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South Pacific (musical)
Encyclopedia
South Pacific is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers
, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
and book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan
. The story draws from James A. Michener's
Pulitzer Prize-winning
1947 book Tales of the South Pacific
, weaving together characters and elements from several of its stories into a single plotline about an American nurse at a U.S. Naval base, during World War II, who falls in love with an expatriate French plantation owner with a dark past. The issue of racial prejudice is sensitively and candidly explored in several plot threads, including the struggle of the lead character to accept the mixed-race children of her lover. Another interracial marriage is explored in the song "You've Got to Be Carefully Taught
".
South Pacific is considered to be one of the greatest Broadway musicals. The musical premiered in 1949 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama
in 1950
. Several of its songs, including "Bali Ha'i
", "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair
", "Some Enchanted Evening
", "Happy Talk
", "Younger than Springtime" and "I'm in Love with a Wonderful Guy
", have become popular standards. The Broadway production won ten Tony Award
s, including Best Musical, Best Score and Best Libretto, and it is the only musical production ever to have won all four Tony Awards for acting. The show was a critical and box office hit and has since enjoyed many successful revivals and tours, also spawning a 1958 film
and other adaptations. The 2008 Broadway revival was a strong success, winning seven Tonys including for Best Musical Revival.
, a World War II
veteran, read James Michener's 1947 short story collection Tales of the South Pacific
and decided to adapt it. He and producer Leland Hayward
purchased the rights from Michener. They asked Rodgers to compose music for the work and Hammerstein to write the libretto
; Hayward would produce, and Logan would serve as director and producer. Rodgers and Hammerstein accepted, and they began transforming the short stories "Fo' Dolla" and "Our Heroine" into a unified tale. Since both stories were serious in tone, Michener agreed to include a third story about Luther Billis, a womanizing sailor. Hammerstein knew very little about the U.S. Navy in World War II or about Nellie's Southern dialect and culture. Rodgers asked Logan to help Hammerstein write the book, and Logan asked to be credited as co-author. Hammerstein agreed but added, "Of course, it goes without saying that you won't get anything whatsoever of the author's royalties."
Rodgers received a telephone call from Edwin Lester
of the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera
. He had signed recently retired Metropolitan Opera
star Ezio Pinza
for a new musical, but the musical fell through and, according to his contract, Pinza had to be paid $25,000 regardless of whether he actually performed. Lester was searching for a new vehicle for Pinza, and Rodgers and Hammerstein eagerly signed Pinza to play Emile de Becque, the male lead. Hammerstein had been particularly inspired by Mary Martin
, having seen her wearing a gingham
dress in the last scene of One Touch of Venus
, and he wanted her to play Nellie Forbush, the female lead. Martin was busy playing Annie Oakley
in the touring company of Annie Get Your Gun
, but after Rodgers and Hammerstein auditioned three songs, "A Cockeyed Optimist", "Some Enchanted Evening" and "Twin Soliloquies", for Martin and her husband Richard Halliday, she accepted the role. Although Nellie and Emile were already fully developed characters in Michener's stories, during the creation of South Pacific Rodgers, Hammerstein and Logan began to adapt the roles specifically to the talents of Martin and Pinza, and to tailor the music for their voices.
The musical explores the theme of racial prejudice in several ways. Nellie struggles to accept Emile's mixed-race children. Another American serviceman, Lieutenant Cable, struggles with the prejudice that he would face if he were to marry an Asian woman. His song about this, "You've Got to Be Carefully Taught
", was criticized as too controversial for the musical stage and called indecent and pro-communist. While the show was on a tour of the Southern United States
, lawmakers in Georgia
introduced a bill outlawing any entertainment containing "an underlying philosophy inspired by Moscow." One legislator said that "a song justifying interracial marriage was implicitly a threat to the American way of life." Rodgers and Hammerstein
defended their work strongly. James Michener recalled, "The authors replied stubbornly that this number represented why they had wanted to do this play, and that even if it meant the failure of the production, it was going to stay in."
island during World War II
, two half-Polynesian
children, Ngana and Jerome, happily sing as they play together ("Dites-Moi"). Ensign Nellie Forbush, a naive U.S. Navy
nurse from Little Rock, Arkansas
, has fallen in love with Emile de Becque, a middle-aged French plantation owner, though she has known him only briefly. Even though everyone else is worried about the outcome of the war, Nellie tells Emile that she is sure everything will turn out all right ("Cockeyed Optimist"). Emile is also in love with Nellie, and each wonders if the other reciprocates his/her feelings ("Twin Soliloquies"). Emile then expresses his feelings for Nellie, recalling how they met at the officers' club dance and instantly were attracted to each other ("Some Enchanted Evening"). Nellie, promising to think about their relationship, returns to the hospital. Emile calls Ngana and Jerome to him, revealing to the audience that they are his children, unbeknownst to Nellie.
Meanwhile, the restless American seabees
, led by crafty Luther Billis, the sailors' leading comic relief, lament the absence of women to relieve their boredom. Navy nurses are commissioned officers and thus off-limits to enlisted men. There is one civilian woman on the island nicknamed "Bloody Mary", a sassy middle-aged Tonkin
ese vendor of grass skirts, who engages the sailors in sarcastic, flirtatious banter as she tries to sell them her wares ("Bloody Mary"). Billis yearns to visit the nearby island of Bali Ha'i — which is off-limits to all but officers — supposedly to witness a Boar's Tooth Ceremony; the other sailors josh him, saying that his real motivation is to see the young French women there. Billis and the sailors further lament their lack of feminine companionship ("There is Nothin' Like a Dame").
U.S. Marine
Lieutenant Joseph Cable arrives on the island from Guadalcanal
, having been sent to take part in a dangerous spy mission whose success could turn the tide of the war against Japan
. Bloody Mary tries to persuade Cable to visit "Bali Ha'i", mysteriously telling him that it is his special island. Billis, seeing an opportunity, urges Cable to go. Cable meets with his commanding officers, Captain
George Brackett and Commander William Harbison, who plan to ask Emile to help with the mission because he used to live on the island where the mission will take place. They ask Nellie to help them find out more about Emile's background, for example, his politics and why he left France. They have heard, for instance, that Emile committed a murder, and one opinion is that this might actually make him desirable for such a mission.
After thinking a bit more about Emile and deciding she has become attracted on the basis of little knowledge of him, Nellie tells the other nurses that she intends to spurn him ("I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair"). Emile arrives unexpectedly and invites Nellie to a party where he will introduce her to his friends. Seeing how much he cares about her, Nellie realizes she is still in love with him, and accepts his invitation. Emile again declares his love and asks Nellie to marry him. When she mentions politics, he speaks of universal freedom, and describes fleeing France after resisting a local bully and choking him to death in self-defense. After hearing this, Nellie agrees to marry Emile. After he exits, Nellie joyously declares her love for Emile ("I'm In Love With A Wonderful Guy").
Cable's mission is to land on a Japanese-held island and report on Japanese ship movements. The Navy officers ask Emile to be Cable's guide, but he refuses their request because of his hopes for a new life with Nellie. Commander Harbison, the executive officer, tells Cable to go on leave until the mission can take place. Billis convinces Lt. Cable to take him to Bali Ha'i. There, Billis participates in the native ceremony, while Bloody Mary introduces Cable to her beautiful daughter, Liat, with whom he must communicate in French. Believing that Liat's only chance at a better life is to marry an American officer, Mary leaves Liat alone with Cable. The two are instantly attracted to each other and make love ("Younger Than Springtime"). Billis and the rest of the crew are ready to leave the island, yet must wait for Cable who, unbeknownst to them, is with Liat ("Bali Ha'i" (Reprise)). Bloody Mary proudly tells Billis that Cable is going to be her son-in-law.
Meanwhile, after Emile's party, Emile and Nellie reflect on how happy they are to be in love (Reprises of "A Wonderful Guy", "Twin Soliloquies", "Cockeyed Optimist" and "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair"). Emile introduces Nellie to Jerome and Ngana. Though she finds them charming, she is shocked when Emile reveals that they are his children by a native woman, now deceased. Nellie is unable to overcome her deep-seated racial prejudices and tearfully leaves Emile, after which he reflects sadly on what might have been ("Some Enchanted Evening" (Reprise)).
day. The seabees and nurses dance in a holiday revue titled "Thanksgiving Follies". In the past week, an epidemic of malaria
has hit the island of Bali Ha'i. Having visited Bali Ha'i often to be with Liat, Cable is also ill, but escapes from the hospital to be with Liat. As Liat and Cable spend more time together, Bloody Mary is delighted. She encourages them to continue their carefree life on the island ("Happy Talk") and urges them to marry. Cable, due to his family's prejudices, says he cannot marry a Tonkinese girl. Bloody Mary furiously drags her distraught daughter away, telling Cable that Liat must now marry a much older French plantation owner instead. Cable laments that Liat is no longer part of his life ("Younger Than Springtime" [Reprise]).
For the final number of the Thanksgiving Follies, Nellie performs a comedy burlesque dressed as a sailor singing the praises of "his" sweetheart ("Honey Bun"). Billis plays Honey Bun, dressed in a blond wig, grass skirt and coconut-shell bra. After the show, Emile congratulates Nellie and asks her to reconsider and try to overcome her prejudice. She insists that she cannot feel the same way about him since she knows about his children's Polynesian mother.
Emile asks Cable why he and Nellie have such prejudices. Cable, filled with self-loathing, replies that "it's not something you're born with", yet it is an ingrained part of their upbringing ("You've Got to Be Carefully Taught
"). He also vows that if he gets out of the war alive, he won't go home to the United States. Emile imagines what might have been ("This Nearly Was Mine"). Dejected and feeling that he has nothing to lose, he agrees to join Cable on his dangerous mission. The mission begins with plenty of air support. Offstage, Billis stows away on the plane, falls out, and ends up in the ocean waiting to be rescued; the massive rescue operation inadvertently becomes a diversion that allows Emile and Cable to land on the other side of the island undetected. The two send back reports on Japanese ships' movements in the "Slot"
; American aircraft intercept and destroy the Japanese ships. When the Japanese Zeros strafe the Americans' position, Emile narrowly escapes, but Cable is killed.
Nellie learns of Cable's death and that Emile is missing. She realizes that she was foolish to reject Emile because of his children's mother's race. Bloody Mary and Liat come to Nellie asking where Cable is; Mary explains that Liat refuses to marry anyone but him. Nellie comforts Liat. Cable and Emile's espionage work has made it possible for a major offensive, "Operation Alligator", to begin. The previously idle sailors, including Billis, go off to battle.
Nellie spends time with Jerome and Ngana and soon comes to love them. While the children are teaching her to sing "Dites-Moi," suddenly Emile's voice joins them. Emile has returned to see that Nellie has overcome her prejudices and has fallen in love with his children. Emile, Nellie and his — soon to be their — children rejoice ("Dites-Moi" (Reprise)).
. After the first performance, Broadway and movie producer Mike Todd
told Mary Martin
, who was playing Nellie, not to take the show to New York. She "could not believe her ears and asked him why", and Todd replied, "Because it's too ... good for them!" The show moved to Boston
, where it was so successful that playwright George S. Kaufman
joked that people in Boston lining up at the Shubert Theatre "don't actually want anything. ... They just want to push money under the doors."
