Toggle search
Search
Toggle menu
notifications
Toggle personal menu
Editing
Shogun: The Musical
From J-Wiki
Views
Read
Edit
View history
associated-pages
Page
Discussion
More actions
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
'''Shōgun: The Musical''' is a musical with a book and lyrics by John Driver and music by [[Paul Chihara]]. Based on James Clavell's 1976 novel and the [[Shogun (Mini-series) | 1980 television mini-series]] of the same name based on it, the musical centers on shipwrecked English sea captain John Blackthorne, who finds himself drawn into a political power play while involved in an illicit affair with a married noblewoman in 17th-century Japan. Clavell's novel was itself originally inspired by the true story of English navigator William Adams. Clavell himself initiated the project in 1982 and, when it remained in limbo for more than eight years, finally provided most of the financing required to get it mounted. Compressing his mammoth work, which had required twelve hours to tell fully on screen, into a reasonable length for the theatre proved to be a daunting task. When the production opened at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., it closely resembled Les Misérables and The Phantom of the Opera in size and scope, with a cast of thirty-eight characters, more than three hundred costumes, a libretto nearly entirely sung, and a running time of 3½ hours. After eighteen previews, the Broadway production, directed and choreographed by Michael Smuin, opened on November 20, 1990 at the Marquis Theatre, where it ran for 72 performances. In addition to Casnoff, the cast included [[June Angela]], Joseph Foronda, Eric Chan, JoAnn M. Hunter, Leslie Ishii, and Francis Ruivivar. Despite a detailed plot synopsis in the Playbill, audiences were still confused by the action onstage. Critics found the special effects (including a shipwreck, an earthquake, and a battle fought on horseback in a snowstorm) and Patricia Zipprodt's costume designs to be impressive, but the score was weak and Smuin, whose background was ballet, had concentrated more on unnecessary dance sequences than he had on plot exposition. Japanese visitors kept the show running for two months, but when the Persian Gulf War broke out, tourism dropped dramatically and the production closed. ==Songs== Act I * Karma * Night of Screams * This is Samurai * How Nice to See You * Impossible Eyes * He Let Me Live * Honto * Assassination * Shogun * Royal Blood * An Island * No Word for Love * Mad Rum Below/Escape * Karma (Reprise) * Born to Be Together Act II * Fireflies * Sail Home * Rum Below * Pillowing * Born to Be Together (Reprise) * No Man * Cha-No-Yu * Absolution * Poetry Competition * Death Walk * One Candle * Ninja Raid * One Candle (Reprise) * Winter Battle * Resolutions * Trio * Finale [[Category: Entertainment]] [[Category: Gaijin in Japan]] [[Category: The 1990s]]
Summary:
Please note that all contributions to J-Wiki may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see
J-Wiki:Copyrights
for details).
Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)