Moving and Unforgettable the Musical Private Jones Wows at Signature Theatre

Moving and Unforgettable the Musical Private Jones Wows at Signature Theatre

Signature Theatre
Jordan Wright
February 16, 2024
Special to The Zebra

David Aron Damane, Alex De Bard, Amelia Hensley, Johnny Link (Gomer Jones) and Emily Steinhardt (Photo/Christopher Mueller)

A little birdie told me there’s a good chance Private Jones is headed to Broadway. What I’m saying, straight out of the gate, is don’t wait to snag your tickets because this show has everything. A fresh form and concept and a singular approach to a musical that is so thrilling that it has the all the elements to be a huge hit. Writer, Composer, Book, Director and DC native Marshall Pailet has the chops plus massive industry street cred. His former employers? DreamWorks and PBS productions, plus he’s written a few notable Off-Broadway musicals.

Due to Pailet’s massive talent, this world premiere production has already drawn in some high-level producers with Broadway experience. (I couldn’t get my nose out of the playbill scanning the multiple, italicized blockbuster shows and multiple theatre awards credited to this impressive creative team.)

What makes this war story so unique and so riveting is Gomer Jones (Johnny Link). Gomer is Deaf, a result of meningitis as a boy, as a result he has “remembered” speech and can lipread. (Notably, a few cast members are Deaf.) The program tells us World War I had Deaf soldiers who served in many capacities. Discovering this story drove Pailet to write this tri-lingual musical featuring signing in two languages – American Sign Language (ASL) and British Sign Language (BSL) and the script in spoken English.

Johnny Link (Gomer Jones) and the cast of Private Jones at Signature Theatre (Photo/Daniel Rader_

As a boy Gomer’s father teaches him to shoot the wild dogs that vex their sheep. Though he balked initially, the experience taught him to become a crack shot. As for the audience’s ability to translate sign language, you needn’t worry. There are surtitles which I found useful as the characters speak with a Welsh dialect which can get tricky, and then there’s The Storyteller (Amelia Hensley) who narrates the plot.

The story is set in Breconshire in South Wales. The town’s young men are being called to duty and Gomer wants to go. But at his medical exam the doctor realizes he’s Deaf and turns him away. Disappointed he goes back to the village and his sheep farm. One day he shoots a wild dog but doesn’t kill it. He takes it to a sympathetic nurse, Gwenolyn (Leanne Antonio), who saves the dog. “Every soul’s a soul.” Telling him he is needed in the war effort, she finds him a job at a munitions factory. Later with the rising toll of battle fatalities, Gomer fakes his hearing test and gets into the British army where he becomes an elite sniper aided by his “spotter” King (Erin Weaver in one of her finest roles).

Alex De Bard, Johnny Link (Gomer Jones) and Erin Weaver (King) (Photo/Christopher Mueller)

There Gomer meets up with his fellow Breconshire “borderers”. They figure out he’s Deaf and learn to communicate through a smattering of sign language. All this sounds rather tame, but the tension and raw emotions of the front are palpable, and the sounds of war are everywhere as Gomer faces the frightening scene – in the heat of a battle he cannot hear.

This is a gritty, pulsing, edge-of-your-seat drama lightened with bawdy gallows humor and a sweeping score with 22 beautiful ballads. How that is achieved is due in no small part to a strategically-cast, perfectly meshed ensemble, mood-setting lighting and effects by Lighting Director Jen Schriever and the gorgeous music and lyrics written by Marshall Pailet.

Highly recommended!!! Moving and unforgettable.

Vincent Michael (Edmund) and the cast of Private Jones at Signature Theatre. (Photo/Daniel Rader_

Leanne Antonio as Gwenolyn/Evans; Deimoni Brewington as Bailey; David Aron Damane as Father/Drill Sergeant/Major; Dickie Drew Hearts as Henry; Vincent Michael as Edmund; Jake Loewenthal as Redvers. Ensemble Members – Alex De BardVincent MichaelGeorge Psomas, and Emily Steinhardt.