South Pacific opened on Broadway
on April 7, 1949, at the Majestic Theatre, moving to the Broadway Theatre
in June 1953. Rodgers and Hammerstein produced the show themselves, in association with Leland Hayward
and Joshua Logan
, with direction and musical staging by Logan. The production ran for almost five years. When it closed on January 16, 1954, after 1,925 performances, it was then the fifth-longest running show in Broadway history.
The production won ten Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Score, Best Libretto, Best Director and all four acting awards. The cast also included Juanita Hall
and Myron McCormick
(both of whom won Tonys), Martin Wolfson and Betta St. John
. In June 1951, Martha Wright
replaced Mary Martin, and performed the role for the remaining 1,047 performances. George Britton
took over the role of Emile de Becque in January 1952, remaining until the show closed in January 1954. Actress Cloris Leachman
, Martin's understudy, played Nellie for four weeks on Broadway after she impressed Logan, Rodgers and Hammerstein while auditioning for the lead as a replacement in the national tour. Odette Myrtil
replaced Hall as Bloody Mary.
A U.S. tour ran for almost five years in 118 cities, from April 1950 through March 26, 1955. Janet Blair starred as Nellie, followed by Jeanne Bal and Iva Withers. Richard Eastham, Webb Tilton and Alan Gerard reprised Emile.
production ran from November 1, 1951 to 1953, at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
. Logan directed; Mary Martin and Wilbur Evans
starred; and it featured Ray Walston
(Luther), Muriel Smith
(Bloody Mary), Peter Grant (Joe Cable) and Ivor Emmanuel
(Sgt. Johnson). Julie Wilson
eventually replaced Mary Martin.
A 1988 West End revival starred Gemma Craven
supported by Emile Belcourt, Bertice Reading
and Johnny Wade, and was directed by Roger Redfern. It ran at the Prince of Wales Theatre
from January 20, 1988 to January 14, 1989.
A new production with slight revisions to the book and score was produced by the Royal National Theatre
at the Olivier Theatre for a limited run from December 2001 through April 2002, timed to celebrate the centenary of Richard Rodgers' birth. Trevor Nunn
directed, with musical staging by Matthew Bourne
and designs by John Napier
. Lauren Kennedy
was Nellie, and Australian actor Philip Quast
played Emile. A film of this production can be viewed at the V&A Theatre Collections
reading room at Blythe House
in London.
on May 4, 1955, closing on May 15, 1955. It was directed by Charles Atkin, with costumes by Motley
and sets by Jo Mielziner
. The cast included Richard Collett as Emile, Sandra Deel as Nellie, Carol Lawrence as Liat, Sylvia Syms
as Bloody Mary and Gene Saks
as the Professor.
There were two revivals at Lincoln Center. Richard Rodgers produced the 1967 revival, which starred Florence Henderson
and Giorgio Tozzi
, who had been Rosanno Brazzi's singing voice in the 1958 film. The cast album was issued on LP
and later on CD. A New York City Opera
production in 1987 featured alternating performers Justino Diaz
and Stanley Wexler; and Susan Bigelow and Marcia Mitzman.
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 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, with a full supporting cast. The production used Robert Russell Bennett
's original orchestrations, with the Orchestra of St. Luke's directed by Paul Gemignani
. It was taped and telecast by PBS
on April 26, 2006. The DVD of the performance was released in June 2006. The New York Times critic Ben Brantley
wrote, "Open-voiced and open-faced, Reba McEntire was born to play Nellie", and the production was received "in a state of nearly unconditional rapture. It was one of those nights when cynicism didn’t stand a chance."
revival of South Pacific opened on April 3, 2008 at Lincoln Center's
Vivian Beaumont Theatre
. Bartlett Sher
directed, with musical staging by Christopher Gattelli
and associate choreographer Joe Langworth
. The opening cast starred Kelli O'Hara
as Nellie, Paulo Szot
as Emile and Matthew Morrison
as Lt. Cable, with Danny Burstein
as Billis and Loretta Ables Sayre
as Bloody Mary. Laura Osnes
replaced O'Hara during her seven-month maternity leave beginning in March 2009, and also between January and August 2010. Szot alternated with David Pittsinger as Emile. The production closed on August 22, 2010, after 37 previews and 1,000 regular performances.
With a few exceptions, the production received rave reviews. Ben Brantley
wrote in The New York Times
:
The revival won seven Tony Awards, including Best Revival (Sher and Szot also won, and the show won in all four design categories), and five Drama Desk Award
s, including Outstanding Musical Revival. The late Robert Russell Bennett
was also recognized that season for "his historic contribution to American musical theatre in the field of orchestrations, as represented on Broadway this season by Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific."
The production, with most of the original principals, was taped and broadcast live in HD on August 18, 2010 on the PBS
television show Live from Lincoln Center
. Due to schedule conflicts, the role of Lt. Cable, originally played by Morrison, was played by Andrew Samonsky.
singer Jason Howard share the role of Emile, with Samantha Womack as Nellie Forbush, Ables Sayre as Bloody Mary and Alex Ferns
as Luther. The production has received positive reviews.
on August 28, 2007. The tour ended at the Cardiff New Theatre
as of July 19, 2008. It starred Helena Blackman
as Nellie and Dave Willetts
as Emile. Peter Frosdick and Martin Dodd produced the tour. Julian Woolford directed, with choreography by Chris Hocking. This production was most noted for its staging of the overture, which charted Nellie's journey from Little Rock, Arkansas
to the South Pacific. On entering the theatre, the audience first saw a map of the U.S., not the theater of war.
A U.S. national tour based on the 2008 Broadway revival began in San Francisco, California
at the Golden Gate Theatre
on September 18, 2009. Bartlett Sher directed, and the cast included Rod Gilfry
(Emile), Carmen Cusack
(Nellie) and Anderson Davis (Lt. Cable). Howard shared the role of Emile with David Pittsinger. The tour ended on March 20, 2011 in Toronto.
and other newspapers published glowing reviews of the show; one critic called it "South Terrific". People were so eager to obtain tickets that columnist Leonard Lyons wrote a column about the lengths people had gone to in getting them. Because "house seats" were being sold by scalpers for $200 or more, the attorney general's office threatened to close the show. However, the parties who provided the scalpers with the tickets were never identified, and the show ran without interference. The production grossed $2,635,000, with a $50,600 weekly gross, and ran for 1,925 performances. The national tour began in 1950 and grossed $3,000,000 in the first year, making $1,500,000 in profit. The original cast album
, priced at $4.85, sold more than a million copies.
The original production of South Pacific won ten Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Male Performer (Pinza), Best Female Performer (Martin), Best Supporting Male Performer (McCormick), Best Supporting Female Performer (Hall), Best Director (Logan), Best Book and Best Score. In 1950, it won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama
. However, the Pulitzer Prize was given to Richard Rodgers
and Oscar Hammerstein
only; Joshua Logan
was not recognized for his work on the libretto until later. The 2001 London revival garnered a Laurence Olivier Award for Philip Quast
(Emile). The 2008 Broadway revival won numerous theatre awards including Tony and Drama Desk Awards for best revival of a musical, director, leading actor (Szot) and for sound and set design. It also won Tonys for costume and lighting design, as well as nominations for choreography and for the performances of O'Hara, Burstein and Ables Sayre. The late Robert Russell Bennett
was also recognized that season for "his historic contribution to American musical theatre in the field of orchestrations, as represented on Broadway this season by Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific."
wrote:
The New York Daily Mirror
critic wrote, "Programmed as a musical play, South Pacific is just that. It boasts no ballets and no hot hoofing. It has no chorus in the conventional sense. Every one in it plays a part. It is likely to establish a new trend in musicals." The review continued: "Every number is so outstanding that it is difficult to decide which will be the most popular." The review in New York World-Telegram
found the show to be "the ultimate modern blending of music and popular theatre to date, with the finest kind of balance between story and song, and hilarity and heartbreak."
Brooks Atkinson
of The New York Times
especially praised Pinza's performance: "Mr. Pinza's bass voice is the most beautiful that has been heard on a Broadway stage for an eon or two. He sings ... with infinite delicacy of feeling and loveliness of tone." He declared that "Some Enchanted Evening", sung by Pinza, "ought to become reasonably immortal." Richard Watts, Jr.
of the New York Post
focused on Mary Martin's performance, writing, "nothing I have ever seen her do prepared me for the loveliness, humor, gift for joyous characterization, and sheer lovableness of her portrayal of Nellie Forbush ... who is so shocked to find her early racial prejudices cropping up. Hers is a completely irresistible performance."
A 2006 review asserted: "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." Another writer, however, criticized the play as having an Orientalist and Western-centric storyline in which stereotypical natives take on "exotic background roles" in relation to Americans, and characterized the relationship between Lieutenant Cable and Liat as underage prostitution, charging that she "speaks not a word in the whole musical, only smiles and takes the Yankee to bed." Former Marine Robert Leckie
wrote his World War II memoir Helmet for My Pillow
after walking out of a performance of South Pacific. Leckie stated "I have to tell the story of how it really was. I have to let people know the war wasn’t a musical."
recorded the overture and most of the songs from the original production in 1949, using members of the cast including Ezio Pinza
and Mary Martin
. Drawn from the original masters, Columbia released the album in both the new LP format and on 78-rpm discs. When Sony acquired Columbia, a CD was released from the previously unused magnetic tape recording from the same 1949 sessions in New York City. The CD includes the bonus tracks: "Loneliness of Evening" (recorded in 1949 by Mary Martin but not used in South Pacific; the piece was used and sung by the Prince in the second TV version of Rogers and Hammerstein's Cinderella); "My Girl Back Home" (recorded by Mary Martin); "Bali Ha'i" (cover version by Ezio Pinza); and Symphonic Scenario for Concert Orchestra (original orchestrations by Robert Russell Bennett). The film soundtrack was released on the RCA Victor
label on March 19, 1958.
Masterworks Broadway released a recording of the 1967 Lincoln Center production starring Florence Henderson
as Nellie, Giorgio Tozzi
as Emile, David Doyle as Luther Billis, Justin McDonough as Lt. Cable, Lyle Talbot
as Capt. Brackett and Irene Byatt as Bloody Mary.
In 1986 José Carreras
and Kiri Te Kanawa
made a studio recording of South Pacific, the sessions of which were filmed as a documentary, similar in style to Leonard Bernstein
's West Side Story documentary a year earlier which featured the same stars. It also featured Sarah Vaughan
as Bloody Mary and Mandy Patinkin
as Lt. Cable.
The 2001 Royal National Theatre's revival cast album was recorded in 2002 on First Night Records with Philip Quast
as Emile, Lauren Kennedy
as Nellie, Edward Baker-Duly
as Lt. Cable, Sheila Francisco as Bloody Mary and Nick Holder
as Luther Billis. The album includes the cut song, "Now Is the Time".
The 2005 Carnegie Hall
concert version was released on April 18, 2006 by Decca Broadway with Reba McEntire
as Nellie, Brian Stokes Mitchell
as Emile, Lillias White
as Bloody Mary, Jason Danieley
as Lt. Cable, and Alec Baldwin
as Luther Billis, and includes most of the dialogue used in the live performance.
The 2008 Broadway revival cast album was released on May 27, 2008 by Masterworks Broadway.
in 1958
, and it topped the box office that year. Joshua Logan
directed the film, which starred Rossano Brazzi
, Mitzi Gaynor
, John Kerr
, Ray Walston
and Juanita Hall
; all of their singing voices except Gaynor's and Walston's were dubbed by other singers. The film won the Academy Award for Best Sound. It was also nominated for the Oscar for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture
, and the 65 mm Todd-AO
cinematography by Leon Shamroy
was also nominated.
