Where: The Fox Theatre, St. Louis
When: November 9 through 21, 2010
[David Pittsinger as Emile de Becque and Carmen Cusack as Nellie Forbush – photo by Craig Schwartz]
There's literal and literary darkness at the heart of the nearly flawless revival of South Pacific at the Fox. The former derives from Donald Holder's lighting design, which relies heavily on follow spots combined with dim general illumination. The latter derives from the Joshua Logan/Oscar Hammerstein book and the James Mitchener short stories on which it's based. Together, they remind us that this theatrical classic is not just a musical, but a drama as well. In South Pacific, boy gets girl, boy abandons girl, boy dies and everybody else goes off to war.
For audiences that know South Pacific largely as a high-gloss widescreen musical from 1958, the show's occasionally trenchant commentary on the folly and futility of war, issues of racism, and what Emile De Becque, in a moment of despair, refers to as "a mean little world / Of mean little men" might come as a surprise. We need to remember that when the show opened in 1949, the aftermath of the horror that was the war in the Pacific was still very much on everyone's minds.
We need to remember, as well, that less than a year before that opening, President Truman had issued Executive Order 9981 desegregating the armed forces – provoking a violent backlash that continues to this day. "You've Got to Be Carefully Taught", Lt. Cable's bitter commentary on racism, provoked anger and accusations of indecency and Communism when South Pacific arrived in the southern USA. Rodgers and Hammerstein, to their credit, refused to cut the song.
Based on the much-praised 2008 Lincoln Center revival, this tour of South Pacific is about as good as it gets, boasting a great cast, eye-catching period costumes by Catherine Zuber, intelligently designed sets by Michael Yeargan that make scene changes a breeze, and – a real rarity for a touring show – a 25-piece orchestra of mostly local musicians under the baton of Lawrence Goldberg doing full justice to the original orchestrations by Robert Russell Bennett and Trude Rittmann.
Director Bartlett Sher has put it all together with great respect for the original, even going to far as to open and close the evening with Mitchener's own words, projected on a scrim. A couple of lines and one song – "My Girl Back Home" – that were cut from the 1949 production have been restored, but otherwise this is about as close as we can get today to the excitement that galvanized audiences and critics alike so many decades ago.
Carmen Cusak and David Pittsinger head this great cast as the "cockeyed optimist" Nellie Forbush and the world-weary Emile De Becque. Mr. Pittsinger, who took over the role of De Becque on Broadway from Paulo Szot, is an operatic bass-baritone in the mold of Ezio Pinza (who created the part), so his big numbers have all the power you'd expect. He is, perhaps, a few years older than the character's stated age of 44 but given the strength of his performance it hardly matters. Ms. Cusak, who matches him in vocal and dramatic power, cuts a striking figure as Nellie. She doesn't have the cutie pie look that often seems associated with the role which, of course, only makes her that much more watchable.
In the supporting roles, pride of place goes to Anderson Davis's doomed Lt. Cable. He is, perhaps, not quite as haunted as I'd like in the second act, but he has a sardonic edge that makes it work, so I can't complain. Jodi Kimura is a classically raucous Bloody Mary. It's a fine performance, marred only by a tendency to play too often at the top of the voice. Timothy Gulan's Luther Billis has all the conniving street smarts you could wish for.
Let me also not fail to praise Sumie Maeda as Liat, the island girl whom Cable beds but can't bring himself to wed until it's too late. Her graceful dance turn in "Happy Talk" speaks volumes, although her character hardly speaks at all.
There are many other fine performances in this 34-person cast. I can't list them all here, but you can find head shots and bios of every one of them at www.southpacificontour.com/cast. None of them are less than good, and most are outstanding.
The fact that, sixty years after its birth, South Pacific is still such a winning combination of compelling drama and uplifting entertainment that audiences will sit mesmerized by it for nearly three hours shows the genius of Rodgers, Hammerstein and Logan. The fact that the script's political commentary is still relevant shows how little progress we've made as a nation and as a species.
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