Director of Artistic Sign Language Alexandria Wailes; Choreographed by Misha Shields; Music Directed by Myrna Conn; Costume Design by Phu’ong Nguyen; Sound Design by Eric Norris; Scenic Design by Christopher & Justin Swader; Video Design by Patrick W. Lord; Dialect Coach Catherine Flye; Orchestrations by Ryan O’Connell. Dance Captain, Emily Steinhardt; Artistic Sign Language Captain, Amelia Hensley; and Fight Captain, Vincent Michael.

Through March 10th at Signature Theatre, 4200 Campbell Avenue in the Village at Shirlington, Arlington, VA 22206. For tickets and information call the box office at 703 820-9771 or visit www.SigTheatre.org

A Powerful Cast Heads the Heart-Stirring Ragtime at Signature Theatre

A Powerful Cast Heads the Heart-Stirring Ragtime at Signature Theatre

Ragtime
Signature Theatre
Jordan Wright
November 6, 2023
Special to The Zebra

Bobby Smith (Tateh), Emerson Holt Lacayo (The Little Girl) and the cast of Ragtime at Signature Theatre (Photo by Daniel Rader)

Thirty-three performers make up this extraordinary ensemble in Signature Theatre’s heart-stirring musical set at the turn of the 20th century. It brings together a most unlikely confluence of characters whose lives intersect in extraordinary ways as their paths help to change the course of history in this new age. Adapted from writer E. L. Doctorow’s 1975 novel, Ragtime won four Tony Awards and proved not only its longevity but its indelible attraction to all audiences. The story focusses on the intersecting lives of three distinct elements of American society from that glittering period – Black Americans, on the rise as a strong middle class in Northern cities; upper class White Americans who enjoyed a luxe life of money and privilege; and newly-arrived Jewish immigrants living in dire conditions on the Lower East Side of New York while struggling to assimilate against all odds.

The desire to assimilate, to succeed, and to find acceptance defines all societies. As Jean Paul Sartre put it when writing on the human condition, “Every existing thing is born without reason, prolongs itself out of weakness, and dies by chance.” This is a story of those people who stepped outside of their comfort zone to show humanity to those who have less. It is also a story of love, empathy, acceptance, success and sacrifice.

Nkrumah Gatling (Coalhouse Walker Jr.) and Awa Sal Secka (Sarah) (Photo by Daniel Rader)

They were capitalist foe and union organizer, Emma Goldman (Dani Stoller), a reformer from the days when child labor was the norm and harsh working conditions prevailed; Harry Houdini (Edward L. Simon), the Jewish immigrant who became the world’s most famous magician; and Evelyn Nesbitt (Maria Rizzo), the great beauty who carved out her vaudeville career on a velvet swing while paramour to a millionaire. Iconic Americans Booker T. Washington (Tobias A. Young), the great African American orator and presidential advisor, the financier J. P. Morgan (Todd Scofield) and even Henry Ford (Douglas Ullman Jr.) are featured in this story too. In Doctorow’s sweeping American saga, ordinary people become extraordinary people as their lives intersect and they are tested for their capacity to love.

Harkening back to the turn of the 20th Century, when ladies of a certain class carried parasols and wore stiff corsets under voluminous dresses, Ragtime was a new sound that crossed over into polite white society bringing the music of Black America into the living rooms of White America. This sultry, sexy rhythm coupled with lyrics that were of a coarser nature than most Whites were accustomed to hearing, was sweeping the nation and a certain Coalhouse Walker, Jr. (Nkrumah Gatling), influenced by famed pianist Scott Joplin, was introducing that catchy, mournful sound to a wider audience.

