'South Pacific': A classic with power and charm at Academy of Music
South Pacific, Rogers and Hammerstein's classic musical, has arrived in town with all its wonderful songs and its moving love story, making a brief stop at the Academy of Music on its national tour. This revival, directed for Lincoln Center by Bartlett Sher, won seven Tony Awards in 2008, and although the cast has changed, the show's power and charm remain intact.
South Pacific
, Rogers and Hammerstein's classic musical, has arrived in town with all its wonderful songs and its moving love story, making a brief stop at the Academy of Music on its national tour. This revival, directed for Lincoln Center by Bartlett Sher, won seven Tony Awards in 2008, and although the cast has changed, the show's power and charm remain intact.
The power is due mainly to the gorgeous bass-baritone of David Pittsinger in the role of Emile de Becque, a mysterious French planter on a little island in the South Pacific during World War II.
The charm is due mainly to Carmen Cusack as Nellie Forbush, the perky Navy nurse stationed on the island; they meet on "some enchanted evening" and the rest is musical theater history. The contrast between his European dignity and her American bounce creates great onstage chemistry.
De Becque's songs are all deeply melodic and emotional; "Some Enchanted Evening" is a middle-aged man's realization that he has just met his last, best chance for happiness, and Pittsinger's second-act rendition of "This Nearly Was Mine" brought the house down.
Nellie's numbers, with her twangy Little Rock, Ark., accent, are playful, like "A Cockeyed Optimist" and "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair," complete with the famous shampoo and shower.
The rest of the cast isn't quite so impressive or entertaining; the sailors are a disappointingly charmless bunch, and their first big production number, the irresistible fun of "There Is Nothin' Like a Dame," is marred by a great deal of groping and pawing of one another (surely there must be military rules against such choreography).
Lt. Joe Cable (Anderson Davis), the young Marine who falls under the spell of Bali Ha'i, has a wonderful voice but lacks the sexiness and patrician arrogance necessary to the role.
It's worth thinking about how bold this show was for 1949: Long before the civil rights movement, the plot revolves around racism (the lesson contained in the bitter song "You've Got To Be Carefully Taught"). And the war in the Pacific had only recently ended, so daring missions, like the one undertaken by Cable and de Becque, would have been vivid memories for South Pacific's original audience.
Whether you've never seen this show or know every word to every song, this enjoyable production will make you feel "as corny as Kansas in August."
South Pacific
At 2 and 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, and 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday at the Academy of Music, Broad and Locust Streets. Tickets: $20-$110. Information: 215-893-1999 or www.kimmelcenter.org.
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