Pacific Overtures - Someone in a Tree
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 ต.ค. 2024
- What is widely known to be Sondheim's personal favorite song of his, "Someone in a Tree" from the original broadway cast recording of 1976's Pacific Overtures. Showcasing marvelous songwriting (From a scene idea from John Weidman), delightful performances, and a magnificent set (From the always-inventive Boris Aronson).
If you want to hear more of the show, I would highly recommend checking out the Original Broadway Cast recording on CD:
www.amazon.com/...
The 2004 revival cast is the more complete recording, but the limited orchestra doesn't do nearly as much justice to the score and show as the magnificent original album does.
Sondheim's masterclass in historiography. How accounts may be incomplete, different, or complementary. All wrapped up in this one song. RIP, visionary, gifted Stephen Sondheim
I never song this song existed til I saw it in the Stephen Sondheim Concert! Sondheim's such a master with words!
If you have the time, you should check out the whole Pacific Overtures musical! A proshot of the original Broadway production is on youtube: th-cam.com/video/MQ546PASgHI/w-d-xo.html
It's one of Sondheim's most underrated works!
This song is a masterclass in storytelling.
I'm considering uploading the whole show soon.
Please... Please...
This song is so incredible, it's so completely useless to the show, but the show is completely anchored with it. It's the essence of the entire show.
That's what's beautiful about the whole show. It's mainly composed of little vignettes, their own stories, but they all contribute to the larger ideas and themes of the show and it'd be impossible to remove them.
What is more "real" when it comes to history?... The meeting in the treaty house, or the 10 year old kid who witnesses it from afar? "There is someone in the tree, or the day is incomplete / Without someone in the tree, nothing happened here"
Why do you say it's useless in the show then? It's vital to the show. It's telling us that everyone has a different interpretation of the same event. Who can be trusted? In this case its the signing of an important document. Isn't this what happens in politics? Everyone has a desire to be more important than everyone else and often embellish their importance in an event. So what you're saying is pointless. Useless in the show? It's the song that holds the story together. The little boy imagines he was the only person who saw what happened and he's lived a whole life imagining he was way more important than he was. It's Rashomon. Right? Have you heard of Rashomon?? No? Famous Japanese film.
Love this number so much. I had to un-friend a guy on FB who said that Pacific Overtures didn't have one good number in it. Although, I must admit that, the lighting is SO tragically 1970s.
I wish I had money to revive this show with modern over-the-top staging and lighting, with the same vibe as the original show. The tree would be giant in this number I imagine. Also, stage mics only is what some high schools have to use nowadays, I'd revive this show with better mics and overall better sound
It's lit like a real Kabuki show. Bare floorboards and bright lighting. It's not lit like a typical Broadway show where the lighting adds to the drama. This show was staged and lit by the best people in the business William. Your friend is right on one point however. There's not one song that can be taken out of the show and performed stand alone.
This show had state of the art theater sound. And microphones were used. It's the video quality we have here that's not up to scratch - not the show.
Gedde was a great part of growing up and it's wonderful to see him in this early role in a tree. :)
I was there then/ I am here still -
That moment always hits me.
The color in this version is great. I saw it once and was so frustrated I couldn't find it back. But I stumbled upon it just now and life is good.
I pulled out my original cast album booklet and followed along. Sondheim. Such a gifted man. I'm grateful for his appearance on our Broadway scene. I hope he wasn't too tormented by his intelligence and found some happiness with it all, since he brought such fine experiences to ours.
Tormented by his intelligence?! LOL. Sondheim was a simpleton who was put on a pedestal by critics and wannabes who pretended this simple-minded buffoonery was brilliant so they’d look brilliant themselves. He is laughing at you from the grave, this simpleton.
Actually, toward the end of his life he said, '"Sunday" from "Sunday in the Park with George" was his favorite song. But this has to have been right up there next to it...
Stephen said one thing one day and another on a different day, depending on his mood. He was a very mercurial person. Actually he was a very difficult person.
Still my all-time FAVORITE composition by Stephen Sondheim!
I read somewhere or an interview that this was Sondheims favorite too. 😊
@@TheCBKgirl I heard this also!! 😊
I get chills every time I hear this. I was lucky to see this twice in NYC.
Sondheim’s fav song he ever wrote
Would certainly love to see "Four Black Dragons" with this color quality. Aronson's accordion ships were absolutely spectacular.