Nurney, Ariel Friendly, Keenan McCarter, Nkrumah Gatling, Jordyn Taylor, Theodore Sapp, and Kara-Tameika Watkins  (Photo by Daniel Rader)

In this story Father (Bill English) is off on a polar expedition with Admiral Peary when his wife, Mother (Teal Wicks), discovers a Black newborn abandoned in her garden and goes about finding the boy’s mother. “I never thought they had lives besides our lives,” she confesses. When at last she and her brother Edgar (Jake Loewenthal) find Sarah (Awa Sal Secka), she offers her and the baby the comfort of their home – allowing her humanity to overtake her Victorian rigidity and against Father’s strong disapproval.

Known as one of the most important musicals ever to grace Broadway, this production does Composer Stephen Flaherty’s and Lyricist Lynn Ahrens’ material (thirty-three numbers backed by a 17-piece orchestra!) justice with a strong and interconnected cast who sing their faces off. The ensemble’s voices reflect the powerful emotions of this poignant story of hope, redemption, a fight for human rights and a call to justice.

Bobby Smith (Tateh) and Emerson Holt Lacayo (The Little Girl) (Photo by Daniel Rader)

Director Matthew Gardiner with his extraordinary team has assembled a brilliant crew and a cast with voices that not only complement each other but stand alone as uniquely gifted.

In all fairness I find it hard to single out one or even a few actors who shone brighter than all the rest as this is most assuredly an ensemble piece. But watch for any number sung by Wicks, Gatling, Jordyn Taylor (as Sarah’s Friend), who does a brief but deeply affecting solo turn in “When We Reach That Day”, Bobby Smith, Sal Secka and Stoller.

Highly recommended. Bring everyone you know!

5. Matthew Lamb (The Little Boy) and the cast of Ragtime (Photo by Daniel Rader)

Matthew Lamb as The Little Boy; Lawrence Redmond as Grandfather and Charles S. Whitman; Bobby Smith as Tateh; Avery Laina Harris or Emerson Holt Lacayo as The Little Girl; Keenan McCarter as Matthew Henson; Erin Driscoll as Kathleen; Gregory Twomey as Willie Conklin; Claire Leyden as Brigit.

Book by Terrence McNally; Music by Stephen FlahertyLyrics by Lynn Ahrens; Conducted by Jon Kalbfleisch; Choreographed by Ashleigh King; Scenic Design by Lee Savage; Costume Design by Erik Teague; Lighting Design by Tyler Micoleau; Sound Design by Eric Norris; and Jonathan Keith or Maxwell Kwadjo Talbert as Coalhouse Walker III. Additional ensemble; Ariel FriendlyNurneyTheodore Sapp, and Kara-Tameika Watkins.

Through January 7th 2024 at Signature Theatre, 4200 Campbell Avenue in Shirlington Village, Arlington, VA 22206. For tickets and information call the box office at 703 820-9771 or visit www.SigTheatre.org

Signature Theatre’s King of the Yees is Acerbic, Witty, Fresh-as-a-Breeze and Sharp-as-a-Tack

Signature Theatre’s King of the Yees is Acerbic, Witty, Fresh-as-a-Breeze and Sharp-as-a-Tack

King of the Yees
Signature Theatre
Jordan Wright
September 30, 2023
Special to The Zebra

Jacob Yeh (Erhu Player) and Ashley D. Nguyen (Lauren) (Photo by DJ Corey Photography)

In one of the most refreshing new productions by playwright Lauren Yee (Cambodian Rock Band), we are gifted with an insider’s view of Chinese American culture. It is very much her story. Set in San Francisco it tells of a young Yale-educated playwright penning a story of her father, Larry Yee (Grant Chang), a neighborhood activist and amateur genealogist determined to advance the family name. Larry’s connection to a 150-year-old Chinatown social club manifesting mystical powers proves instrumental in Lauren finding her roots. And though he is no relation to a local politician running for office, Leeland Yee (a reference to a real-life character), they share the same last name and Larry, believing in the strong ancestral culture of his elders, becomes Leeland’s exalted gofer and supporter.

