately seeking to insure its survival in the modern world, Japan embraced Western culture, a path that would eventually lead to materialism. This pivotal period of Japanese history forms the backdrop for Sondheim's and Weidman's musical. Kayama Yazaemon, a traditional samurai who was ordered by the shogun to negotiate with the Americans, experiences profound culture shock, but he persists and becomes Westernized. Meanwhile, the fisherman "John" Manjiro, who has returned to Japan to play a similar role after being shipwrecked and living in the United States for a time, is powerfully reminded of his Japanese identity. The story revolves around the interaction between these two men.
 Pacific Overtures, which he is currently directing at the Roundabout Theatre Company's Studio 54 on 54th Street, is very different from the usual Broadway fare. Based on the style of Japanese noh theater, it is an extremely simple production stripped of all nonessentials. It combines the arts of East and West, from buyo (classical dance) and noh to Western theater. While delving into the deep recesses of human nature to develop his characters, Miyamoto poses the larger question of where humanity is heading in the 21st century. He explains, "I want to put forth a powerful message that's totally different from Broadway's upbeat and glitzy norm. It's not my goal to direct mere entertainment or big hits. I want to provoke an audience to think about the future of humanity. I want people from various countries to see, and to feel my musical."
First performed in 1976 to celebrate the U.S. bicentennial, Pacific Overtures was directed by Harold Prince. Miyamoto added his own interpretation and direction to the work in a Japanese production at Tokyo's New National Theater in 2000. At Sondheim's urging, Lincoln Center in New York and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. invited him to stage his production in 2002.
"The interesting thing about the songs in Pacific Overtures," Miyamoto says, "is that although they are written against the backdrop of Japan-U.S. relations 150 years ago, they always come through with a fresh message relevant to the times. When we staged it in New York in 2002, it was not long after the 9/11 terrorist attacks but before the Iraq war. Some people interpreted it as depicting the emotions of the U.S. as invader and as victim of attack. Others in the audience felt that it reflected the entire world situation. They said they felt empathy for humanity struggling to cope with a rapid succession of events in a swiftly changing environment. As it crossed the Pacific Ocean in both directions, this musical has come to carry a truly international, even universal, message." When Miyamoto launched his production of Pacific Overtures in Tokyo in 2000, he was asking Japan to think about its identity and its future after a century and a half of Westernization and increasing materialism.
 "After the economic bubble burst in the '90s," he explains, "Japanese people began to ask, 'What is our identity?' I thought it was an extremely good time to stage this work. Although Pacific Overtures was originally written for American audiences, I wanted to get the message across to Japanese audiences that it was time for us to take a fresh look at where this nation was headed."
What kind of message is he giving to audiences on Broadway this year? Miyamoto challenges, "The modern world is moving at incredible speed, and I believe we're living in a time of major change. So I want to ask people to think about where we human beings are heading in the 21st century. I want people to look at themselves objectively, without getting caught up in the events of our times. It's not a question of who's bad and who's right in the flow of events. The story depicts a world of gray zones, and that's what I like so much about it."
New challenges behind the scenes
Though this isn't Miyamoto's first production of Pacific Overtures, it has raised a number of challenges for him. One is that most of the actors are Asian-Americans. Their ancestors may have been from Asia, but they were born and raised in America. He ponders, "How should these actors go about portraying the differences in social status between shogun and samurai in the history of a country they've never even visited? How can they depict Japanese society of that time in natural English, without resorting to stereotypes of Japan? For instance, should the speech of high-ranking individuals be expressed with a Bostonian accent? Or should they use a politician's way of speaking? It's truly important for the actors to be able to apply their history and background to the context of the story. Ultimately, I have to apply each and every scene and location to the American situation and history in order to explain the setting clearly as we go along."
