RECOMMENDED.

Stage Raw Top Ten.

[D]irector James Esposito, choreographer Michael Marchak, and musical director Daniel Yokomizo have scaled down the production with such tact that this production gains in clarity and dramatic power. Particularly in Act 2, the material seems more hard-hitting than it was on Broadway.

Paul Wong brings enormous dignity and authority to the role of the narrator, here called the Reciter. Cipriano is a stalwart Kayama, and Leonardo is a wily and street-smart Manjiro. But the real star of the show is the 8-actor ensemble, whose members play multiple roles with skill and energy.

Neal Weaver, StageRaw

Chromolume summons enough style and vision to make its Pacific Overtures seem substantial even though all of the elements are small-scale.

[T]he cast includes a standout tenor, Gibran Mahmud, who is wisely deployed as the lead voice on such key songs as the delicate There Is No Other Way, the alarm-raising Four Black Dragons and the luminous yet blood-chilling Pretty Lady.

Cesar Cipriano exudes quiet bravery...and Peter Jeensalute...mines the humor of a shogun's scheming mother in “Chrysanthemum Tea.”

Daryl Miller, LA Times

[Sondheim] fans will find much to admire in this full-length intimate staging.

Pacific Overtures scores high marks for style, for its history lesson told through Japanese eyes (foreigners’ attempt to speak Japanese is heard in broken English), and for doing both with an all-Asian cast.

[T]he cast assembled by director James Esposito (doing some imaginative work here) are a talented bunch, each of them offered the chance to shine, both as actors and as vocalists to Daniel Yokomizo’s expert musical direction/piano accompaniment.

[John] Sala and [Julia May] Wong's Someone In A Tree is an Act One standout as is [Cesar] Cipriano's A Bowler Hat in Act Two

[Gibran] Mahmud proves the production's finest singer and [Kevin] Matsumoto its finest dancer in a thrillingly graceful, athletic Lion Dance, just one of Michael Marchak's many choreographic contributions. (A puppet-show sequence is another imaginative winner.)

Hector Figueroa's Japanese-flavored scenic design [is] one of Chromolume's best.

Kara McLeod scores high marks for her period costumes both realistic and fanciful.

Chromolume Theatre's rarer-than-rare revival is worth a look-see. As for those who truly love the show, they I expect will find themselves in Sondheim heaven.

Steven Stanley, StageSceneLA

The mostly Asian cast — seven of whom play multiple roles — may not always be polished, but they hit their marks, and in some cases far exceed what one would expect from a semi-professional outing.

This — as with most all Sondheim — is not an easy score to get right, but this ensemble did. I really was most impressed and, more important, I was truly entertained. It’s a ridiculously short run; don’t miss this rare opportunity to see a rarely produced Sondheim gem.

Tony Frankel

[T]hanks to [James] Esposito's brilliant casting and small stage direction, the production shines.

The actors are to be commended for their triple-threat performances using every inch of the small performance space, supported by the very Asian-flavored scenic design by Hector Figueroa and ever-changing colorful lighting design by Jesse Baldridge, which highlight the mood of each scene, with the traditional Japanese costume design by Kara McLeod a joy to behold.

Shari Barrett, BroadwayWorld

Entertaining!"

A testament to a company that has the willingness to stride where others merely cringe.

Earnest Kearney, TVolution

[T]he intimacy of the space provides you with a crystal clear hearing of one of Sondheim's best scores.

Highlights include the heartbreaking “There Is No Other Way,” sung in alternate verses by Daniel Koh and Gibran Mahmud, and the bantering of Cesar Cipriano and Daryl Leonardo in “Poems.”

Musical director Daniel Yokomizo leads the three-piece band and gives the score the proper Japanese flavor.

Rob Stevens, Haines His Way