Interview: Gedde Watanabe Returns to Pacific Overtures, Decades After Starring in It On Broadway

For nearly 50 years, Gedde Watanabe has been a star of film and television, earning his greatest onscreen fame in 1984 as Long Duk Dong in John Hughes’s beloved comedy Sixteen Candles opposite Molly Ringwald.

But not everyone knows that Watanabe is an accomplished musical theater actor. He has starred in many shows for Los Angeles’ East-West Players and, most notably, was in the ensemble of the 1976 Broadway production of Stephen Sondheim’s Pacific Overtures.

Now, those lives have merged as he plays the Old Man and the Shogun’s Mother in East-West Players’ new revival.

Watanabe spoke to TheaterMania about the challenges of learning Sondheim all over again as he approaches 70, how he ended up on Broadway instead of pursuing a career as a street musician, and his memories of his audition and rehearsals for the original Broadway production of Pacific Overtures.

This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

How does it feel to revisit this material nearly 50 years later?
It is scary. I have never revisited it. I always thought, “Why look back?” But Tim Dang [the director] begged me to do this, and I let him pull back me in. Honestly, it’s been shocking to hear these songs again, especially in different voices. I have the old ones in my head. So really, I just hear ghosts a lot of the time.

How did you end up being cast in the original Pacific Overtures?
I had gone to the American Conservatory Theatre for a summer in San Francisco, and then I became a street singer there. I really wanted to be a folk singer. I made good money on the street, like $200 to $300 a weekend. I lived in a commune, and we put all our food stamps in a pot — and then I used the money I made to do what I wanted to do. It was a great life! But one day, the actress and casting director Joanna Merlin heard me busk and told me to call her. And when I did, she suggested I come to New York and audition for Pacific Overtures.

Do you remember that audition?
First, I had no idea who anybody in the room was. Then I had to learn a Broadway tune, not a Bob Dylan or Joni Mitchell song, like I was used to performing. I remembered my mom liked “How Are Things in Glocca Morra,” so I sang it all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. I was so nervous, and they kept asking me to sing higher and higher until my voice cracked. I couldn’t believe it when they told me I got cast.

What do you recall about the first day of rehearsal?
You know when you’re so in the moment that your brain is mush. That was me. It was so overwhelming. Some guy came over to shake my hand and I had no idea who he was. In fact, I think I asked him who he was. Of course, it was Stephen Sondheim. And frankly what I remember about the entire rehearsal process was thinking every day that I was going to get fired.

Now you are singing two of the show’s most famous songs, notably “Chrysanthemum Tea,” which is among Sondheim’s most difficult tunes, both lyrically and melodically. Are there tricks to learning it?
I am not sure, because we’re in rehearsal as we speak, and I am screwing up this song like crazy. I keep thinking, “What did I get myself into?” I started trying to learn this song over a month ago and it’s still not in my head. In the original production, Alvin Ing had some of the lyrics written on a fan. But I am afraid I would look like I was doing a bad Saturday Night Live sketch, so I am determined not to do that. In the end, I am trying not to be too hard on myself with this song and I pray every day to the God of Alvin for help.

You are also singing “Someone in a Tree” as the Old Man. That means you’re singing it from a very different perspective from when you were the Boy. Does it hit you differently now?
I can be very honest now. I didn’t understand the show when I did it. I really depended on instinct to get through it. Now, for me, “Someone in a Tree” is all about memory and nostalgia and I understand that. So not only is it wonderful to sing it again, but I feel like I have an unconscious responsibility to make this song work.

How important do you think companies like East-West Players are, especially since Asian Americans have been traditionally underrepresented in theater?
East-West allowed me to do roles no one would hire me for, like Pseudolus in “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.” Tim said he told Stephen that he was setting it in Polynesia, and he ended up being fine with that. Being in their shows was a great way for me to learn about doing theater and it was a thrill to find out if my chops were strong enough to do musicals.

Would you ever come back to Broadway and do another musical?
As I approach 70, I go where life takes me; I don’t look for projects. But New York is like Oz to me. It’s where I spent some of the best days of my youth and I adore it so much. So, if the opportunity came, sure!