SOUTH PACIFIC at Sadler's Wells - In a land far, far away...

As Lt. Cable sings, you have to be carefully taught.  For many years I had an active disinterest in  Rodgers & Hammerstein. The only show of theirs I had seen on stage was CAROUSEL which I found dreary, and despite seeing the films of THE SOUND OF MUSIC, THE KING AND I and OKLAHOMA!, still I never sought out their work; my baptism in stage musicals coincided with discovering Stephen Sondheim so I kept their perceived excessive sentimentality at bay.  Any liking I had for them was thanks to Barbara Cook, Nancy LaMott or Bernadette Peters cds. But all that changed in 2010 on a trip to New York when I saw Bartlett Sher's acclaimed Lincoln Center production which vividly illustrated a respect for the sub-plots of lonely people, unchallenged prejudice and the irretrievable loss of the future that war brings - and of course showed off their score magnificently!

Thanks to COVID, we had to settle on seeing Daniel Evans' production at Chichester online but here we are a year later, seeing it onstage at Sadler's Wells and how nice it was to see again. It reinforced how remarkable the show's score is when you see the show onstage: all those standards seem fresh when you see the characters' lives that they were written to illustrate.  

The original 1949 production won 10 Tony Awards - every one it was nominated for - as well as the Pulitzer Prize.  Seeing the show onstage again brings to mind the challenge Rodgers and Hammerstein faced when writing the score: Broadway sweetheart Mary Martin had been cast as Nellie opposite opera singer Ezio Pinza as Emile which worried her as she felt she would not be able to compete vocally with him in duets so they composed Nellie and Emile's "Twin Soliliques" so they take a verse each but as sung thoughts.

Based on James H Michener's 1947 novel TALES OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC (which also won a Pulitzer Prize), nurses and sailors in the US Navy find love on an island in the South Pacific during WWII,  Nurse Nellie Forbush falls in love with French plantation owner Emile de Becque while Lt Joseph Cable falls for Liat, the young daughter of Bloody Mary, a wily Tonkinese peddler, but the happiness of all four founders on the perceptions of race from within and without.

One can only imagine how the plot twist of Nellie's racism was received by audiences 73 years ago but it is true that YOU'VE GOT TO BE CAREFULLY TAUGHT where Cable sings of his disgust at his own capitulation to racist thinking was nearly dropped from several productions of the show but the composers stood firm against it and it's 1949 national tour was threatened with boycotts and cancellation in the South.

There are still rumblings about the show - only now it's being questioned for the representations of Bloody Mary and Liat; here's what you do - go write your own musical... and see if it is still around in 73 years.

Daniel Evans has sought to intigrate the character of Liat more into the action; difficult when she hardly has any lines but by featuring her in the productions opening and closing moments and making Bloody Mary less of a stock character - but if the actress playing the role is any good she can seize the character's changes in the second act anyway.

The cast felt capable but Julian Ovenden was excellent as Emile, his rich voice suiting SOME ENCHANTED EVENING and THIS NEARLY WAS MINE, the latter only spoiled by the over-emphatic orchestra; but his charisma and easy playing style made Emile the central figure of the show.  Gina Beck was ok as Nellie, she just doesn't have the star wattage needed to make her memorable after leaving the theatre but she certainly sang the songs well.

Joanna Ampil and Rod Houchen were also ok as Bloody Mary and Cable singing their songs well, they just didn't have that extra spark to make them memorable.  Douggie McMeekin as the eternal chancer Luther Billis left hardly any impression.

Daniel Evans' direction and Ann Yee's choreography kept the show moving along on it's perfectly constructed wheels until the moment the show always stalls towards the end when the battalion chiefs listen in to the radio reports from Emile and Cable on a deserted island behind enemy lines; it is a dead sequence visually with a lot of exposition going on.

But it was still a great experience to see SOUTH PACIFIC onstage again where it really lives and breathes.

50 Favourite Musicals: 26: SOUTH PACIFIC (1949) (Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II)

The 50 shows that have stood out down the years and, as we get up among the paint cards, the shows that have become the cast recording of my life:

First performed: 1949, Majestic, NY

First seen by me: 2010, Vivian Beaumont, NY

Productions seen: two

Score: Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II
Book: Hammerstein II, Joshua Logan

Plot: On a South Pacific island, nurses and sailors in the US Navy find love against the background of WWII,  Nurse Nellie Forbush falls in love with French plantation owner Emile de Becque while Lt Joseph Cable falls for Liat, the young daughter of a wily Tonkinese peddler but their happiness founders on perceptions of race from within and without.