In the film the order of the first two scenes, along with the songs they contain, is switched. The beginning of the film shows Lieutenant Cable being flown by plane to the island, and the first musical number is "Bloody Mary", sung by the Seabees. Emile does not appear in the film until about 30 minutes into it; Nellie first appears during the scene with the Seabees. Because of the switch, the show's most famous song, "Some Enchanted Evening
", is not heard until nearly 45 minutes into the film. The film also includes the song "My Girl Back Home", sung by Lieutenant Cable, which was cut from the stage musical.
, directed by Richard Pearce, was produced and televised in 2001, starring Glenn Close
as Nellie, Harry Connick, Jr.
as Lieutenant Cable, and Rade Sherbedgia as Emile. This version changed the order of the musical's songs, omitted "Happy Talk" and "My Girl Back Home", and cut "Bali Hai" in half; however, cuts made to "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair" for the 1958 movie were restored.
The movie, and Close, were praised by The New York Times
: "Ms. Close, lean and more mature, hints that a touch of desperation lies in Nellie's cockeyed optimism. 'I'm stuck like a dope with a thing like hope' means one thing when you are in your 20's, something else when you are not." The review also noted that the movie "is beautifully produced, better than the stagy 1958 film. ... The other cast members, including Ms. Close, also sing well." The New York Post
stated, "Notions of racism toward the islanders were glossed over in the 1958 movie, but in tonight's remake, the racial themes are brought to the surface, to the production's advantage ... there's a heightened sense of drama and tension in the remake because the war is closer at hand ... the rewards are great." The Washington Post
wrote, "[T]here are musical highlights that all but leap from the screen, probably the highest being Close's infectious 'Wonderful Guy'. ... Close is, of course, a better actor on her worst days than Gaynor was on her best, and though she's older than is usual for someone playing nurse Nellie Forbush, she brings radiance, warmth and stature to the part. She also tears merrily into Nellie's numbers."
Criticism of the movie has focused on the changes from previous versions, including Sherbedgia's non-operatic singing voice, as compared with previous Emiles, and Glenn Close's comparatively mature Nellie. Playbill
reported that "Internet chat room visitors have grumbled that Close is too old for the role of Nellie Forbush, who, in the song, 'A Cock-Eyed Optimist', is described as 'immature and incurably green'", but "[co-producer] Cohen said the 'May-December' romance plot point ... has less resonance with audiences today and it was cut. Nellie is ageless, in effect."
The film was released on DVD on August 28, 2001. Special features include deleted scenes and behind-the-scenes look at the making of the movie.
and Bob Balaban
producing. Balaban told Variety
in 2010, "Our movie will be a tougher, more realistic retelling of the same classic story". Balaban gave another interview in April 2011, saying: "It’s going beautifully. ... Our [screenwriter] Lynn Grossman is really smart. She can write period [scenes], but it feels very real and contemporary without being modern."
Richard Rodgers
Richard Charles Rodgers was an American composer of music for more than 900 songs and for 43 Broadway musicals. He also composed music for films and television. He is best known for his songwriting partnerships with the lyricists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II...
, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
Oscar Hammerstein II
Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II was an American librettist, theatrical producer, and theatre director of musicals for almost forty years. Hammerstein won eight Tony Awards and was twice awarded an Academy Award for "Best Original Song". Many of his songs are standard repertoire for...
and book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan
Joshua Logan
Joshua Lockwood Logan III was an American stage and film director and writer.-Early years:Logan was born in Texarkana, Texas, the son of Susan and Joshua Lockwood Logan. When he was three years old his father committed suicide...
. The story draws from James A. Michener's
James A. Michener
James Albert Michener was an American author of more than 40 titles, the majority of which were sweeping sagas, covering the lives of many generations in particular geographic locales and incorporating historical facts into the stories...
Pulitzer Prize-winning
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction has been awarded for distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life. It originated as the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel, which was awarded between 1918 and 1947.-1910s:...
1947 book Tales of the South Pacific
Tales of the South Pacific
Tales of the South Pacific is a Pulitzer Prize-winning book, which is a collection of sequentially related short stories about World War II, written by James A. Michener in 1946 and published in 1947...
, weaving together characters and elements from several of its stories into a single plotline about an American nurse at a U.S. Naval base, during World War II, who falls in love with an expatriate French plantation owner with a dark past. The issue of racial prejudice is sensitively and candidly explored in several plot threads, including the struggle of the lead character to accept the mixed-race children of her lover. Another interracial marriage is explored in the song "You've Got to Be Carefully Taught
You've Got to Be Carefully Taught
"You've Got to Be Carefully Taught" is a show tune from the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific....
".
South Pacific is considered to be one of the greatest Broadway musicals. The musical premiered in 1949 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama
Pulitzer Prize for Drama
The Pulitzer Prize for Drama was first awarded in 1918.From 1918 to 2006, the Drama Prize was unlike the majority of the other Pulitzer Prizes: during these years, the eligibility period for the drama prize ran from March 2 to March 1, to reflect the Broadway 'season' rather than the calendar year...
in 1950
1950 in literature
The year 1950 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Kazuo Shimada wins the "Mystery Writer Of Japan" award for his book Shakai-bu Kisha .*Jack Kerouac has his first novel published....
. Several of its songs, including "Bali Ha'i
Bali Ha'i
"Bali Ha'i", also spelled "Bali Hai", is a show tune from the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific.-In musical South Pacific:...
", "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair
I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair
"I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair" is a song from the musical South Pacific, sung by Nellie Forbush, the female lead, originally played by Mary Martin beginning in 1949. Her character, fed up with a man and singing in the shower, claims she will forget about him...
", "Some Enchanted Evening
Some Enchanted Evening (song)
"Some Enchanted Evening" is a show tune from the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific.In the musical, it is sung as a solo by Emile de Becque, the French plantation owner, who falls in love with the American navy nurse Nellie Forbush. In this song he sings of seizing the moment so...
", "Happy Talk
Happy Talk (song)
In June 1982, The Damned's guitarist Captain Sensible scored an unlikely #1 single on the UK singles chart for two weeks with his version of the song, featuring backing vocals by the band Dolly Mixture.-Cover Version:...
", "Younger than Springtime" and "I'm in Love with a Wonderful Guy
I'm in Love with a Wonderful Guy
" a Wonderful Guy" is a show tune from the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific. It was first introduced by Mary Martin in the original Broadway production and sung by Mitzi Gaynor in the 1958 film adaptation....
", have become popular standards. The Broadway production won ten Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
s, including Best Musical, Best Score and Best Libretto, and it is the only musical production ever to have won all four Tony Awards for acting. The show was a critical and box office hit and has since enjoyed many successful revivals and tours, also spawning a 1958 film
South Pacific (film)
South Pacific is a 1958 musical romance film adaptation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific, and based on James A. Michener's Tales of the South Pacific...
and other adaptations. The 2008 Broadway revival was a strong success, winning seven Tonys including for Best Musical Revival.
Background
Stage and film director Joshua LoganJoshua Logan
Joshua Lockwood Logan III was an American stage and film director and writer.-Early years:Logan was born in Texarkana, Texas, the son of Susan and Joshua Lockwood Logan. When he was three years old his father committed suicide...
, a World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
veteran, read James Michener's 1947 short story collection Tales of the South Pacific
Tales of the South Pacific
Tales of the South Pacific is a Pulitzer Prize-winning book, which is a collection of sequentially related short stories about World War II, written by James A. Michener in 1946 and published in 1947...
and decided to adapt it. He and producer Leland Hayward
Leland Hayward
Leland Hayward was a Hollywood and Broadway agent and theatrical producer. He produced the original Broadway stage productions of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific and The Sound of Music.-Early years:...
purchased the rights from Michener. They asked Rodgers to compose music for the work and Hammerstein to write the libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
; Hayward would produce, and Logan would serve as director and producer. Rodgers and Hammerstein accepted, and they began transforming the short stories "Fo' Dolla" and "Our Heroine" into a unified tale. Since both stories were serious in tone, Michener agreed to include a third story about Luther Billis, a womanizing sailor. Hammerstein knew very little about the U.S. Navy in World War II or about Nellie's Southern dialect and culture. Rodgers asked Logan to help Hammerstein write the book, and Logan asked to be credited as co-author. Hammerstein agreed but added, "Of course, it goes without saying that you won't get anything whatsoever of the author's royalties."
Rodgers received a telephone call from Edwin Lester
Edwin Lester
Edwin Lester was an American theatre director, impresario, and producer. He was the longtime general director of the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera, which he founded in 1938. He also co-founded the LACLO's affiliate organization, the San Francisco Civic Light Opera, with Homer Curran in 1939...
of the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera
Los Angeles Civic Light Opera
The Los Angeles Civic Light Opera was an American theatre/opera company in Los Angeles, California. Founded under the motto "Light Opera in the Grand Opera manner" in 1938 by impresario Edwin Lester, the organization presented fifty seasons of theatre before closing due to financial reasons in...
. He had signed recently retired Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
star Ezio Pinza
Ezio Pinza
Ezio Pinza was an Italian basso opera singer with a rich, smooth and sonorous voice. He spent 22 seasons at New York's Metropolitan Opera, appearing in more than 750 performances of 50 operas...
for a new musical, but the musical fell through and, according to his contract, Pinza had to be paid $25,000 regardless of whether he actually performed. Lester was searching for a new vehicle for Pinza, and Rodgers and Hammerstein eagerly signed Pinza to play Emile de Becque, the male lead. Hammerstein had been particularly inspired by Mary Martin
Mary Martin
Mary Virginia Martin was an American actress and singer. She originated many roles over her career including Nellie Forbush in South Pacific and Maria in The Sound of Music. She was named a Kennedy Center Honoree in 1989...
, having seen her wearing a gingham
Gingham
Gingham is a medium-weight balanced plain-woven fabric made from dyed cotton or cotton-blend yarn.The name originates from an adjective in the Malay language, genggang , meaning striped. Some sources say that the name came into English via Dutch...
dress in the last scene of One Touch of Venus
One Touch of Venus
One Touch of Venus is a musical with music written by Kurt Weill, lyrics by Ogden Nash, and book by S. J. Perelman and Nash, based on the novella The Tinted Venus by Thomas Anstey Guthrie, and very loosely spoofing the Pygmalion myth. The show satirizes contemporary American suburban values,...
, and he wanted her to play Nellie Forbush, the female lead. Martin was busy playing Annie Oakley
Annie Oakley
Annie Oakley , born Phoebe Ann Mosey, was an American sharpshooter and exhibition shooter. Oakley's amazing talent and timely rise to fame led to a starring role in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, which propelled her to become the first American female superstar.Oakley's most famous trick is perhaps...
in the touring company of Annie Get Your Gun
Annie Get Your Gun (musical)
Annie Get Your Gun is a musical with lyrics and music written by Irving Berlin and a book by Herbert Fields and his sister Dorothy Fields. The story is a fictionalized version of the life of Annie Oakley , who was a sharpshooter from Ohio, and her husband, Frank Butler.The 1946 Broadway production...