Miyamoto's challenge goes beyond linguistic expression. He must also convey the spiritual condition of each character in each scene. "Americans are vigorous and powerful," he suggests, "and I want them to think about the baggage these characters carry with them, such as their history and tradition. So, I had each actor write a personal history for the character he or she is playing. What sort of life has Kayama Yazaemon had, for example? What sort of house has he lived in? What sort of food has he eaten? I want them to think about these things. And I'm teaching them about the spiritual significance that objects hold for the Japanese—for example, the act of putting on a sword, or the act of tying an obi around your kimono symbolizes a hardening of one's resolve. I'll teach them what it means for us to step up into a house."
The 30-year journey to arrive at Pacific Overtures
Looking back on Miyamoto's life so far, he seems to have been destined to direct Pacific Overtures on Broadway. There are so many ways in which the themes of this musical and his life appear to overlap. "From a very early age," he says, "I thought Western culture was everything. With the dream of becoming a director very dear to my heart, I went to London to study for a year and a half. I saw about 730 performances. Every year I would go to New York, too, and observe Broadway from the fringes. In 1987 I put together the musical I Got Merman, whose main character—Ethel Merman—was a legendary Broadway star. After that I was overcome with incredible emptiness. Though I had created this musical, I had never met Ethel Merman even once. I felt I was merely engaged in Western-style make-believe. I didn't feel like my feet were touching the ground."
In fact, Miyamoto's efforts had earned him a prize from the Agency for Cultural Affairs. Two years later he was in London when an event occurred that made him realize how little he appreciated his Asian roots. It was the Tiananmen Square incident in Beijing on June 4, 1989. While in a London bar he saw English friends frantically telephoning Beijing, attempting to overload the telephone system that the Chinese government was using to report students engaged in the pro-democracy protests.
"Though I am Japanese," he says, "I'd been totally unaware of our neighbor China. I realized I had totally overlooked the countries of Asia and visited only the West."
So Miyamoto traveled to Tibet and India and other parts of the continent, realizing, "Asia is truly interesting. It has diversity in religion, belief, and culture. People's eyes are shining in Asia. And the views of nature are rich and ever-changing."
Seven years ago Miyamoto moved to Okinawa at the southern tip of the Japanese archipelago. "I'd lived amid the sounds and lights of the Tokyo streets," he reasoned, "and I think my view of life was terribly one-sided. Living amid nature in Okinawa, I'm surprised at how much I'm learning every day. No matter how long I watch the ocean from inside my home, I never get tired of it. I never realized that clouds were so beautiful or that the color of the ocean changes so much. No matter how hard I try, the stage arts will never come close to the art of nature."
Since moving to Okinawa, still home to a large U.S. military presence, Miyamoto has heard frequent talk of the Japan-U.S. Security Pact. He is forced by proximity to consider the relationship between Japan and the U.S., and that has made him contemplate the clash of cultures at the heart of Pacific Overtures.
Pacific Overtures reflects so much of Miyamoto's own experiences that it seems his whole life has been a journey designed to bring him to this point. Everything, including his childhood, when his fascination with Buddhist temples saw him traveling to Kyoto and Nara every week, and when he learned traditional Japanese dance and the tea ceremony, led him to the Broadway production of Pacific Overtures.
Asked what he might turn to next, he says, "I want to do something opposite to war, but not just to send a message of peace. The question of what constitutes peace differs according to who's talking about it. War builds walls, so I want to take on the challenge of overcoming all possible walls. What I do next might be to direct a concert or something. It may be a collaboration with some completely different kind of artist. Ultimately, I want to create a work capable of confirming the fact that all humanity is interconnected."
Pacific Overtures
November 12, 2004, through January, 2005
Roundabout Theatre Company at Studio 54
254 West 54th Street
www.roundabouttheatre.org
Book by John Weidman, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, directed by Amon Miyamoto
Articles from the 2005 WINTER issue:
Kateigaho International Edition Issues:
2005 SUMMER - 2005 SPRING - 2005 WINTER
2004 AUTUMN - 2004 SUMMER - 2004 SPRING - 2004 WINTER
2003 AUTUMN - INAUGURAL ISSUE
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