SOUTH PACIFIC (MUSICAL)

:''For other other uses, see South Pacific''
'''South Pacific''' is a musical play, with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and book by both Hammerstein and Joshua Logan. The story is based on two short stories by James A. Michener from his book ''Tales of the South Pacific'', which was the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1948. The musical was itself awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1950. The issue of racial prejudice was sensitively and candidly explored, particularly for a 1949 work. James Michener claimed he was pressured to ask Rodgers and Hammerstein to remove the song ''You've Got to Be Carefully Taught'' because of its biting comments about racial prejudice.
''South Pacific'' is generally considered to be one of the greatest musicals of all time ^{[1] [2]} Several of its songs, including "Bali Ha'i," "Some Enchanted Evening," "Younger than Springtime," and "A Wonderful Guy" have become worldwide standards. ''South Pacific'' is the only musical ever to have won all four Tony Awards for acting. It was nominated for 9 Tonys and won all of them.

Contents

Productions

Synopsis

Songs

Film and television versions

Cultural references

References

Sources

External links

Productions

The musical opened on Broadway on April 7 1949, at the Majestic Theatre, moving to the Broadway Theatre in June 1953. It was produced by Rodgers and Hammerstein in association with Leland Hayward and Joshua Logan, and directed by Logan. It ran for more than five years and 1,925 performances. At the time it closed, it was the fifth-longest running show in Broadway history. ^[3] The original cast starred Mary Martin as the heroine, Nellie Forbush, and opera star Ezio Pinza as the French plantation owner, Emile de Becque. Also in the cast were Juanita Hall and Betta St. John. Although Forbush and De Beque were already fully developed characters in Michener's stories, at some point during the creation of ''South Pacific'', Rodgers, Hammerstein, and Logan came to have both Martin and Pinza specifically in mind for these two roles. Martin shared with Ethel Merman the status of being the leading Broadway musical comedienne of the era; Pinza was a well-known opera singer. The subsequent music, and its presentation within the show, was therefore tailored for the voices of Martin and Pinza.
London's West End production ran from 1951 to 1953 at the Drury Lane Theatre. It starred Mary Martin and Ivor Emmanuel.
To celebrate the centenary of Richard Rodgers' birth in 2002, the Royal National Theatre reproduced the musical. Trevor Nunn directed.

On June 9, 2005, a concert version of the musical, edited down to two hours but including all of the songs and the full musical score, was presented live at Carnegie Hall. It starred Reba McEntire as Nellie Forbush, Brian Stokes Mitchell as Emile, Alec Baldwin as Luther Billis, and Lillias White as Bloody Mary. The stars had a full supporting cast. The production used Robert Russell Bennett's original orchestrations. This production was taped and telecast by PBS on April 26, 2006.

Synopsis

On a South Pacific island during World War II, a U.S. Navy nurse from Arkansas, Ensign Nellie Forbush, falls in love with a middle-aged French plantation owner, Emile de Becque.
Meanwhile, the restless U.S. Navy sailors, led by the entrepreneurial Seabee Luther Billis, lament the absence of women or combat to relieve their boredom. Lieutenant Joe Cable of the U.S. Marine Corps arrives on the island to take part in a dangerous spy mission that might help turn the tide of the war against Japan. Since only officers can sign out boats, Billis convinces Lt. Cable to accompany him to the mysterious and valuable island of Bali Ha'i. There Bloody Mary, the native souvenir dealer, introduces Cable to her teenage daughter, Liat. The two fall in love.
The two couples -- Nellie and Emile, Liat and Joe -- gain deepening affection, and marriages are proposed. But Nellie has deep-seated ethnic prejudices, and Emile is a widower with biracial children from his marriage to a Polynesian wife. Nellie, torn between her long-held Arkansas prejudice and her heartfelt love for Emile, hesitates to marry Emile. And Joe refuses to marry Liat because she is Polynesian. Joe's refusal infuriates Mary. Though aware of and ashamed of their bigotry, Nellie and Joe are prisoners of their upbringings: they think they have no options.
Dejected and with nothing to lose, Emile agrees to join Joe on his dangerous mission behind Japanese lines. The two successfully send back reports on enemy forces. The Americans use this information to intercept and destroy Japanese convoys. "Operation Alligator" gets underway, and the previously idle sailors, including the reluctant Luther Billis, go off to battle. Joe is killed; Emile narrowly escapes a similar fate. Emile returns home to the now-understanding Nellie and his -- soon to be ''their'' -- children.