, but after Rodgers and Hammerstein auditioned three songs, "A Cockeyed Optimist", "Some Enchanted Evening" and "Twin Soliloquies", for Martin and her husband Richard Halliday, she accepted the role. Although Nellie and Emile were already fully developed characters in Michener's stories, during the creation of South Pacific Rodgers, Hammerstein and Logan began to adapt the roles specifically to the talents of Martin and Pinza, and to tailor the music for their voices.
The musical explores the theme of racial prejudice in several ways. Nellie struggles to accept Emile's mixed-race children. Another American serviceman, Lieutenant Cable, struggles with the prejudice that he would face if he were to marry an Asian woman. His song about this, "You've Got to Be Carefully Taught
You've Got to Be Carefully Taught
"You've Got to Be Carefully Taught" is a show tune from the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific....
", was criticized as too controversial for the musical stage and called indecent and pro-communist. While the show was on a tour of the Southern United States
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
, lawmakers in Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
introduced a bill outlawing any entertainment containing "an underlying philosophy inspired by Moscow." One legislator said that "a song justifying interracial marriage was implicitly a threat to the American way of life." Rodgers and Hammerstein
Rodgers and Hammerstein
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were a well-known American songwriting duo, usually referred to as Rodgers and Hammerstein. They created a string of popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s during what is considered the golden age of the medium...
defended their work strongly. James Michener recalled, "The authors replied stubbornly that this number represented why they had wanted to do this play, and that even if it meant the failure of the production, it was going to stay in."
Act I
On a South PacificOceania
Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
island during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, two half-Polynesian
Polynesians
The Polynesian peoples is a grouping of various ethnic groups that speak Polynesian languages, a branch of the Oceanic languages within the Austronesian languages, and inhabit Polynesia. They number approximately 1,500,000 people...
children, Ngana and Jerome, happily sing as they play together ("Dites-Moi"). Ensign Nellie Forbush, a naive U.S. Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
nurse from Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...
, has fallen in love with Emile de Becque, a middle-aged French plantation owner, though she has known him only briefly. Even though everyone else is worried about the outcome of the war, Nellie tells Emile that she is sure everything will turn out all right ("Cockeyed Optimist"). Emile is also in love with Nellie, and each wonders if the other reciprocates his/her feelings ("Twin Soliloquies"). Emile then expresses his feelings for Nellie, recalling how they met at the officers' club dance and instantly were attracted to each other ("Some Enchanted Evening"). Nellie, promising to think about their relationship, returns to the hospital. Emile calls Ngana and Jerome to him, revealing to the audience that they are his children, unbeknownst to Nellie.
Meanwhile, the restless American seabees
Seabees in World War II
The history of the United States Navy Seabees in World War II begins with the 7 December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. After the attack and the United States entry into the war, the use of civilian labor in war zones became impractical...
, led by crafty Luther Billis, the sailors' leading comic relief, lament the absence of women to relieve their boredom. Navy nurses are commissioned officers and thus off-limits to enlisted men. There is one civilian woman on the island nicknamed "Bloody Mary", a sassy middle-aged Tonkin
Tonkin
Tonkin , also spelled Tongkin, Tonquin or Tongking, is the northernmost part of Vietnam, south of China's Yunnan and Guangxi Provinces, east of northern Laos, and west of the Gulf of Tonkin. Locally, it is known as Bắc Kỳ, meaning "Northern Region"...
ese vendor of grass skirts, who engages the sailors in sarcastic, flirtatious banter as she tries to sell them her wares ("Bloody Mary"). Billis yearns to visit the nearby island of Bali Ha'i — which is off-limits to all but officers — supposedly to witness a Boar's Tooth Ceremony; the other sailors josh him, saying that his real motivation is to see the young French women there. Billis and the sailors further lament their lack of feminine companionship ("There is Nothin' Like a Dame").
U.S. Marine
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
Lieutenant Joseph Cable arrives on the island from Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal
Guadalcanal is a tropical island in the South-Western Pacific. The largest island in the Solomons, it was discovered by the Spanish expedition of Alvaro de Mendaña in 1568...
, having been sent to take part in a dangerous spy mission whose success could turn the tide of the war against Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. Bloody Mary tries to persuade Cable to visit "Bali Ha'i", mysteriously telling him that it is his special island. Billis, seeing an opportunity, urges Cable to go. Cable meets with his commanding officers, Captain
Captain (naval)
Captain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The NATO rank code is OF-5, equivalent to an army full colonel....
George Brackett and Commander William Harbison, who plan to ask Emile to help with the mission because he used to live on the island where the mission will take place. They ask Nellie to help them find out more about Emile's background, for example, his politics and why he left France. They have heard, for instance, that Emile committed a murder, and one opinion is that this might actually make him desirable for such a mission.
After thinking a bit more about Emile and deciding she has become attracted on the basis of little knowledge of him, Nellie tells the other nurses that she intends to spurn him ("I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair"). Emile arrives unexpectedly and invites Nellie to a party where he will introduce her to his friends. Seeing how much he cares about her, Nellie realizes she is still in love with him, and accepts his invitation. Emile again declares his love and asks Nellie to marry him. When she mentions politics, he speaks of universal freedom, and describes fleeing France after resisting a local bully and choking him to death in self-defense. After hearing this, Nellie agrees to marry Emile. After he exits, Nellie joyously declares her love for Emile ("I'm In Love With A Wonderful Guy").
Cable's mission is to land on a Japanese-held island and report on Japanese ship movements. The Navy officers ask Emile to be Cable's guide, but he refuses their request because of his hopes for a new life with Nellie. Commander Harbison, the executive officer, tells Cable to go on leave until the mission can take place. Billis convinces Lt. Cable to take him to Bali Ha'i. There, Billis participates in the native ceremony, while Bloody Mary introduces Cable to her beautiful daughter, Liat, with whom he must communicate in French. Believing that Liat's only chance at a better life is to marry an American officer, Mary leaves Liat alone with Cable. The two are instantly attracted to each other and make love ("Younger Than Springtime"). Billis and the rest of the crew are ready to leave the island, yet must wait for Cable who, unbeknownst to them, is with Liat ("Bali Ha'i" (Reprise)). Bloody Mary proudly tells Billis that Cable is going to be her son-in-law.
Meanwhile, after Emile's party, Emile and Nellie reflect on how happy they are to be in love (Reprises of "A Wonderful Guy", "Twin Soliloquies", "Cockeyed Optimist" and "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair"). Emile introduces Nellie to Jerome and Ngana. Though she finds them charming, she is shocked when Emile reveals that they are his children by a native woman, now deceased. Nellie is unable to overcome her deep-seated racial prejudices and tearfully leaves Emile, after which he reflects sadly on what might have been ("Some Enchanted Evening" (Reprise)).
Act II
It is ThanksgivingThanksgiving (United States)
Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is a holiday celebrated in the United States on the fourth Thursday in November. It has officially been an annual tradition since 1863, when, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving to be celebrated on Thursday,...
day. The seabees and nurses dance in a holiday revue titled "Thanksgiving Follies". In the past week, an epidemic of malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
has hit the island of Bali Ha'i. Having visited Bali Ha'i often to be with Liat, Cable is also ill, but escapes from the hospital to be with Liat. As Liat and Cable spend more time together, Bloody Mary is delighted. She encourages them to continue their carefree life on the island ("Happy Talk") and urges them to marry. Cable, due to his family's prejudices, says he cannot marry a Tonkinese girl. Bloody Mary furiously drags her distraught daughter away, telling Cable that Liat must now marry a much older French plantation owner instead. Cable laments that Liat is no longer part of his life ("Younger Than Springtime" [Reprise]).
For the final number of the Thanksgiving Follies, Nellie performs a comedy burlesque dressed as a sailor singing the praises of "his" sweetheart ("Honey Bun"). Billis plays Honey Bun, dressed in a blond wig, grass skirt and coconut-shell bra. After the show, Emile congratulates Nellie and asks her to reconsider and try to overcome her prejudice. She insists that she cannot feel the same way about him since she knows about his children's Polynesian mother.
Emile asks Cable why he and Nellie have such prejudices. Cable, filled with self-loathing, replies that "it's not something you're born with", yet it is an ingrained part of their upbringing ("You've Got to Be Carefully Taught
You've Got to Be Carefully Taught
"You've Got to Be Carefully Taught" is a show tune from the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific....
"). He also vows that if he gets out of the war alive, he won't go home to the United States. Emile imagines what might have been ("This Nearly Was Mine"). Dejected and feeling that he has nothing to lose, he agrees to join Cable on his dangerous mission. The mission begins with plenty of air support. Offstage, Billis stows away on the plane, falls out, and ends up in the ocean waiting to be rescued; the massive rescue operation inadvertently becomes a diversion that allows Emile and Cable to land on the other side of the island undetected. The two send back reports on Japanese ships' movements in the "Slot"
New Georgia Sound
New Georgia Sound is the body of water that runs approximately through the middle of the Solomon Islands. The Sound is bounded by Choiseul Island, Santa Isabel Island, and Florida Island to the north, and by Vella Lavella, Kolombangara, New Georgia, and the Russell Islands to the south...
; American aircraft intercept and destroy the Japanese ships. When the Japanese Zeros strafe the Americans' position, Emile narrowly escapes, but Cable is killed.
Nellie learns of Cable's death and that Emile is missing. She realizes that she was foolish to reject Emile because of his children's mother's race. Bloody Mary and Liat come to Nellie asking where Cable is; Mary explains that Liat refuses to marry anyone but him. Nellie comforts Liat. Cable and Emile's espionage work has made it possible for a major offensive, "Operation Alligator", to begin. The previously idle sailors, including Billis, go off to battle.
Nellie spends time with Jerome and Ngana and soon comes to love them. While the children are teaching her to sing "Dites-Moi," suddenly Emile's voice joins them. Emile has returned to see that Nellie has overcome her prejudices and has fallen in love with his children. Emile, Nellie and his — soon to be their — children rejoice ("Dites-Moi" (Reprise)).
Act I
- OvertureOvertureOverture in music is the term originally applied to the instrumental introduction to an opera...
– Orchestra - Dites-Moi – Ngana and Jerome
- A Cockeyed Optimist – Nellie
- Twin Soliloquies – Nellie and Emile
- Some Enchanted EveningSome Enchanted Evening (song)"Some Enchanted Evening" is a show tune from the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific.In the musical, it is sung as a solo by Emile de Becque, the French plantation owner, who falls in love with the American navy nurse Nellie Forbush. In this song he sings of seizing the moment so...
– Emile - Dites-Moi (Reprise) – Ngana and Jerome
- Bloody Mary – Sailors, Seabees and Marines
- There Is Nothing Like a DameThere Is Nothing Like a Dame"There is Nothing Like a Dame" is one of the songs from the musical South Pacific. The song was written by Richard Rodgers with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It is widely popular in the musical arts, often sung by men's choirs....
– Sailors, Seabees and Marines - Bali Ha'iBali Ha'i"Bali Ha'i", also spelled "Bali Hai", is a show tune from the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific.-In musical South Pacific:...
– Bloody Mary, Billis and Cable - I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My HairI'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair"I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair" is a song from the musical South Pacific, sung by Nellie Forbush, the female lead, originally played by Mary Martin beginning in 1949. Her character, fed up with a man and singing in the shower, claims she will forget about him...
