Dust Jacket - Featuring the
"Commodore Perry" Character in the Play

 
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Sondheim, Stephen
Weidman, John
Wheller, Hugh:
Pacific Overtures, New York, Dodd, Mead & Company, 1977, red cloth, black titles, 23 black and white production photographs, frontispiece drawing by Al Hirshfield, color photo-illustrated dust wrapper, 8vo, 128 pp. The play was first presented by Harold Prince and Ruth Mitchell at the Winter Garden Theatre, New York City on January 11, 1976. This was a Kabuki-styled musical concerning the Perry Expedition to Japan and the subsequent impact that it had on Japan. Perry is depicted as a lionlike figure (complete with a flowing white mane) in the play. John Manjiro has a prominent role in the play. Act I is Perry's first visit to Japan and delivery of the President's letter. Act II is the second visit by Perry and conclusion of the treaty and the British, Russian, Dutch and French demands for similar treaties. This act also traces the impact of the Western influences on Japan zooming forward 120 years in a few short scenes (1973). ISBN 0-396-07414-6.

Subsequent Editions (book club type).

• 1977, New York, Dodd, Mead & Company, hardcover.
• 1986, New York, New York Theatre Communications Group, hardcover.
• 1991, New York, New York Theatre Communications Group, paperback.