Five memorable numbers: THIS NEARLY WAS MINE, SOME ENCHANTED EVENING, YOU'VE GOT TO BE CAREFULLY TAUGHT, I'M IN LOVE WITH A WONDERFUL GUY, I'M GONNA WASH THAT MAN RIGHT OUTTA MY HAIR

Indeed - as Lt. Cable sings - you have to be carefully taught.  For many years I had an active disinterest in the musicals of Rodgers & Hammerstein. The only show of theirs I had seen on stage was the National Theatre's CAROUSEL which I found dreary, and despite seeing the films of THE SOUND OF MUSIC, THE KING AND I and OKLAHOMA!, still the team's work was never something I actively sought out.  I guess my baptism in stage musicals coinciding with discovering Stephen Sondheim kept their perceived excessive sentimentality at bay.  Indeed any liking I had for them was thanks to individual songs being recorded by Barbara Cook, Nancy LaMott or Bernadette Peters.  So it was no surprise that I had never seen SOUTH PACIFIC before despite a 1988 West End revival with Gemma Craven or the 2001 National Theatre production, but a trip to New York in 2010 made me want to see Bartlett Sher's acclaimed Lincoln Center production - the idea of seeing this quintessential Broadway musical where it should ideally be seen made me book - and I'm glad I did.  Bartlett Sher's wonderful production featured a 30+ orchestra which made the score wonderfully alive and his concentrated direction gave the piece a respect for the sub-plots of lonely people, unchallenged prejudice and the irretrievable loss of the future that war brings.  The committed performances of Laura Osnes, David Pittsinger, Andrew Samonsky, Daniel Burstein and Loretta Ables Sayre made the characters very real, and the next year Sher brought the production to the Barbican where Ables Sayre was joined by Samantha Womack, Paulo Szot (Sher's original Emile), Daniel Koek and Alex Fearns.  Remarkable how the show's score which features so many standards makes those songs seem fresh when you see the characters' lives that they were written to illustrate. The original production won 10 Tony Awards - every one it was nominated for - as well as the Pulitzer Prize; Barlett Sher's revival won 7 Tonys.  I think the show's rating will increase the next time I do one of these lists...

There are plenty of SOUTH PACIFIC video clips to choose from but I went with a scene from a 2010 live recording of Bartlett Sher's Lincoln Center production which illustrates the way he makes the songs flow naturally from the book scenes leading up to them; of course it helps to have performers like Kelli O'Hara as Nellie, Paulo Szot as Emile (who I saw at the Barbican) and Andrew Samonsky as Cable (who I saw at Lincoln Center)!

One of the most exciting nights in the theatre last year was our trip to Lincoln Center, NY to see Bartlett Sher's wondrous production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's SOUTH PACIFIC, marking it's first Broadway revival in 54 years! Luckily we had a chance to re-visit this production last week in the not-as-far Barbican Centre (and this time with no snowy streets outside!)Well swipe me if we hadn't booked for the opening night! Seeing a red carpet and autograph collectors should have tipped me off but it was only when we saw Rolf Harris, Barbara Windsor and Miranda Hart in the auditorium that the penny dropped! But we were there to see the show not the audience. There was an oo-er moment when Bartlett Sher stepped out on the stage and informed us that although Samantha Womack (née Janus) had broken her toe a day or so earlier she would be going on thanks to Dr. Theatre.

The production has been somewhat curtailed by being squeezed into the smaller stage and although the music still sounds glorious played live, the orchestra sounded slightly less encompassing than at Lincoln Center. However the production still thrills, delights and makes your jaw drop that it's score can contain so many classics that not only work as stand-alone classics but more importantly still manage to move the story forward.One of the production's biggest surprises was how well Samantha Womack coped with such a major musical role. The actress playing Nellie has songs that range from the broad comedy of HONEY BUN and I'M GONNA WASH THAT MAN RIGHT OUTTA MY HAIR to the big solos like A COCK-EYED OPTIMIST and I'M IN LOVE WITH A WONDERFUL GUY - oh and she has to go from comedy to drama quite abruptly. Although her voice isn't as strong as our NY Nellie - Laura Osnes - she certainly had a grip on the character and any reservations I had brought with me were soon forgotten.

We also saw finally Paulo Szot who played Emile originally at Lincoln Center and although he stopped the show dead with a stunning THIS NEARLY WAS MINE, I must admit I preferred our NY Emile, David Pittsinger. I am not sure whether it was down to him possibly being over-familiar with the part having played it off and on for such a long time or Pittsinger's more mature ruggedness being a better fit for the character but I was a bit underwhelmed by him. I must also admit that, akin to the recently-seen PYGMALION, a little more chemistry between Womack and Szot wouldn't have gone amiss. Another Walford escapee Alex Fearns plays the spivy Seebee Luther Billis and was quite effective in the role, making a real impression as a character and not just someone who moves the comedy along. The production has a major find in Daniel Koek as Lt. Joe Cable, nicely playing the character's shift from loner to lover and socking over YOUNGER THAN SPRINGTIME and YOU'VE GOT TO BE CAREFULLY TAUGHT with power and conviction.

We were lucky too that Loretta Ables Sayre has travelled with the show to reprise her wonderful performance as Bloody Mary. She is a magnetic performer and perfectly captures not only the character's humour but also her hard-edged survivalist nature - her version of HAPPY TALK turns the song not into just a cute throwaway number but a song sung with a growing desperation and underlying threat.There was good support from Nigel Williams too as the Captain Brackett and the ensemble work is consistently good.

