followed by a Gilbertian British Admiral, a clog-dancing Dutch Admiral, a gloomy Russian and a dandified Frenchman all vying for access to Japan's markets. Manjiro continues to dress with painstaking slowness into ceremonial robes for the tea ritual, but Kayama is adopting the manners and dress of the newcomers, proudly displaying his new pocket watch, cutaway coat and "A Bowler Hat". But there are other less pleasant changes prompted by westernisation. Three British Sailors mistake a "Pretty Lady" for a geisha, the girl cries for help and a Swordsman kills the fleeing Tars. Reporting on the situation to the Shogun, Kayama himself is killed by a cloaked assassin - his former friend, the fisherman Manjiro. In the ensuing turmoil the puppet Emperor seizes the real power from the Shogun and vows that Japan will modernise itself. As the country moves from one innovation to the "Next!", the Imperial robes are removed layer by layer to show the Reciter in T-shirt and black trousers. Contemporary Japan - the world of Toyota and Seiko, air pollution and contaminated beaches -assembles itself around him. "There was a time when foreigners were not welcome here. But that was long ago," he says. "Welcome to Japan." MUSICAL NUMBERS Act One 1. Prologue — Orchestra 2. The Advantages of Floating in the Middle of the Sea — Reciter and Company 3. There Is No Other Way — Tamate, Observers 4. Four Black Dragons — Fisherman, Thief, Reciter, Townspeople 5. Chrysanthemum Tea — Shogun, Shogun's Mother, Shogun's Wife, Soothsayer, Priests, Shogun's Companion, Physician, Sumo Wrestlers 6. Poems — Kayama, Manjiro 7. Welcome to Kanagawa — Madam and Girls 8. March to the Treaty House — Orchestra 9. Someone in a Tree — Old Man, Reciter, Boy, Warrior 10. Lion Dance — Commodore Perry Act Two 11. Please Hello — Abe, Reciter, American, British, Dutch, Russian and French Admirals) 12. A Bowler Hat — Kayama 13. Pretty Lady —Three British Sailors 14. Next — Reciter and Company CHARACTERS: (Subject to the authors' caution that Pacific Overtures is an attempt to tell a story with no characters) • RECITER - A traditional figure from Japanese theatre who guides us through the nation's developments from "Nippon, the floating kingdom" to today's business powerhouse. From time to time, he throws off his reciter's robes and plays other parts, such as the Shogun ruling lord of all Japan; and later Emperor Meiji. • KAYAMA YESAEMON - A minor samurai chosen by the Shogun to repulse Commodore Perry and the unwanted foreigners. As the play progresses, he rejects almost all native customs and becomes more and more westernised. • JOHN MANJIRO - A commoner, a fisherman who has been to America, and, in dramatic contrast to Kayama, immerses himself in the values of old isolationist Japan even as western influences are swamping the nation. • LORD ABE - First Councillor to the Shogun and the most illustrious Japanese dignitary to participate in the negotiations with Commodore Perry.
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