Songs

;Act I ★ Overture - Orchestra ★ Dites Moi (Tell Me Why) - Emile's Two Children or Islander chorus ★ A Cockeyed Optimist - Nellie ★ Twin Soliloquies - Nellie and Emile ★ Some Enchanted Evening - Emile ★ Dites Moi (reprise) - Emile and his Two Children ★ Bloody Mary - Men's Chorus ★ There Is Nothing Like a Dame - Men's Chorus ★ Bali Ha'i - Bloody Mary ★ I'm Gonna Wash that Man Right Outta My Hair - Nellie and Women's Chorus ★ Some Enchanted Evening (reprise) - Emile and Nellie ★ A Wonderful Guy - Nellie and Women's Chorus ★ Younger than Springtime - Cable ★ Bali Ha'i (reprise) - Offstage Chorus or Islander chorus ★ A Cockeyed Optimist (reprise) - Emile and Nellie ★ Twin Soliloquies (reprise) - Nellie and Emile ★ A Wonderful Guy (reprise) - Nellie and Emile ★ Finale: Act I (Some Enchanted Evening) - Emile

;Act II ★ Entr'acte - Orchestra ★ Happy Talk - Bloody Mary ★ Honey Bun - Nellie ★ Younger than Springtime (reprise) - Cable ★ You've Got to Be Carefully Taught - Cable ★ This Nearly Was Mine - Emile ★ Some Enchanted Evening (reprise) - Nellie ★ Finale - Nellie, Emile, and his Children

;Additional songs

★ "Loneliness of Evening" - sung by Emile, was in the original score but was cut before the first Broadway production. It is, however, on some LP versions, and was also sung by the Prince (Stuart Damon) in the 1965 production of Cinderella.

★ "Girl Back Home" - also called ''My Girl Back Home'', sung by Lieutenant Cable, was in the original score but was cut before the first Broadway production. Still, it is on some LP versions and is in the movie version.

★ Some LP versions feature a track of Ezio Pinza singing "Bali Hai", but he did not sing it in the stage version; neither was it written for his character in the show (Emile de Becque) to sing. "Loneliness of Evening" and "My Girl Back Home" were recorded by Mary Martin, backed by Percy Faith's Orchestra, and released as a single in 1951. On some later CD versions of the cast album these two songs are included as bonus tracks along with "Bali Ha'i," sung by Ezio Pinza.

Film and television versions

''South Pacific'' was made into a 1958 film of the same name that topped the box office that year, and the 65mm Todd-AO cinematography (by Leon Shamroy) was nominated for an Academy Award. The film was also nominated for and won the music-adaptation-and-sound award.
''An elaborate television production of the show'' was made in 2001. It starred Glenn Close and Harry Connick Jr.. This version omitted the well-known song "Happy Talk" and cut "Bali Hai" in half, among other changes. The film was criticized because it changed the order of the songs and because Rade Šerbedžija, unlike all the previous Emiles, did not have an operatic singing voice.

Cultural references

The 1954 film ''Men of the Fighting Lady'', set during the Korean War and also based on material written by James A. Michener, has a prologue where Michener (played in the film by Louis Calhern) is introduced to a Navy flight surgeon. The surgeon comments, "Mr. Michener, I fought in the South Pacific in World War II, but I never realized how much fun it had been until I read your book!" Michener replies, "I never realized how much fun it was either, until Rodgers and Hammerstein set it to music!"

References

1. Critic John Simon writes: "Many are the knowledgeable and discriminating people for whom Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific, brilliantly co-written and staged by Joshua Logan, was the greatest musical of all." http://www.broadway.com/gen/Buzz_Story.aspx?ci=533001
2. http://www.theatrehistory.com/american/musical012.html
"With ''South Pacific'', Rodgers and Hammerstein rose to new towering heights of success, both commercially and artistically, following their triumphs with ''Oklahoma!'' and ''Carousel''. There was hardly any question in anybody's mind at the première performance of ''South Pacific'' that this was a classic of the musical theatre and was of the stature of ''Oklahoma!'' and ''Carousel''. The veteran producer Arthur Hammerstein called it the greatest musical show Broadway had ever seen, perfect in every respect. The critic Richard Watts, Jr., described it as "a thrilling and exultant musical play, an utterly captivating work of theatrical art."
3. ''The World Almanac and Book of Facts'', 1966, page 137

Sources

''The World Almanac and Book of Facts'', New York, 1966, New York World-Telegram

External links

★ Internet Broadway Database listing

★ R&H Theatricals
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