Jacob Yeh (Sichuan Face Changer) and Ashley D. Nguyen (Lauren)  (Photo by DJ Corey Photography)

There is a strong connection to Larry’s respect for the ancients and his desire to convince his daughter, Lauren (Ashley D. Nguyen), that her destiny lies behind the club’s imposing red door. Between Lauren’s search for her own identity and Larry’s determination to prove his ancestral roots, lie some of the most hilarious characters ever created – some younger generation, others are elders who reflect past cultural norms – and ancestral bugaboos. That the playwright pokes fun at everyone proves the universality of her theme. Fortune cookies, twerking lion dancers, ancient rituals, a Chinese gangster (the real life “Shrimp Boy” Chow!) and an acupuncturist/herbalist make appearances shuttling Lauren headlong towards her goal of understanding her father and finding her cultural identity. No one is spared skewering in Yees’ cleverly representational imaginings.

References to Chinese immigrant heritage play nicely with flashback memories of mid-19th century San Francisco and Lauren’s father’s connection to the Yee Fung Toy Family Association which he is determined to keep afloat. Program notes tell us the association and its many chapters still exist throughout the United States.

Jacob Yeh (Erhu Player) and Ashley D. Nguyen (Lauren) in King of the Yees at Signature Theatre. (Photo by DJ Corey Photography)

King of the Yees is an eye-opening insight into Chinese American cultural assimilation and its subsequent generational struggles – the loss of identity and the keen awareness of rapidly gentrifying Chinese neighborhoods. The playwright employs magical realism and original humor to add to the wonderment of Lauren’s fraught journey to know her father, affectionately drawing each unique character to reveal their strengths and foibles. Her approach results in a super-fast pace and highly physical comedy executed perfectly by its super talented, very much in sync cast. This cleverly constructed play is acerbic, witty, fresh-as-a-breeze and sharp-as-a-tack, and I absolutely loved it. Ditto for the audience who roared in appreciation and wonderment.

Ashley D. Nguyen (Lauren), Sylvia Kwan (Actor 2), Grant Chang (Larry) and Jacob Yeh (Actor 1) (Photo by DJ Corey Photography)

With Jacob Yeh as Actor 1; Sylvia Kwan as Actor 2; Nicholas Yenson as Actor 3 and Fight Captain.

Directed by Jennifer Chang; Scenic Design by Tanya Orellana; Costume Design by Helen Q. Huang; Lighting Design by Minjoo Kim; Sound Design and Original Music by Matthew M. Nelson; Assistant Director Gregory Keng Strasser.

Highly recommended. One of the best comedies of the year!

Through October 22nd at Signature Theatre in Shirlington Village, 4200 Campbell Avenue, Arlington, VA 22206. For tickets and information call the box office at 703 820-9771 or visit www.SigTheatre.org

A Farmer’s Wife Finds Passion and Purpose in America’s Heartland in The Bridges of Madison County at Signature Theatre

A Farmer’s Wife Finds Passion and Purpose in America’s Heartland in The Bridges of Madison County at Signature Theatre

The Bridges of Madison County
August 20, 2023
Signature Theatre
Jordan Wright
Special to The Zebra 

Mark Evans (Robert Kincaid) and Erin Davie (Francesca Johnson) (Photo by Daniel Rader)

Readers will remember Robert James Waller’s wildly successful 1992 best-selling novel on which Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Marsha Norman bases this 2013 musical adaptation and followed the eponymous 1995 film starring Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood. With music and lyrics by the brilliant composer, Jason Roberts Brown, it garnered two Tony Awards for Best Score and Best Orchestrations in 2014.

Coming off his recent success with Pacific Overtures, Signature Theatre’s recently appointed Associate Artistic Director Ethan Heard directs this sweeping love story focusing on the indelible integrity of the score performed by its two leads, Erin Davie as the beautiful Francesca Johnson and Mark Evans as her lover, Robert Kincaid.