Thanks, TheSondheimFan, for posting this. I never dreamed I could see this-and you made it happen!
RIP Stephen Sondheim
Apparently, one of Sondheim's favorites.
Sounds like every other one of his tunes with its dated 1970s musical sensibilities, and that’s being generous.
@@MondoMiami You must be deaf.
@@MondoMiami Then go f off and listen to elevator music and be done here. We do not need you or your bs. If you do not see the brilliance of Sondheim then there is little hope any explanation will help.
I saw this show on Broadway, with the same guys as on the record. Over years of Broadway attendance, I still feel THIS production by Harold Prince is the most beautiful Broadway show I've seen. Florence Klotz ( Follies) made the Costumes and Boris Aronson (Fiddler) conjured the sets. If you know anything about Japan or Kabuki, and I did, I took a class this program was astounding, not the least, an incredible foray into the precocious brilliance of Steve Sondheim. His fusion score of musical properties of the West skipped alongside the unfamiliar Kabuki instrumentals of ancient Japan (God was in his details, "a ripple not the stream.")A musical comedy about Commodore Perry and the opening-up of Japan's expansion into the "real" world, the White world. Who in their right mind would attempt to give birth to such a money-loosing scheme? Well, Harold Prince, in his all too brief foray into the brilliance of Steve Sondheim, before he, Harold, returned to the comfortable mediocre landscape of Lloyd-Weber's cheezie BIG TIME vacuous Extravaganzas, which did make Hal Prince a multi-millionaire. The stuff Sondheim hemmed was barely chump-change material ( Do I hear a Roll On?). Stephen Sondheim was a creator of the highest order, an artist, thus a big challenge to any collaborator. Pacific Overtures was made by two ships passing in the night, an abboration of the norm, and a colossal failure in attendance and bank statements. Art isn't easy. Aside from the sets and costumes and the deliciousness of "Someone in a Tree," there is little of interest here for an audience of accountants and pastry chefs. This show, in particular, gave credence to the rumor, "Sondheim shows don't make money." Exit Hal Prince. Slow fade. In the long run, it seems Stephen Sondheim wrote "Passion" to make "Pacific" look good. The floating worlds of Boris Aronson looked vastly superior to the dark corridors of Fosca's mind. Very interest-ing.
Please upload the rest! I've been watching the terrible-quality recording for ages now, I had no idea this copy existed... It's incredible!
I'm sad to say that in the process of reformatting my computer I may have lost the files. I'm desperately trying to locate them, and will definitely upload them should I manage to find them.
GREATEST SONDHEIM MAGIC WEAVING HISTORY......
Believe it or not, Hamilton "The Room Where It Happens" was inspired by this.
How?
"The Room Where It Happens" also deals with an important historical event that was not directly witnessed - instead, people try to construct what happened through gossip and speculation (in the case of Hamilton), or through witnesses who only had an incomplete view of what happened (the old man/boy, and the warrior). The concepts of the two shows are also rather similar - both are takes on historical events, using atypical music styles, and with non-white casts.
I think mainly, Lin manuel-miranda probably had a similar issue where he knew he had to write a song for this very important historical and narrative event, but no records exist of it. Both use perspectives from spectators from the outside.
Also, Sondheim is one of Lin's idols and inspirations.
EyebrowRazor Lin himself has said that Pacific Overtures was a big inspiration for him when it came to writing a piece reflecting on historical figures and events in a musical composition. It's definitely not too far fetched to say that this song may have been a major point of inspiration.
A...slightly longer video may be coming soon.
where is it?!
My left ear of my headphones are lonely.
Glorious!!!
Incredible
What a wonderful thing.
The colour in this clip is fantastic!! Do you have the whole thing? How and where can I obtain a copy?
Stunning
Please do it! :)
this is based on kirosawa's Rohsomon.
Yes Thank you. Glad someone else has got it.
AKU ???
Uncle Iroh too
Mark Syers… Gone too young😢
niac 1234 has it exactly right---sondheim has distilled japanese culture, the broadway lyric and the redacting of all histories. imo the most brilliant
song ever written. but his use of the word useless is wrong. it is the essence of japan
Horrible.
You would not know an intelligent song if it had been pipped in to your crib when you were born.
@@CarolynCressette Pipped?
This is absolutely amazing. Do you have the rest of it? I would love to see what "Pretty Lady" looks like. That's my favorite from the show.