PACIFIC OVERTURES Union Theatre, London SE1

Stephen Sondheim has described Pacific Overtures, too esoteric for most audiences, as “the most bizarre and unusual musical ever to be seen in a commercial setting”; yet it was not the first Broadway musical to deal with a clash between Eastern and Western cultures. South Pacific, The King and I and Flower Drum Song had already done that. The story deals with America’s determination in 1853 to open up Japan to foreign trade. The action is dramatised from the Japanese point of view and Michael Strassen’s small-scale staging is impressive, drawing on Kabuki, Bunraku and Noh theatrical traditions. There is some fine choral singing from an all-male, non-Oriental cast.