Rayanne Gonzales (Marge) and Christopher Bloch (Charlie)  (Photo by Daniel Rader)

The story is set in America’s heartland where iconic covered bridges can still be found and where Robert’s National Geographic assignment leads him to Winterset, Iowa to find and photograph all six of them. Francesca, a post-war Neapolitan transplant to America is married to “Bud” Johnson (Cullen R. Titmas) and the farming couple have two children, Michael (Nolan Montgomery) and Carolyn (Julia Wheeler Lennon). When Francesca begs off a family trip to Davenport for the Iowa State Fair, she revels in her solitude and friendship with neighbors, Marge (Rayanne Gonzalez) and Charlie (Christopher Bloch) in “You’re Never Alone”. Soon she is very much not alone when hot and hunky Robert turns into her driveway to ask directions to one of the covered bridges. In “What Do You Call a Man Like That?” she reveals stirrings of a fire she had tamped down after 18 years of marriage. Their subsequent 4-day forbidden love affair is a story of intense passion and the sexual reawakening of a woman who sacrificed her emotional needs to devote herself to farm and family.

Marina Pires (State Fair Singer) and the cast of The Bridges of Madison County at Signature Theatre. (Photo by Daniel Rader)

Davie’s and Evans’ perfectly complementing voices prove irresistible in Brown’s lush score. Their duets on “Get Closer/Falling Into You” and “Before and After You/A Million Miles” are magical. And I was pleasantly delighted by Marina Pires who holds multiple roles as Marian, Chiara, State Fair Singer, Ginny and Waitress. Her delivery of “Another Life” is outstanding.

 Between the rapturous love scenes on a quilt-covered brass bed, neighbors Marge and Charlie provide the levity as they examine their own marriage and their indelible connection to each other. Yes, marriage takes a healthy dose of humor!

Backed by Conductor William Yanesh’s 12-piece orchestra, this moving musical will steal your heart.

Music Directed by Laura Berquist; Choreography by Kelly Crandall d’Amboise; Scenic Design by Lee Savage; Costume Design by Kathleen Geldard; Lighting Design by Jesse Belsky; Sound Design by Eric Norris.

Highly recommended.

Mark Evans (Robert Kincaid) and Erin Davie (Francesca Johnson) (Photo by Daniel Rader)

Through September 18th at Signature Theatre in Shirlington Village, 4200 Campbell Avenue, Arlington, VA 22206. For tickets and information call the box office at 703 820-9771 or visit www.SigTheatre.org.

Sweeney Todd – The Demon of Fleet Street Provides Murder, Mayhem and Brit Wit at Signature Theatre

 Sweeney Todd – The Demon of Fleet Street Provides Murder, Mayhem and Brit Wit at Signature Theatre

Sweeney Todd – The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Signature Theatre
Jordan Wright
May 26, 2023
Special to The Zebra

Nathaniel Stampley (Sweeney Todd) and Ian McEuen (Pirelli) in Sweeney Todd at Signature Theatre. (Photo/Margot Schulman)

Set in the darkest environs of London we find Sweeney Todd just released from prison and plunged into a life of murder and mayhem, a topic popular with virtuous Victorians and their high-minded devotion to morality and manners. Sweeney Todd – The Demon Barber of Fleet Street provides us with a singularly depraved and vengeful killer, a man “who would blink and rats would scuttle” as he “served a dark and vengeful god”, underpinned by the intelligent beauty of Stephen Sondheim’s brilliant score with book by Hugh Wheeler.

Columns of screeching steam announce the opening scene as the characters enter from the aisles. We hear the plaintively beautiful operatic voice of the Beggar Woman (Rayanne Gonzalez) as she portends the evils that await and we meet handsome, young Anthony Hope (note the surname) (Paul Scanlan), a sailor who saved Sweeney’s life in a shipwreck and who arrives in London to find Todd and ask for a favor in return.