If you want a great night out with a genuine musical triumph get along to the Barbican before October 1st - but also keep in mind the show will be touring after this date.

You'll laugh, you'll cry... I did.

Memorable Theatre Performances #3:
Laura Osnes as 'Nellie Forbush' in SOUTH PACIFIC (Lincoln Center, 2010)

"Incadescent... With her ability to be adorable, charming and alluring all at once, she'll make you laugh your head off with her fearless comedic efforts." - Lee Hernandez, Latina

"She gave a wonderfully nuanced performance with no attempt to gloss over the character's more questionable side - oh that any of our graduates from the tv talent school shows should make such an impact." - me, ChrisNThat blog

One thing that has been rattling around my head since our recent exposure to the NY theatre scene is the actual theatres themselves.

We visited the following theatres -
Booth Theatre which opened in 1913
Al Hirschfeld Theatre which opened in 1924
Eugene O'Neill which opened in 1925
Walter Kerr Theatre which opened in 1921
Vivian Beaumont Theatre which opened in 1973

Can you spot the odd one out there? I am wondering whether one of the reasons we so enjoyed SOUTH PACIFIC at the Beaumont might have been because it was in the most recently-built auditorium? What baffled me was this: why is going to a Broadway theatre, one of the alleged jewels in New York's crown, such an uncomfortable experience?

More often than not the theatre's seemed to be - well - dingy, under-lit and with the strangest atmosphere of neglect and lacking in atmosphere.

It's hard to know where to begin to chronicle the oddness of buying drinks in a Broadway house. In what can only be a throwback to prohibition, the bar seems to be there as some token gesture - it was an odd feeling to be the ONLY people to order interval drinks in two separate theatres! We then had the bizarre occurrence at the Booth Theatre in being told by one of the Lilliputian ushers that we could not take our tiny plastic glasses a) to our seats b) to the bench against the back wall of the theatre behind the back row - and to then stand there and watch us in case we dare move from the one patch of the corridor carpet.

Another peculiarity to that theatre was that the loos were in the basement. I trotted down the stairs to be greeted by a large 'lounge' designed to look like a low-ceilinged Versailles salon that any west end theatre would give it's life to have as a bar - and here it was - quiet as the grave and probably only used for opening or closing night parties.

The Al Hirschfeld has the welcome relief of having a nice permanent exhibition of Hirschfeld's theatrical pen-and-ink caricatures around the circle's foyer but again the auditorium's Moroccan-style interiors seemed to be crying out for some better lighting or at best a steam-clean.

Imagine our joy when we walked into the Eugene O'Neill theatre to find the rather grey auditorium festooned with colour and light thanks to FELA's extended set design. Our happiness was made all the better when the bar-tender told us that we could take our drinks TO OUR SEATS! I nearly kissed her on both cheeks.

The next night saw us in the charming Walter Kerr Theatre with it's lovely auditorium murals of Pan and Harlequin. But again, the 'bar' was in fact a hostess trolley in the already narrow passage behind the back row so the interval was a total bedlam of people either queuing, trying to get away from the queue, trying to get to the loos that were situated on the lower landings of the two narrow staircases on each side of said corridor or people just trying to stretch their legs.

And did we EVER need to stretch... the seats in the circle - and we are talking the top price here - afforded no leg room at all! It was difficult to be swept along by Sondheim's waltz score for A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC when you are crippled by the top-edge of the seat in front of you. Again this was a crime against theatregoers that was perpetrated in the four previous theatres visited!

Imagine then the relief to find the wide open spaces of the Vivian Beaumont at Lincoln Center where one could find a neutral corner in the foyer as well as room to cross your legs while in your seat - well apart from the little mare who kept kicking the back of Owen's seat. I was also amazed to see the Gents illustrated by a neon drop of pee falling into a puddle.

Um... until I realised that it was showing you there was a public water fountain underneath it.Apart from all the above. there was also the strange response from the audiences - to their surroundings and also to what they were watching.

By and large - apart from a couple of totally mad cows who assumed we were there to watch their odd antics - the audiences seemed oddly cowed by their surroundings, as if they were over-awed to be in such temples to the arts. I really didn't feel the audiences felt they had any ownership of the space.

Suzanne put us wise to a recent change that has taken over the audiences - which made me think we are starting to suffer with the same malaise... the need to give EVERYONE a standing ovation.
Now I am happy to say that as Angela Lansbury came on to take her bow I was happy to stand and applaud her effortlessly magical performance - but by then, my fellow-audience members had been on their feet applauding the lowliest supporting cast.

I suspect there are two things at play here - the ticket price is so lofty these days that people need to reassure themselves that the performances they are seeing are all of an unmatched brilliance and also I put it down to the Cowallism of culture - where the most common or garden performance is praised as the Second Coming - or First Going.

Mind you... any theatre that gives me a free programme will have me running back for more. Even from the DON'T LOOK NOW dwarfs of the Booth Theatre.