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| Soon-Tek Oh, Asian-American theater pioneer and star of 'Pacific Overtures,' dies at age 85 | |
| Last Edit: WaymanWong 09:42 pm EDT 04/07/18 | |
| Posted by: WaymanWong 09:37 pm EDT 04/07/18 | |
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| Soon-Tek Oh, the pioneering Korean-American actor of stage and screen, died April 4 after a battle with Alzheimer's. He was 85. Oh racked up over 100 movie and TV credits, notably voicing Fa Zhou, the father in ''Mulan'' (1988) and ''Mulan 2'' (2004). On the big screen, he co-starred with Roger Moore in the James Bond movie ''The Man With the Golden Gun'' (1974). On the small screen, Oh was seen in ''Kung Fu,'' ''Hawaii Five-O,'' ''East of Eden,'' ''M*A*S*H,'' ''Magnum, P.I.'' and many more. But he made his most lasting impression on the stage: co-founding, with Mako and others, East West Players in L.A. in 1965. It was one of the first Asian-American theater companies, and was a rare showcase for Asian-American playwrights and actors. And Oh played Tamate in the magnificent Broadway cast of ''Pacific Overtures'' (1976), which is on YouTube. Kudos to quite a career! |
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| Link | Variety: Soon-Tek Oh, voice of Mulan's father and Asian-American theater pioneer, dies at 85 |
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| Remembering Soon-Tek: Oh, what a beautiful actor | |
| Last Edit: WaymanWong 10:17 pm EDT 04/07/18 | |
| Posted by: WaymanWong 10:09 pm EDT 04/07/18 | |
| In reply to: Soon-Tek Oh, Asian-American theater pioneer and star of 'Pacific Overtures,' dies at age 85 - WaymanWong 09:37 pm EDT 04/07/18 | |
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| I enjoyed reading Craig Zadan's invaluable book ''Sondheim & Co.'' and its revised edition. In it, he dished about the creation of each show, interviewing Sondheim and the principal actors of every one of his major Broadway musicals. Except one: ''Pacific Overtures.'' And though its creators have given their own official version, the Asian-American actors have been seldom quoted anywhere, so we tracked down Mako, Soon-Tek Oh and Sab Shimono for the Sondheim Review in 1998. And we asked them to give their own account of what took place on that historic show. (We used to be able to link to the whole piece online, but that link seems to have been corrupted.) Here are excerpts from our chat with Oh, who not only played Kayama's wife, Tamate, but also a samurai, storyteller and swordsman. ''I was reluctant to take [the role of Tamate] because I felt I was too big to play a lady. For an Asian, I'm big, 5-foot-9, 145 pounds. Besides, I didn't have the training. Then someone from Prince's office called to say that they weren't doing pure Kabuki and to consider Tamate as one of a handful of characters I'd be playing. So I joined the company. ... Being an egoist (laughs), I enjoyed playing the Storyteller (in Act II) because he had a big monologue ... so I had the whole stage to myself. I also incorporated some Noh, neo-Kabuki movements with Mr. Prince's approval.'' ''A theater friend of mine came backstage and said, 'You sure got a big credit [in the program] for playing only 15 minutes in the show.' He thought I only played Tamate; he didn't realize I'd played three other characters and this was a friend. It wasn't prejudice. When we played San Francisco and L.A., where Caucasian audiences were used to seeing Asian faces, the critics there singled out more of the individual performances.'' ''We were all in awe of [Sondheim], but he was very down-to-earth. You listen to the lyrics of 'Please Hello' and think, 'Wow, this man is a genius!' And his music is so exquisite. ... One doesn't get many opportunities to rub elbows with Sondheim, so I wish I hadn't been so awestruck and had spoken up more. ... I hope we did justice to his work. Even before the first preview, we knew 'Pacific Overtures' was going to be special, and it was.'' |
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| Link | ''Pacific Overtures'' (1976); shot for Japanese TV |
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