Full Cast Set For PACIFIC OVERTURES at The Menier Chocolate Factory

The Menier Chocolate Factory has announced full casting for their co-production with the Umeda Arts Theater of Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman’s Pacific Overtures. Matthew White directs Jon Chew (Reciter), Kanako Nakano (Tamate), Saori Oda (Shogun/Madam), Takuro Ohno (Kayama), and Joaquin Pedro Valdes (Manjiro), with Luoran Ding, Masashi Fujimoto, Rachel Hayne Picar, Eu Jin Hwang, Abel Law, Ethan Le Phong, JoJo Meredith, Patrick Munday, Sario Solomon, Joy Tan, Lee V G, and Iverson Yabut.

The productions opens on 4 December, with previews from 25 November, and runs until 24 February.

Direction: Matthew White; Set Design: Paul Farnsworth; Costume Design: Ayako Maeda; Sound Design: Gregory Clarke; Choreography: Ashley Nottingham; Musical Supervision: Catherine Jayes; Musical Direction: Paul Bogaev; Orchestrations: Jonathan Tunick; Hair and Make-up Design: Wakana Yoshihara; Cultural Consultant: You-Ri Yamanaka

Nippon. The Floating Kingdom.  One of Stephen Sondheim’s most ambitious creations comes to the Chocolate Factory in a co-production with Umeda Arts Theater in Japan, where it has already been a huge success in Tokyo and Osaka.  The story of the arrival of the West in 1853 in isolated Japan is seen from a western perspective but played in an eastern style.  The score is filled with some of Sondheim’s most ravishing music, including “Someone in a Tree”, “Pretty Lady” and “A Bowler Hat”.   

Pacific Overtures completes the Menier’s trilogy of Weidman/Sondheim musicals following their productions of Assassins and Road Show.

Stephen Sondheim (1930 - 2021) was one of the world’s greatest composer and lyricists. His works include Saturday Night, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Anyone Can Whistle, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Pacific Overtures, Sweeney Todd, Merrily We Roll Along, Sunday in the Park With George (Pulitzer Prize), Passion, Assassins and Road Show.  Sondheim also wrote the lyrics for West Side Story, Gypsy and Do I Hear a Waltz?. He was the recipient of multiple awards, including 8 Tony Awards - one of which was a Lifetime Achievement Award, 7 Grammys and an Academy Award for Best Song for Dick Tracy, and was elected to The American Academy of Arts and Letters (1983). His final musical Here We Are will be staged in New York this autumn.

John Weidman has written the books for many musicals, including Pacific Overtures (Tony Award nomination, Best Book), Assassins (Tony Award, Best Musical Revival) and Road Show (Lucille Lortel nomination, Best Musical), all with scores by Stephen Sondheim; Contact (Tony Award nomination, Best Book; Tony Award, Best Musical), co-created with director/choreographer Susan Stroman; Happiness, score by Scott Frankel and Michael Korie, directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman; Take Flight and Big (Tony nomination, Best Book), scores by Richard Maltby Jr. and David Shire; and the new book, co-authored with Timothy Crouse, for the Lincoln Center Theater/Roundabout Theatre revivals of Cole Porter's Anything Goes (Tony Award, Best Musical Revival; Olivier Award, Best Musical Production). From 1999 to 2009 he served as President of the Dramatists Guild of America.

Jon Chew plays the Reciter. His theare work includes The Good Person of Szechwan (Lyric Hammersmith /Sheffield Theatres), Anything Goes (Barbican), Unity (1918) (Actor’s Studio), Asian Pirate Musical (Vaults Festival), Wild Goose Dreams (Ustinov Theatre, Bath Theatre Royal), Forgotten (Arcola Theatre), The King and I (London Palladium), and The Bee (Theatresause). For television, his work includes EastEnders, Three-Body Problem, The Great, The First Team, and Anything Goes and The King and I: From the London Palladium; and for film, Robin and the Hood; and The Wayback.

Kanako Nakano plays Tamate. Her theatre work includes My Neighbour Totoro (RSC/Barbican), A Chorus Line (Curve Leicester), White Pearl (Royal Court Theatre), Miss Saigon (Prince Edward Theatre, UK tour), Kiki’s Delivery Service (Southwark Playhouse), West Side Story (Grange Park Opera), and Priscilla Queen of the Desert (UK tour). Her television work includes Secret Invasion and Peep Show; and for film, People Just Do Nothing.

Saori Oda plays Shogun/Madam. Her theatre work includes Galaxy Train (Théatre Lapis), The Phantom of the Opera, The King and I (West End, UK tour), Avenue Q (UK and Ireland tour), Carousel (ENO), Miss Saigon (Prince Edward Theatre), and The Lion King (Lyceum Theatre); and for film, The Bryanston.

Takuro Ohno plays Kayama. He will be making his UK stage debut in this production.  He has recently played the title role in The Phantom of the Opera in Japan and has appeared in many Japanese films and television shows.

Joaquin Pedro Valdes plays Manjiro. His theatre work includes Death Note (London Palladium), Then, Now & Next (Southwark Playhouse), Killing the Cat (Riverside Studios), The Lion King (UK and Ireland tour), Heathers the Musical (The Other Palace), Vanara the Legend (Hackney Empire), Miss Saigon, The King and I (UK and International tour), Fanny and Stella the Musical (The Garden Theatre), Matilda, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Red and The Last 5 Years (Manila Metropolitan Theatre).

Matthew White returns to the Menier having previously directed The Boy Friend, She Loves Me, Candide, Sweet Charity (also Theatre Royal, Haymarket), Little Shop of Horrors (also Duke of York’s Theatre and UK tour) and The Last Five Years. His other theatre work includes The Addams Family (Festival Theatre, Edinburgh and UK tour), Kiss Me Kate, West Side Story (Kilworth House), The Producers (UK tour), Top Hat (also adapted for the stage, UK tour and Aldwych Theatre – Olivier Award for Best New Musical), Maria Friedman – By Special Arrangement (Donmar Warehouse), Closer than Ever (Jermyn Street Theatre) and Mr Stink (also adapted, Curve and UK tour).

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