– Nellie and Nurses - Some Enchanted Evening (Reprise) – Emile and Nellie
- I'm in Love with a Wonderful GuyI'm in Love with a Wonderful Guy" a Wonderful Guy" is a show tune from the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific. It was first introduced by Mary Martin in the original Broadway production and sung by Mitzi Gaynor in the 1958 film adaptation....
– Nellie and Nurses - Bali Ha'i (Reprise) – French Girls
- Younger Than SpringtimeYounger Than Springtime"Younger Than Springtime" is a show tune from the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific. It has been widely recorded as a jazz standard....
– Cable - Bali Ha'i (Reprise) – French Girl
- A Wonderful Guy (Reprise) – Nellie and Emile
- Twin Soliloquies (Reprise) – Nellie and Emile
- A Cockeyed Optimist (Reprise) – Emile and Nellie
- I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My HairI'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair"I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair" is a song from the musical South Pacific, sung by Nellie Forbush, the female lead, originally played by Mary Martin beginning in 1949. Her character, fed up with a man and singing in the shower, claims she will forget about him...
(reprise) – Emile - Finale: Act I (Some Enchanted Evening) – Emile
Act II
- Entr'acteEntr'acte' is French for "between the acts" . It can mean a pause between two parts of a stage production, synonymous to an intermission, but it more often indicates a piece of music performed between acts of a theatrical production...
– Orchestra - Happy TalkHappy Talk (song)In June 1982, The Damned's guitarist Captain Sensible scored an unlikely #1 single on the UK singles chart for two weeks with his version of the song, featuring backing vocals by the band Dolly Mixture.-Cover Version:...
– Bloody Mary - Younger Than Springtime (Reprise) – Cable
- Honey Bun – Nellie and Girls
- You've Got to Be Carefully TaughtYou've Got to Be Carefully Taught"You've Got to Be Carefully Taught" is a show tune from the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific....
– Cable - This Nearly Was Mine – Emile
- A Wonderful Guy (Reprise) – Nurses
- Some Enchanted Evening (Reprise) – Nellie
- Honey Bun (Reprise) – Sailors, Seabees and Marines
- Finale (Dites-Moi) – Nellie, Ngana, Jerome and Emile
Additional songs
- "Loneliness of Evening"—sung by Emile in the original score but was cut before the first Broadway production. It appears as an instrumental on some LP versions and was also sung by the Prince (Stuart DamonStuart DamonStuart Damon is an American actor. He is known for thirty years of portraying the character Dr. Alan Quartermaine on the American soap opera General Hospital, for which he won an Emmy Award in 1999....
) in the 1965 production of Cinderella. - "My Girl Back Home"—sung by Lieutenant Cable in the original score but was cut before the first Broadway production. It appears on some LP versions and is in the movie version. It was re-instated for the 2008 Broadway revival.
- "Bloody Mary (Reprise)"—sung by Sailors, Seabees and Marines, was included in the original libretto after "Bloody Mary" but was later cut.
- Rodgers and Hammerstein discussed with Michener the possibility of removing the song "You've Got to Be Carefully TaughtYou've Got to Be Carefully Taught"You've Got to Be Carefully Taught" is a show tune from the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific....
" because of its biting comments about racial prejudice, but Michener replied that if they dropped the song, they would be eliminating the story's dramatic foundation. - "Now Is the Time"—sung by Emile, was later replaced by "Some Enchanted Evening (Reprise)". This song was included in the 2002 London revival of the musical.
- "Will You Marry Me?"—sung by Emile, replacing "Now Is the Time", and was in turn replaced by "Some Enchanted Evening" (Reprise). "Will You Marry Me?" appeared in the 1955 musical Pipe DreamPipe Dream (musical)Pipe Dream is the seventh stage musical by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II; it premiered on Broadway on November 30, 1955. The work is based on John Steinbeck's short novel Sweet Thursday—Steinbeck wrote the novel, a sequel to Cannery Row, in the hope of having it adapted into...
. - "Suddenly Lovely"—sung by Cable, was replaced by "Younger Than Springtime". The melody of this song was eventually re-used in "Getting To Know YouGetting to Know You (song)"Getting to Know You" is a show tune from the 1951 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I. It was first sung by Gertrude Lawrence in the original Broadway production and later by Marni Nixon who dubbed for Deborah Kerr in the 1956 film adaptation...
" in The King and IThe King and IThe King and I is a stage musical, the fifth by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The work is based on the 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon and derives from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, who became governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in...
. - "Now Is the Time (Reprise)"—sung by Emile and Cable, was cut in favor of "This Nearly Was Mine".
- Some LP versions feature a track of Ezio Pinza singing "Bali Ha'i", but he did not sing it in the stage version; nor was it written for his character, Emile. "Loneliness of Evening" and "My Girl Back Home" were recorded by Mary MartinMary MartinMary Virginia Martin was an American actress and singer. She originated many roles over her career including Nellie Forbush in South Pacific and Maria in The Sound of Music. She was named a Kennedy Center Honoree in 1989...
, backed by Percy FaithPercy FaithPercy Faith was a Canadian-born American bandleader, orchestrator, composer and conductor, known for his lush arrangements of pop and Christmas standards. He is often credited with creating the "easy listening" or "mood music" format which became staples of American popular music in the 1950s and...
'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 Pinza's "Bali Ha'i".
Original Broadway production
South Pacific premiered in out-of-town tryouts on March 7, 1949, at the Shubert Theatre in New Haven, ConnecticutNew Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...
. After the first performance, Broadway and movie producer Mike Todd
Mike Todd
Michael Todd was an American theatre and film producer, best known for his 1956 production of Around the World in Eighty Days, which won an Academy Award for Best Picture...
told Mary Martin
Mary Martin
Mary Virginia Martin was an American actress and singer. She originated many roles over her career including Nellie Forbush in South Pacific and Maria in The Sound of Music. She was named a Kennedy Center Honoree in 1989...
, who was playing Nellie, not to take the show to New York. She "could not believe her ears and asked him why", and Todd replied, "Because it's too ... good for them!" The show moved to Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, where it was so successful that playwright George S. Kaufman
George S. Kaufman
George Simon Kaufman was an American playwright, theatre director and producer, humorist, and drama critic. In addition to comedies and political satire, he wrote several musicals, notably for the Marx Brothers...
joked that people in Boston lining up at the Shubert Theatre "don't actually want anything. ... They just want to push money under the doors."
South Pacific opened on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
on April 7, 1949, at the Majestic Theatre, moving to the Broadway Theatre
The Broadway Theatre
The Broadway Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 1681 Broadway in midtown-Manhattan....
in June 1953. Rodgers and Hammerstein produced the show themselves, in association with Leland Hayward
Leland Hayward
Leland Hayward was a Hollywood and Broadway agent and theatrical producer. He produced the original Broadway stage productions of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific and The Sound of Music.-Early years:...
and Joshua Logan
Joshua Logan
Joshua Lockwood Logan III was an American stage and film director and writer.-Early years:Logan was born in Texarkana, Texas, the son of Susan and Joshua Lockwood Logan. When he was three years old his father committed suicide...
, with direction and musical staging by Logan. The production ran for almost five years. When it closed on January 16, 1954, after 1,925 performances, it was then the fifth-longest running show in Broadway history.
The production won ten Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Score, Best Libretto, Best Director and all four acting awards. The cast also included Juanita Hall
Juanita Hall
Juanita Hall was an American musical theatre and film actress. She is remembered for her roles in the original stage and screen versions of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals South Pacific as Bloody Mary and Flower Drum Song as Auntie Liang.-Biography:Born in Keyport, New Jersey, Hall received...
and Myron McCormick
Myron McCormick
Myron McCormick was an American actor of stage, radio and film.McCormick was born as Walter Myron McCormick in Albany, Indiana....
(both of whom won Tonys), Martin Wolfson and Betta St. John
Betta St. John
Betta St. John is an American actress, singer and dancer.Born as Betty Jean Striegler, St. John made her film debut at the age of ten in Destry Rides Again and as an orphan in Jane Eyre . She was discovered by Rodgers and Hammerstein and played a small role in the Broadway musical, Carousel in 1945...
. In June 1951, Martha Wright
Martha Wright (actress)
Martha Wright is a retired American actress best known for her performances on Broadway and on television.Beginning to sing in radio, musical theatre and opera in her native Seattle as a teenager, Wright moved to New York City and debuted on Broadway by age 21, where she soon had a major success...
replaced Mary Martin, and performed the role for the remaining 1,047 performances. George Britton
George Britton (musician)
George Britton was an American singer, actor, and guitarist. A classical bass-baritone, he had an active performing career in operas, concerts, and musicals during the 1930s through the 1960s...
took over the role of Emile de Becque in January 1952, remaining until the show closed in January 1954. Actress Cloris Leachman
Cloris Leachman
Cloris Leachman is an American actress of stage, film and television. She has won eight Primetime Emmy Awards—more than any other performer—and one Daytime Emmy Award...
, Martin's understudy, played Nellie for four weeks on Broadway after she impressed Logan, Rodgers and Hammerstein while auditioning for the lead as a replacement in the national tour. Odette Myrtil
Odette Myrtil
Odette Myrtil was an American actress, singer, and violinist of French birth. She began her career as a violinist on the vaudeville stage in Paris at the age of 14. She expanded out into acting and singing, and had her first major success at the age of 18 on the London stage in the 1916 musical...
replaced Hall as Bloody Mary.
A U.S. tour ran for almost five years in 118 cities, from April 1950 through March 26, 1955. Janet Blair starred as Nellie, followed by Jeanne Bal and Iva Withers. Richard Eastham, Webb Tilton and Alan Gerard reprised Emile.
London productions: 1951, 1988 and 2001
The original London West EndWest End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
production ran from November 1, 1951 to 1953, at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663,...
. Logan directed; Mary Martin and Wilbur Evans
Wilbur Evans
Wilbur "Wib" Evans was an American actor and singer who performed on the radio, in opera, on Broadway, in films, and in early live television.-Biography:...
starred; and it featured Ray Walston
Ray Walston
Ray Walston was an American stage, television and film actor best known as the title character on the 1960s situation comedy My Favorite Martian. In addition, he is also remembered for his roles as Luther Billis in South Pacific , Mr. Applegate in Damn Yankees , J.J...
(Luther), Muriel Smith
Muriel Smith (singer)
Muriel Burrell Smith was an American singer. In the 1940s and 1950s, she was a star of musical theater and opera, and was also the off-film ghost singer in several hit movies...
(Bloody Mary), Peter Grant (Joe Cable) and Ivor Emmanuel
Ivor Emmanuel
Ivor Lewis Emmanuel was a Welsh musical theatre and television singer and actor. He led the rendition of "Men of Harlech" in the 1964 film Zulu.-Life and career:...
(Sgt. Johnson). Julie Wilson
Julie Wilson
Julie Wilson is an American singer and actress.Born in Omaha, Nebraska and first finding a musical outlet with local musical group Hank's Hepcats, Wilson headed to New York City during World War II and found work in two of Manhattan's leading nightclubs, the Latin Quarter and the Copacabana...
eventually replaced Mary Martin.