Katie Mariko Murray (Johanna) and Paul Scanlan (Anthony Hope) in Sweeney Todd at Signature Theatre. (Photo/Christopher Mueller)

Mrs. Lovett (Bryonha Marie), an ambitious and wily widow with a failing meat pie shop and soon to become the lover and murderous accomplice of Sweeney (Nathaniel Stampley), appears in her establishment bemoaning the high price of meat while noting how all the neighbor’s cats have disappeared. They soon strike up an unusual and diabolical alliance and, in a stroke of business genius, Mrs. Lovett (note the surname) provides Todd with a tonsorial parlor above her shop where they gleefully combine the two disparate businesses. “Think of it as thrift,” she chirps ominously.

The musical is a tale of love, loss and revenge merrily served up in all its carnivorous glory with a spot of tea and a stiff upper lip. A grisly horror story dripping with blood and British humor and some of the most notably creative of Sondheim’s music and lyrics. And, not to worry, my pet, it’s also gifts us with an acerbic side-eye and biting gallows humor.

Bryonha Marie (Mrs. Lovett) and Nathaniel Stampley (Sweeney Todd) in Sweeney Todd at Signature Theatre. (Photo/Christopher Mueller)

As for our leads, Marie and Stampley, there could not be a more perfect casting of these two actors who both support and contrast each other. Stampley, portrays a gloomy figure of a man who stalks and broods in tenor splendor and who conveys all the evil in the wider world. He is matched only by the broad expressiveness, charm, and magical vocals of Bryonha Marie. They are superb together.

Scenic Designer Mikiko Suzuki Macadams reflects London’s gritty underbelly with the dark and dirty greys of its 19th century warehouse district complementing Costume Designer Robert Perdziola’s vision of ladies in muted grey dresses – save for our heroine Johanna who is a vision in white linen. Director Sarna Lapine creates a scene of constantly swirling dramatic intrigue and a clever concept to mimic the appearance of blood (of which there is much) using thin, red streamers to palatably capture the mendacity afoot.

Of particular note are performances by Katie Mariko Murray who plays sweet, innocent Johanna, Todd’s long-lost daughter; Harrison Smith as Tobias Ragg, the couple’s wide-eyed hapless assistant; John Leslie Wolfe as the libidinous Judge Turpin who keeps Joanna in an actual birdcage; Christopher Michael Richardson as The Beadle; and Ian McEuen as Pirelli, Todd’s Italian challenger to the title of best barber.

Choreographed by Alison Solomon and conducted by Jon Kabfleisch commanding a 15-piece orchestra for the full-on experience.

Highly recommended.

With an ensemble to include Benjamin Lurye, Jimmy Mavrikes, Bob McDonald, Adelina Mitchell (doubling as Dance Captain), Crystal Mosser, Lawrence Redmond (doubling as Fight Captain), Katherine Riddle, Sarah Anne Sillers and Chani Wereley.

Through July 9th at Signature Theatre in Shirlington Village, 4200 Campbell Avenue, Arlington, VA 22206. For tickets and information visit www.SigTheatre.org or call the box office at 703 820-9771.

Sondheim’s Pacific Overtures Brings Magical Realism to Japanese Culture at Signature Theatre

Sondheim’s Pacific Overtures Brings Magical Realism to Japanese Culture at Signature Theatre

Pacific Overtures
Signature Theatre
Jordan Wright
March 22, 2023
Special to The Zebra

Eymard Meneses Cabling (Lord Abe) and the cast of Pacific Overtures. (Photo/Daniel Rader)

Thanks to the brilliance of multi-Emmy Award-winning Book writer, John Weidman (an early Sondheim collaborator), who has updated some of the 50-year-old material in Pacific Overtures, and the adaptation by the eminent Hugh Wheeler this production is now more relevant than it has ever been. It presents as a well-curated collection of precious gifts – each one a surprise. Throughout both acts I was in a constant state of wow. It differs from some other Sondheim musicals in that, although there is the distinct aspect of magical realism, there is also a political message cleverly couched between the indisputable lure of Asian culture and its bellicose history. Told by the Reciter (Jason Ma), it begins with a tea ceremony on the island empire and tells of a lowly fisherman Kayama (Daniel May) who navigates a complicated journey in the worst of times.

