Steve On Broadway (SOB)

Merry Christmas From Tokyo

Merry Christmas From Tokyo

Greetings from the incredibly vibrant, yet surprisingly quiet city of Tokyo, where I'm spending this Christmas holiday catching a little theatre, but also getting acquainted with this magnificent city.

In seeing our show, it appeared we were the only westerners in the audience. I'll write more about the actual performance of the Japanese language version for this Broadway hit later, but I was struck by how incredibly polite the audience was. They hardly laughed or applauded during the performance (and you could hear a pin drop whenever the stage was quiet). But they clearly loved the show considering the six curtain calls.

After the fourth call, the orchestra started to play familiar strains. But it wasn't anything from the show itself. Instead, they played "White Christmas" with orchestrations lifted right from the show's familiar score. The two lead actors began singing -- in English -- and were soon joined by the entire cast. It made for a very moving experience. It was beautiful.

The rest of my Christmas Eve (it is Christmas Day here thanks to the 14 hour time difference) navigating the complex subway system before walking around (and walking and walking and walking). After toasting Chrismas with a glass of champagne in the bar of the city's renowned Imperial Hotel -- the Old Imperial Bar is the only remaining room with Frank Lloyd Wright's original design -- we took in the 50 year old Tokyo Tower (pictured), which purposely resembles Paris' Eiffel Tower and affords some of the best views of this immense city. And strangely enough, with one Christmas hymn after another being piped out of the tower's sound system, it was easy to remember which holiday was upon us.

Please accept my personal best wishes for a very Merry Christmas. Here's wishing you and yours nothing but peace and love.

This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).

Labels: Christmas, Frank Lloyd Wright, Japan, Special Messages, Tokyo, Travels, White Christmas

posted by Steve On Broadway (SOB) @ Monday, December 24, 2007