A 1988 West End revival starred Gemma Craven
Gemma Craven
Gemma Craven is an award-winning Irish actress.She is possibly best known for her role in the Irish TV drama The Clinic as Dr...
supported by Emile Belcourt, Bertice Reading
Bertice Reading
Bertice Reading was an American actress, singer and revue artiste.Bertice Reading was born in Chester, Pennsylvania. Her performing career started at the age of 3, when she was talent-spotted by Bill "Bojangles" Robinson....
and Johnny Wade, and was directed by Roger Redfern. It ran at the Prince of Wales Theatre
Prince of Wales Theatre
The Prince of Wales Theatre is a West End theatre on Coventry Street, near Leicester Square in the City of Westminster. It was established in 1884 and rebuilt in 1937, and extensively refurbished in 2004 by Sir Cameron Mackintosh, its current owner...
from January 20, 1988 to January 14, 1989.
A new production with slight revisions to the book and score was produced by the Royal National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
at the Olivier Theatre for a limited run from December 2001 through April 2002, timed to celebrate the centenary of Richard Rodgers' birth. Trevor Nunn
Trevor Nunn
Sir Trevor Robert Nunn, CBE is an English theatre, film and television director. Nunn has been the Artistic Director for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, and, currently, the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. He has directed musicals and dramas for the stage, as well as opera...
directed, with musical staging by Matthew Bourne
Matthew Bourne
Matthew Bourne OBE is a British classical and contemporary ballet and dance choreographer.-Biography:Matthew Bourne was born in Hackney, London in 1960. He went to William Fitt and Sir George Monoux School in Walthamstow, London...
and designs by John Napier
John Napier (designer)
John Napier is a set designer for Broadway and London theatrical performances.-Biography:John Napier studied at Hornsey College of Art and the Central School of Arts and Crafts, studying under notable set designer Ralph Koltai....
. Lauren Kennedy
Lauren Kennedy
Lauren Kennedy is an actress and a singer who has performed numerous times on Broadway. She most recently starred in the Off-Broadway show Good Ol' Girls at the Black Box Theatre during the 2009-2010 season...
was Nellie, and Australian actor Philip Quast
Philip Quast
Philip Quast is an Australian actor perhaps best known for his role as Inspector Javert in the stage musical version of Les Misérables, or for appearances in numerous Australian soap operas including Sons and Daughters, The Young Doctors and Police Rescue.-Personal life:Quast was born in 1957 in...
played Emile. A film of this production can be viewed at the V&A Theatre Collections
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...
reading room at Blythe House
Blythe House
Blythe House is a listed building located at 23 Blythe Road, West Kensington, London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, UK. Originally built as the headquarters of the Post Office Savings Bank, it is now used as a store and archive by the Victoria and Albert, Science and British Museums.-Post...
in London.
1955, 1967 and 1987 New York revivals
A limited run of South Pacific by the New York City Center Light Opera Company opened at New York City CenterNew York City Center
New York City Center is a 2,750-seat Moorish Revival theater located at 131 West 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues in Manhattan, New York City. It is one block south of Carnegie Hall...
on May 4, 1955, closing on May 15, 1955. It was directed by Charles Atkin, with costumes by Motley
Motley Theatre Design Group
Motley was the name of the theatre design firm made up of three English designers, sisters Margaret Harris and Sophie Harris , and Elizabeth Montgomery Wilmot . The name derives from the word 'Motley' as used by Shakespeare...
and sets by Jo Mielziner
Jo Mielziner
Joseph "Jo" Mielziner was an American theatrical scenic, and lighting designer born in Paris, France. He is "the most successful set designer of the Golden era of Broadway", and worked on both stage plays and musicals.-Career:He was the son of artist Leo Mielziner, Sr...
. The cast included Richard Collett as Emile, Sandra Deel as Nellie, Carol Lawrence as Liat, Sylvia Syms
Sylvia Syms (singer)
Sylvia Syms was an American jazz singer.She was born Sylvia Blagman in Brooklyn, New York, United States. As a child, she had polio. As a teenager, she went to jazz-oriented nightclubs on New York's 52nd Street, and received informal training from Billie Holiday...
as Bloody Mary and Gene Saks
Gene Saks
Gene Saks is an American stage and film director.-Life and career:Saks was born in New York City, the son of Beatrix and Morris J. Saks...
as the Professor.
There were two revivals at Lincoln Center. Richard Rodgers produced the 1967 revival, which starred Florence Henderson
Florence Henderson
Florence Agnes Henderson is an American actress and singer. She is perhaps best known for her role of Carol Brady on the ABC sitcom The Brady Bunch from 1969 to 1974...
and Giorgio Tozzi
Giorgio Tozzi
Giorgio Tozzi was for many years a leading bass with the Metropolitan Opera, as well as playing lead roles in nearly every major opera house worldwide.-Career:Tozzi was born George John Tozzi in Chicago, Illinois...
, who had been Rosanno Brazzi's singing voice in the 1958 film. The cast album was issued on LP
LP record
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
and later on CD. A New York City Opera
New York City Opera
The New York City Opera is an American opera company located in New York City.The company, called "the people's opera" by New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, was founded in 1943 with the aim of making opera financially accessible to a wide audience, producing an innovative choice of repertory, and...
production in 1987 featured alternating performers Justino Diaz
Justino Díaz
Justino Díaz is an internationally renowned bass-baritone opera singer. In 1963, Díaz won an annual contest held at the Metropolitan Opera of New York, becoming the "first" Puerto Rican to obtain such an honor and as a consequence, made his Metropolitan debut on October 1963 in Verdi's Rigoletto...
and Stanley Wexler; and Susan Bigelow and Marcia Mitzman.
2005 Carnegie Hall concert
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
. It starred Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire
Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...
as Nellie Forbush, Brian Stokes Mitchell
Brian Stokes Mitchell
Brian Stokes Mitchell is an American stage, film and television actor. A powerful baritone, he has been one of the central leading men of the Broadway theatre since the early 1990s...
as Emile, Alec Baldwin
Alec Baldwin
Alexander Rae "Alec" Baldwin III is an American actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television.Baldwin first gained recognition through television for his work in the soap opera Knots Landing in the role of Joshua Rush. He was a cast member for two seasons before his character was killed off...
as Luther Billis and Lillias White
Lillias White
Lillias White is an American singer and actress.The Brooklyn, New York native made her Broadway debut in Barnum in 1981. She understudied the role of Effie in the original 1981 production of Dreamgirls and played the part in the 1987 revival...
as Bloody Mary, with a full supporting cast. The production used Robert Russell Bennett
Robert Russell Bennett
Robert Russell Bennett was an American composer and arranger, best known for his orchestration of many well-known Broadway and Hollywood musicals by other composers such as Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, and Richard Rodgers. In 1957 and 2008, Bennett received Tony Awards...
's original orchestrations, with the Orchestra of St. Luke's directed by Paul Gemignani
Paul Gemignani
Paul Gemignani is an award-winning American musical director with a career on Broadway and West End theatre spanning over thirty years.-Life and career:...
. It was taped and telecast by PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
on April 26, 2006. The DVD of the performance was released in June 2006. The New York Times critic Ben Brantley
Ben Brantley
Benjamin D. "Ben" Brantley is an American journalist and the chief theater critic of The New York Times.-Life and career:...
wrote, "Open-voiced and open-faced, Reba McEntire was born to play Nellie", and the production was received "in a state of nearly unconditional rapture. It was one of those nights when cynicism didn’t stand a chance."
2008 Broadway revival
A BroadwayBroadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
revival of South Pacific opened on April 3, 2008 at Lincoln Center's
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of New York City's Upper West Side. Reynold Levy has been its president since 2002.-History and facilities:...
Vivian Beaumont Theatre
Vivian Beaumont Theatre
The Vivian Beaumont Theater is a theatre located in the Lincoln Center complex at 150 West 65th Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The structure was designed by Finnish American architect Eero Saarinen, and Jo Mielziner was responsible for the design of the stage and interior.The Vivian...
. Bartlett Sher
Bartlett Sher
Bartlett Sher , is an American theatre director. He received both the 2008 Tony Award and the Drama Desk Award for his direction of the Broadway revival of South Pacific. The New York Times has described him as "one of the most original and exciting directors, not only in the American theater but...
directed, with musical staging by Christopher Gattelli
Christopher Gattelli
Christopher Gattelli is a choreographer, performer, and director for the theatre. He has been nominated for the Tony Award for Best Choreography for South Pacific and the Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Choreography for Altar Boyz. He won the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Choreograper for...
and associate choreographer Joe Langworth
Joe Langworth
Joe Langworth is an American choreographer, casting director, singer and dancer.From 1990 - 2005, Langworth appeared in a number of major Broadway musicals, including the closing company of the original production of A Chorus Line, the Tony Award-winning production of Ragtime with Audra McDonald,...
. The opening cast starred Kelli O'Hara
Kelli O'Hara
Kelli O'Hara is an American actress, singer, and songwriter.O'Hara has been nominated for three Tony Awards: for her performance as Clara Johnson in The Light in the Piazza; for her performance as Babe Williams in the Roundabout Theatre Company's revival of The Pajama Game, where she starred...
as Nellie, Paulo Szot
Paulo Szot
Paulo Szot is a Brazilian opera baritone singer and actor. In 2008, he made his Broadway debut as Emile De Becque in a revival of South Pacific. He won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical for his performance in the musical, becoming the first Brazilian to receive...
as Emile and Matthew Morrison
Matthew Morrison
Matthew James "Matt" Morrison is an American actor, director, musician, and singer-songwriter. He is best known for starring in multiple Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, including his portrayal of Link Larkin in Hairspray on Broadway, and most notably for his Emmy and Golden Globe nominated...
as Lt. Cable, with Danny Burstein
Danny Burstein
Danny Burstein is a versatile American actor who is known for his work in theater, film and television. He won the 2008 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical and was nominated for the 2008 Drama Desk Award and 2008 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical...
as Billis and Loretta Ables Sayre
Loretta Ables Sayre
Loretta Ables Sayre is an American actress and singer who performed in jazz standards at luxury hotels in Hawaii for three decades. During her career, Ables Sayre performed in a few musicals and guest-starred in several television shows, also doing work in commercials...
as Bloody Mary. Laura Osnes
Laura Osnes
Laura Ann Osnes is an American stage actress, and the winner of the role of "Sandy" on the televised Grease: You're the One that I Want! competition. She played Sandy in the 2007 Broadway run of Grease, which opened August 19, 2007, starring alongside the other winner, Max Crumm, who played the...
replaced O'Hara during her seven-month maternity leave beginning in March 2009, and also between January and August 2010. Szot alternated with David Pittsinger as Emile. The production closed on August 22, 2010, after 37 previews and 1,000 regular performances.
With a few exceptions, the production received rave reviews. Ben Brantley
Ben Brantley
Benjamin D. "Ben" Brantley is an American journalist and the chief theater critic of The New York Times.-Life and career:...
wrote in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
:
The revival won seven Tony Awards, including Best Revival (Sher and Szot also won, and the show won in all four design categories), and five Drama Desk Award
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
s, including Outstanding Musical Revival. The late Robert Russell Bennett
Robert Russell Bennett
Robert Russell Bennett was an American composer and arranger, best known for his orchestration of many well-known Broadway and Hollywood musicals by other composers such as Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, and Richard Rodgers. In 1957 and 2008, Bennett received Tony Awards...
was also recognized that season for "his historic contribution to American musical theatre in the field of orchestrations, as represented on Broadway this season by Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific."
The production, with most of the original principals, was taped and broadcast live in HD on August 18, 2010 on the PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
television show Live from Lincoln Center
Live from Lincoln Center
Live From Lincoln Center is an ongoing series of musical performances produced by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in conjunction with Thirteen/WNET in New York City....