Quynh-My Luu (Photo/Shannon Finney)

In its representation of mid-19th century life in Japan, its formality, its chrysanthemum tea ceremonies, and its well-defined class structure under the emperor, we behold exquisite costumes – lavish kimonos and stylized papier maché hair designs. Newly hired Associate Artistic Director Ethan Heard has assembled a unique and uber-talented crew to flesh out all the details and it is mightily impressive. Silks are wafted like ocean waves and a circular stage that turns in the center to reveal all sides of the characters and their interactions. From behind Japanese scrims fan-twirling geishas hide and giggle as they plot their welcoming of the American sailors. The raking of sand sculptures imbedded in the stage floor show no hint of inner chaos. Stylized depictions of Kabuki theater allow each minute detail of Japanese culture to be honored and observed. It is both elegant and intentional.

Pacific Overtures’ charm is scintillating. Characters in hyper-distorted masks pop seemingly out of nowhere, some as hyper-politicized puppets, symbols of the way Japan saw America in the days of the Shogun, others as comical and cute in a nod to Japanese Manga comics.

Chani Wereley (Madam) and Jason Ma (Reciter) with Quynh-My Luu, Albert Hsueh, Andrew Cristi, and Christopher Mueller. (Photo/Daniel Rader)

The stage is divided into two major areas. A second story holds the largest Wadaiko drum on the East Coast. Played to accentuate the sword-wielding samurais and kenjutsu fighting, it is dramatic and thundering. Beside the drum high up under a gingko tree sits a life-like puppet of Emperor Meiji on his throne. He was only one year old when America entered the Japanese harbor and threatened to come ashore. Up until then no foreigner had ever been permitted to enter the country since 1603, but Commodore Perry was determined to open trade routes even if he had to bomb the country to smithereens. Fortunately, that didn’t happen and he weaseled his way into the country by hook and by crook.

Though the rarely produced Pacific Overtures has the distinct signature of Sondheim’s better-known musicals and complex plots, there is a charming Gilbert & Sullivan levity in some of its ditties. How perfect that this wonderful production should come to us at cherry blossom time.

Highly recommended!!!

The cast of Pacific Overtures at Signature Theatre (Photo/Daniel Rader)

With Quynh-My Luu as Tamate; Alex Koichi Beard as Manjiro; Eymard Meneses Cabling as Lord Abe; Andrew Cristi as Mother of Shogun; Albert Hsueh as Boy; Jonny Lee Jr. as Manjiro; Joey Ledonio as Mother of the Shogun understudy; Christopher Mueller as Warrior and others; Ashley D. Nguyen as Tamate/Madam understudy; Chani Wereley as Madam/Others; Nicholas Yenson as Perry/Others; Ryan Sellers as Lord Abe/Warrior/Perry understudy.

Direction and Musical Staging by Ethan Heard; Music & Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim; Conducted by Alexander Tom; Orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick; Additional Material by Hugh Wheeler; Scenic Design by Chika Shimizu; Costume & Puppet Design by Helen Q. Huang; Lighting Design by Oliver Wason; Sound Design by Eric Norris; Kabuki Consultant Kirk Kanesaka; Fight Director Yoshi Amao; Taiko Consultant Mark H. Rooney.

Through April 9th at Signature Theatre in Shirlington Village, 4200 Campbell Avenue, Arlington, VA 22206. For tickets and information visit www.Sigtheatre.org or call the box office at 703 820-9771.