75 years ago today, the Fat Man plutonium bomb incinerated Nagasaki. Soon after, the Emperor took to the radio, and for the first time, his people heard the divine voice, offering the surrender of the Japanese Empire to the Allies; it was the final surrender of WW II. It were remiss, in a blog about civilization, not to mark this solemn anniversary.

January 11, 1976, the Dawn of the Bicentennial came to America, suitably, from the Land of the Rising Sun. The finest historical opera ever written, Pacific Overtures, opened at the Winter Garden Theatre. Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim; book by Weidman and Wheeler, staged by Harold Prince. It closed on June 9th, after 193 performances, when it was recorded live and broadcast on Japanese television. Youtube has the entire performance, masterfully staged, perfectly sung, and audibly plummy.

It will charm, delight, beguile, amuse, threaten, scare, seize, and embrace, you, Patient Viewer, and leave your ears ringing with song. [Sondheim shy? Whet your whistle with a few selections that embody the show, especially, “Someone In A Tree,’ which is about History Itself.

0:00 — Opening; “The Advantages of Floating in the Middle of the Sea”
54:06 — “Walking with Poems”
1:12:00 — “Someone In A Tree”]