. Due to schedule conflicts, the role of Lt. Cable, originally played by Morrison, was played by Andrew Samonsky.
2011 London revival
A production based on the 2008 Broadway revival opened at the Barbican Theatre in London on August 15, 2011 and is scheduled to play through October 1, 2011, and will then tour the UK. Sher again directs, with the same creative team from the Broadway revival. Szot and Welsh National OperaWelsh National Opera
Welsh National Opera is an opera company founded in Cardiff, Wales in 1943. The WNO tours Wales, the United Kingdom and the rest of the world extensively. Annually, it gives more than 120 performances of eight main stage operas to a combined audience of around 150,000 people...
singer Jason Howard share the role of Emile, with Samantha Womack as Nellie Forbush, Ables Sayre as Bloody Mary and Alex Ferns
Alex Ferns
Alexander "Alex" Ferns is a Scottish actor and television personality, best known for his EastEnders role as Trevor Morgan, "Britain's most-hated soap villain."...
as Luther. The production has received positive reviews.
Touring productions
A UK touring production of South Pacific opened at the Blackpool Grand TheatreBlackpool Grand Theatre
Blackpool Grand Theatre is a theatre in Blackpool, Lancashire, England. Since 2006, it has also been known as the National Theatre of Variety. It is a Grade II* Listed Building.-History:...
on August 28, 2007. The tour ended at the Cardiff New Theatre
New Theatre (Cardiff)
The New Theatre although it usually uses its English name as a title) is one of the principal theatres in Cardiff, capital city of Wales, and celebrated its centenary in 2006...
as of July 19, 2008. It starred Helena Blackman
Helena Blackman
Helena Blackman is a British musical theatre actress best known for being the runner-up in the BBC1 Reality TV programme How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?...
as Nellie and Dave Willetts
Dave Willetts
Dave Willetts is an English singer and actor known for having leading roles in West End musicals.Willetts is something of an enigma in that he has had no formal singing, dancing, or acting lessons. Before he was 20 he rarely visited the theatre...
as Emile. Peter Frosdick and Martin Dodd produced the tour. Julian Woolford directed, with choreography by Chris Hocking. This production was most noted for its staging of the overture, which charted Nellie's journey from Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...
to the South Pacific. On entering the theatre, the audience first saw a map of the U.S., not the theater of war.
A U.S. national tour based on the 2008 Broadway revival began in San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
at the Golden Gate Theatre
Golden Gate Theatre
The Golden Gate Theatre is a performance venue located in San Francisco, CA., first opened in 1922 as a vaudeville venue, and later was a major movie theater...
on September 18, 2009. Bartlett Sher directed, and the cast included Rod Gilfry
Rod Gilfry
Rodney Gilfry is a leading American opera baritone. After launching his career at Frankfurt Opera in 1987, Gilfry quickly established a reputation for stylish singing and acting...
(Emile), Carmen Cusack
Carmen Cusack (Actress)
Carmen Cusack is a musical theater actress and singer, best known for playing Elphaba in the Chicago, National Tour and Melbourne productions of the hit musical Wicked.-Early life and Career:...
(Nellie) and Anderson Davis (Lt. Cable). Howard shared the role of Emile with David Pittsinger. The tour ended on March 20, 2011 in Toronto.
Box Office and awards
South Pacific opened on Broadway with $400,000 in advance sales. The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
and other newspapers published glowing reviews of the show; one critic called it "South Terrific". People were so eager to obtain tickets that columnist Leonard Lyons wrote a column about the lengths people had gone to in getting them. Because "house seats" were being sold by scalpers for $200 or more, the attorney general's office threatened to close the show. However, the parties who provided the scalpers with the tickets were never identified, and the show ran without interference. The production grossed $2,635,000, with a $50,600 weekly gross, and ran for 1,925 performances. The national tour began in 1950 and grossed $3,000,000 in the first year, making $1,500,000 in profit. The original cast album
Cast recording
A cast recording is a recording of a musical that is intended to document the songs as they were performed in the show and experienced by the audience. An original cast recording, as the name implies, features the voices of the show's original cast...
, priced at $4.85, sold more than a million copies.
The original production of South Pacific won ten Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Male Performer (Pinza), Best Female Performer (Martin), Best Supporting Male Performer (McCormick), Best Supporting Female Performer (Hall), Best Director (Logan), Best Book and Best Score. In 1950, it won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama
Pulitzer Prize for Drama
The Pulitzer Prize for Drama was first awarded in 1918.From 1918 to 2006, the Drama Prize was unlike the majority of the other Pulitzer Prizes: during these years, the eligibility period for the drama prize ran from March 2 to March 1, to reflect the Broadway 'season' rather than the calendar year...
. However, the Pulitzer Prize was given to Richard Rodgers
Richard Rodgers
Richard Charles Rodgers was an American composer of music for more than 900 songs and for 43 Broadway musicals. He also composed music for films and television. He is best known for his songwriting partnerships with the lyricists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II...
and Oscar Hammerstein
Oscar Hammerstein II
Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II was an American librettist, theatrical producer, and theatre director of musicals for almost forty years. Hammerstein won eight Tony Awards and was twice awarded an Academy Award for "Best Original Song". Many of his songs are standard repertoire for...
only; Joshua Logan
Joshua Logan
Joshua Lockwood Logan III was an American stage and film director and writer.-Early years:Logan was born in Texarkana, Texas, the son of Susan and Joshua Lockwood Logan. When he was three years old his father committed suicide...
was not recognized for his work on the libretto until later. The 2001 London revival garnered a Laurence Olivier Award for Philip Quast
Philip Quast
Philip Quast is an Australian actor perhaps best known for his role as Inspector Javert in the stage musical version of Les Misérables, or for appearances in numerous Australian soap operas including Sons and Daughters, The Young Doctors and Police Rescue.-Personal life:Quast was born in 1957 in...
(Emile). The 2008 Broadway revival won numerous theatre awards including Tony and Drama Desk Awards for best revival of a musical, director, leading actor (Szot) and for sound and set design. It also won Tonys for costume and lighting design, as well as nominations for choreography and for the performances of O'Hara, Burstein and Ables Sayre. The late Robert Russell Bennett
Robert Russell Bennett
Robert Russell Bennett was an American composer and arranger, best known for his orchestration of many well-known Broadway and Hollywood musicals by other composers such as Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, and Richard Rodgers. In 1957 and 2008, Bennett received Tony Awards...
was also recognized that season for "his historic contribution to American musical theatre in the field of orchestrations, as represented on Broadway this season by Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific."
Critical reception
Reviewers gave the original production warm reviews. The New York Herald TribuneNew York Herald Tribune
The New York Herald Tribune was a daily newspaper created in 1924 when the New York Tribune acquired the New York Herald.Other predecessors, which had earlier merged into the New York Tribune, included the original The New Yorker newsweekly , and the Whig Party's Log Cabin.The paper was home to...
wrote:
The New York Daily Mirror
New York Daily Mirror
The New York Daily Mirror was an American morning tabloid newspaper first published on June 24, 1924, in New York City by the William Randolph Hearst organization as a contrast to their mainstream broadsheets, the Evening Journal and New York American, later consolidated into the New York Journal...
critic wrote, "Programmed as a musical play, South Pacific is just that. It boasts no ballets and no hot hoofing. It has no chorus in the conventional sense. Every one in it plays a part. It is likely to establish a new trend in musicals." The review continued: "Every number is so outstanding that it is difficult to decide which will be the most popular." The review in New York World-Telegram
New York World-Telegram
The New York World-Telegram, later known as the New York World-Telegram and Sun, was a New York City newspaper from 1931 to 1966.-History:...
found the show to be "the ultimate modern blending of music and popular theatre to date, with the finest kind of balance between story and song, and hilarity and heartbreak."
Brooks Atkinson
Brooks Atkinson
Justin Brooks Atkinson was an American theatre critic. He worked for The New York Times from 1925 to 1960...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
especially praised Pinza's performance: "Mr. Pinza's bass voice is the most beautiful that has been heard on a Broadway stage for an eon or two. He sings ... with infinite delicacy of feeling and loveliness of tone." He declared that "Some Enchanted Evening", sung by Pinza, "ought to become reasonably immortal." Richard Watts, Jr.
Richard Watts, Jr.
Richard Watts, Jr. was an American theatre critic.Born in Parkersburg, West Virginia, Watts was educated at Columbia University. He began his writing career as the film critic for the New York Herald Tribune before assuming the post of the newspaper's drama critic in 1936.After spending World War...
of the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
focused on Mary Martin's performance, writing, "nothing I have ever seen her do prepared me for the loveliness, humor, gift for joyous characterization, and sheer lovableness of her portrayal of Nellie Forbush ... who is so shocked to find her early racial prejudices cropping up. Hers is a completely irresistible performance."
A 2006 review asserted: "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." Another writer, however, criticized the play as having an Orientalist and Western-centric storyline in which stereotypical natives take on "exotic background roles" in relation to Americans, and characterized the relationship between Lieutenant Cable and Liat as underage prostitution, charging that she "speaks not a word in the whole musical, only smiles and takes the Yankee to bed." Former Marine Robert Leckie
Robert Leckie (author)
Robert Leckie was an American author of popular books on the military history of the United States. As a young man, he served in the Marine Corps with the 1st Marine Division during World War II...
wrote his World War II memoir Helmet for My Pillow
Helmet for My Pillow
Helmet for My Pillow is the personal narrative written by World War II United States Marine Corps veteran, author and military historian Robert Leckie...
after walking out of a performance of South Pacific. Leckie stated "I have to tell the story of how it really was. I have to let people know the war wasn’t a musical."
Recordings
Columbia RecordsColumbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
recorded the overture and most of the songs from the original production in 1949, using members of the cast including Ezio Pinza
Ezio Pinza
Ezio Pinza was an Italian basso opera singer with a rich, smooth and sonorous voice. He spent 22 seasons at New York's Metropolitan Opera, appearing in more than 750 performances of 50 operas...
and Mary Martin
Mary Martin
Mary Virginia Martin was an American actress and singer. She originated many roles over her career including Nellie Forbush in South Pacific and Maria in The Sound of Music. She was named a Kennedy Center Honoree in 1989...
. Drawn from the original masters, Columbia released the album in both the new LP format and on 78-rpm discs. When Sony acquired Columbia, a CD was released from the previously unused magnetic tape recording from the same 1949 sessions in New York City. The CD includes the bonus tracks: "Loneliness of Evening" (recorded in 1949 by Mary Martin but not used in South Pacific; the piece was used and sung by the Prince in the second TV version of Rogers and Hammerstein's Cinderella); "My Girl Back Home" (recorded by Mary Martin); "Bali Ha'i" (cover version by Ezio Pinza); and Symphonic Scenario for Concert Orchestra (original orchestrations by Robert Russell Bennett). The film soundtrack was released on the RCA Victor
RCA Records
RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...
label on March 19, 1958.
Masterworks Broadway released a recording of the 1967 Lincoln Center production starring Florence Henderson
Florence Henderson
Florence Agnes Henderson is an American actress and singer. She is perhaps best known for her role of Carol Brady on the ABC sitcom The Brady Bunch from 1969 to 1974...
as Nellie, Giorgio Tozzi
Giorgio Tozzi
Giorgio Tozzi was for many years a leading bass with the Metropolitan Opera, as well as playing lead roles in nearly every major opera house worldwide.-Career:Tozzi was born George John Tozzi in Chicago, Illinois...
as Emile, David Doyle as Luther Billis, Justin McDonough as Lt. Cable, Lyle Talbot
Lyle Talbot
Lyle Talbot , born Lisle Henderson, was an American actor on stage and screen, best known for his long career in movies from 1931 to 1960 and for his frequent appearances on TV in the 1950s and '60s, including his decade-long role as Joe Randolph on television's The Adventures of Ozzie and...
as Capt. Brackett and Irene Byatt as Bloody Mary.
In 1986 José Carreras
José Carreras
Josep Maria Carreras i Coll , better known as José Carreras , is a Spanish Catalan tenor particularly known for his performances in the operas of Verdi and Puccini...
and Kiri Te Kanawa
Kiri Te Kanawa
Dame Kiri Jeanette Te Kanawa, ONZ, DBE, AC is a New Zealand / Māori soprano who has had a highly successful international opera career since 1968. Acclaimed as one of the most beloved sopranos in both the United States and Britain she possesses a warm full lyric soprano voice, singing a wide array...
made a studio recording of South Pacific, the sessions of which were filmed as a documentary, similar in style to Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
's West Side Story documentary a year earlier which featured the same stars. It also featured Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Lois Vaughan was an American jazz singer, described by Scott Yanow as having "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century."...
as Bloody Mary and Mandy Patinkin
Mandy Patinkin
Mandel Bruce "Mandy" Patinkin is an award-winning American actor of stage and screen and a tenor vocalist. He is a noted interpreter of the musical works of Stephen Sondheim, and is best-known for his work in musical theatre, originating iconic roles such as Georges Seurat in Sunday in the Park...
as Lt. Cable.
The 2001 Royal National Theatre's revival cast album was recorded in 2002 on First Night Records with Philip Quast
Philip Quast
Philip Quast is an Australian actor perhaps best known for his role as Inspector Javert in the stage musical version of Les Misérables, or for appearances in numerous Australian soap operas including Sons and Daughters, The Young Doctors and Police Rescue.-Personal life:Quast was born in 1957 in...
as Emile, Lauren Kennedy
Lauren Kennedy
Lauren Kennedy is an actress and a singer who has performed numerous times on Broadway. She most recently starred in the Off-Broadway show Good Ol' Girls at the Black Box Theatre during the 2009-2010 season...
as Nellie, Edward Baker-Duly
Edward Baker-Duly
-Biography:He was born in Sweden but moved to South Africa where he acted in television and theatre, later moving to the United Kingdom to work.His television work includes playing no-nonsense sports master Chris Malachay in the long-running BBC school drama, Grange Hill, from 2003-2006...
as Lt. Cable, Sheila Francisco as Bloody Mary and Nick Holder
Nick Holder
Nick Holder is an underground hip-hop and house music deejay and producer from Toronto, Canada.Holder began DJing in the early 1980s, and soon became influenced by the Detroit techno scene and DJs such as Derrick May and Carl Craig....
as Luther Billis. The album includes the cut song, "Now Is the Time".
The 2005 Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
concert version was released on April 18, 2006 by Decca Broadway with Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire
Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...
as Nellie, Brian Stokes Mitchell
Brian Stokes Mitchell
Brian Stokes Mitchell is an American stage, film and television actor. A powerful baritone, he has been one of the central leading men of the Broadway theatre since the early 1990s...
as Emile, Lillias White
Lillias White
Lillias White is an American singer and actress.The Brooklyn, New York native made her Broadway debut in Barnum in 1981. She understudied the role of Effie in the original 1981 production of Dreamgirls and played the part in the 1987 revival...
as Bloody Mary, Jason Danieley
Jason Danieley
Jason D. Danieley is an American actor, singer, concert performer and recording artist. He is married to fellow Broadway star, Marin Mazzie-Biography:...
as Lt. Cable, and Alec Baldwin
Alec Baldwin
Alexander Rae "Alec" Baldwin III is an American actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television.Baldwin first gained recognition through television for his work in the soap opera Knots Landing in the role of Joshua Rush. He was a cast member for two seasons before his character was killed off...
as Luther Billis, and includes most of the dialogue used in the live performance.
The 2008 Broadway revival cast album was released on May 27, 2008 by Masterworks Broadway.
1958 film
South Pacific was made into a film of the same nameSouth Pacific (film)
South Pacific is a 1958 musical romance film adaptation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific, and based on James A. Michener's Tales of the South Pacific...
in 1958
1958 in film
The year 1958 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* February 16- "In the Money" by William Beaudine is released on this date. It would be the last installment of The Bowery Boys series which began back in 1946....
, and it topped the box office that year. Joshua Logan
Joshua Logan
Joshua Lockwood Logan III was an American stage and film director and writer.-Early years:Logan was born in Texarkana, Texas, the son of Susan and Joshua Lockwood Logan. When he was three years old his father committed suicide...
directed the film, which starred Rossano Brazzi
Rossano Brazzi
-Biography:Brazzi was born in Bologna to Adelmo and Maria Brazzi. He attended San Marco University in Florence, Italy, where he was raised from the age of four...
, Mitzi Gaynor
Mitzi Gaynor
-Life and career:Gaynor was born as Francesca Marlene de Czanyi von Gerber in Chicago, Illinois to Pauline Fisher, a dancer, and Henry von Gerber, a violinist, cellist, and music director. The family first moved to Detroit and when she was eleven to Hollywood, California.She trained as a ballerina...
, John Kerr
John Kerr (actor)
John Kerr is an American actor from a family rooted in British and Broadway stage, and a lawyer.- Early life :Kerr's parents, Geoffrey Kerr and June Walker, were both stage and film actors, and his grandfather was Frederick Kerr, a famed British trans-Atlantic character actor in the period...
, Ray Walston
Ray Walston
Ray Walston was an American stage, television and film actor best known as the title character on the 1960s situation comedy My Favorite Martian. In addition, he is also remembered for his roles as Luther Billis in South Pacific , Mr. Applegate in Damn Yankees , J.J...
and Juanita Hall
Juanita Hall
Juanita Hall was an American musical theatre and film actress. She is remembered for her roles in the original stage and screen versions of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals South Pacific as Bloody Mary and Flower Drum Song as Auntie Liang.-Biography:Born in Keyport, New Jersey, Hall received...
; all of their singing voices except Gaynor's and Walston's were dubbed by other singers. The film won the Academy Award for Best Sound. It was also nominated for the Oscar for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture
Academy Award for Best Original Score
The Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...
, and the 65 mm Todd-AO
Todd-AO
Todd-AO is a post-production company founded in 1953, providing sound-related services to the motion picture and television industries. The company operates three facilities in the Los Angeles area.-History:...
cinematography by Leon Shamroy
Leon Shamroy
Leon Shamroy, A.S.C. was an American film cinematographer. Together with Charles Lang, he holds the record for most number of Academy Award nominations for Cinematography...
was also nominated.
In the film the order of the first two scenes, along with the songs they contain, is switched. The beginning of the film shows Lieutenant Cable being flown by plane to the island, and the first musical number is "Bloody Mary", sung by the Seabees. Emile does not appear in the film until about 30 minutes into it; Nellie first appears during the scene with the Seabees. Because of the switch, the show's most famous song, "Some Enchanted Evening
Some Enchanted Evening (song)
"Some Enchanted Evening" is a show tune from the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific.In the musical, it is sung as a solo by Emile de Becque, the French plantation owner, who falls in love with the American navy nurse Nellie Forbush. In this song he sings of seizing the moment so...
", is not heard until nearly 45 minutes into the film. The film also includes the song "My Girl Back Home", sung by Lieutenant Cable, which was cut from the stage musical.
2001 television film
A made-for-television filmSouth Pacific (2001 film)
Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific is a made-for-television movie, directed by Richard Pearce in 2001. This ABC production starred Glenn Close, Harry Connick, Jr. and Rade Šerbedžija...
, directed by Richard Pearce, was produced and televised in 2001, starring Glenn Close
Glenn Close
Glenn Close is an American actress and singer of theatre and film, known for her roles as a femme fatale Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress and singer of theatre and film, known for her roles as a femme fatale Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress and...
as Nellie, Harry Connick, Jr.
Harry Connick, Jr.
Joseph Harry Fowler Connick, Jr. is an American singer, big-band leader/conductor, pianist, actor, and composer. He has sold over 25 million albums worldwide. Connick is ranked among the top 60 best-selling male artists in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America, with...
as Lieutenant Cable, and Rade Sherbedgia as Emile. This version changed the order of the musical's songs, omitted "Happy Talk" and "My Girl Back Home", and cut "Bali Hai" in half; however, cuts made to "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair" for the 1958 movie were restored.
The movie, and Close, were praised by The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
: "Ms. Close, lean and more mature, hints that a touch of desperation lies in Nellie's cockeyed optimism. 'I'm stuck like a dope with a thing like hope' means one thing when you are in your 20's, something else when you are not." The review also noted that the movie "is beautifully produced, better than the stagy 1958 film. ... The other cast members, including Ms. Close, also sing well." The New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
stated, "Notions of racism toward the islanders were glossed over in the 1958 movie, but in tonight's remake, the racial themes are brought to the surface, to the production's advantage ... there's a heightened sense of drama and tension in the remake because the war is closer at hand ... the rewards are great." The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
wrote, "[T]here are musical highlights that all but leap from the screen, probably the highest being Close's infectious 'Wonderful Guy'. ... Close is, of course, a better actor on her worst days than Gaynor was on her best, and though she's older than is usual for someone playing nurse Nellie Forbush, she brings radiance, warmth and stature to the part. She also tears merrily into Nellie's numbers."
Criticism of the movie has focused on the changes from previous versions, including Sherbedgia's non-operatic singing voice, as compared with previous Emiles, and Glenn Close's comparatively mature Nellie. Playbill
Playbill
Playbill is a monthly U.S. magazine for theatregoers. Although there is a subscription issue available for home delivery, most Playbills are printed for particular shows to be distributed at the door...
reported that "Internet chat room visitors have grumbled that Close is too old for the role of Nellie Forbush, who, in the song, 'A Cock-Eyed Optimist', is described as 'immature and incurably green'", but "[co-producer] Cohen said the 'May-December' romance plot point ... has less resonance with audiences today and it was cut. Nellie is ageless, in effect."
The film was released on DVD on August 28, 2001. Special features include deleted scenes and behind-the-scenes look at the making of the movie.
Proposed 2013 film
As of 2011, a new film is in the works, with Ileen MaiselIleen Maisel
Ileen Maisel is an American-born film producer, living in the United Kingdom. In 2009, she was one of the founders of Amber Entertainment. Previously she was Senior Vice President of European Production for New Line Cinema...
and Bob Balaban
Bob Balaban
Robert Elmer "Bob" Balaban is an American actor, author and director.-Personal life:Balaban was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Eleanor and Elmer Balaban, who owned several movie theatres and later was a pioneer in cable television...
producing. Balaban told Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
in 2010, "Our movie will be a tougher, more realistic retelling of the same classic story". Balaban gave another interview in April 2011, saying: "It’s going beautifully. ... Our [screenwriter] Lynn Grossman is really smart. She can write period [scenes], but it feels very real and contemporary without being modern."
External links
- South Pacific at the Rogers & Hammerstein Organization
- South Pacific at the Guide to Musical Theatre
- South Pacific at StageAgent.com