- For other uses, see South Pacific
| South Pacific | |
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| Original Cast Recording | |
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| Music | Richard Rodgers |
| Lyrics | Oscar Hammerstein II |
| Book | Oscar Hammerstein II Joshua Logan |
| Based upon | Tales of the South Pacific by James A. Michener |
| Productions | 1949 Broadway 1951 West End 1958 Film 2001 U.S. Television 2002 West End revival 2005 Carnegie Hall Concert 2008 Broadway Revival planned |
| Awards | Pulitzer Prize for Drama Tony Award for Best Musical Tony Award Composer and Lyricist Tony Award for Best Author |
South Pacific is a musical, with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and book by both Hammerstein and Joshua Logan. The story is based on two short stories by James A. Michener from his book Tales of the South Pacific, which was the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1948. The musical was itself awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1950. The issue of racial prejudice was sensitively and candidly explored, particularly for a 1949 work. James Michener claimed he was pressured to ask Rodgers and Hammerstein to remove the song You've Got to Be Carefully Taught because of its biting comments about racial prejudice. South Pacific is generally considered to be one of the greatest musicals of all time[1][2] Several of its songs, including "Bali Ha'i," "Some Enchanted Evening," "Younger than Springtime," and "A Wonderful Guy" have become worldwide standards. South Pacific is the only musical ever to have won all four Tony Awards for acting. It was nominated for nine Tonys and won all of them.
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Productions
- Original Broadway production
The musical opened on Broadway on April 7 1949, at the Majestic Theatre, moving to the Broadway Theatre in June 1953. It was produced by Rodgers and Hammerstein in association with Leland Hayward and Joshua Logan, and directed by Logan. It ran for more than five years and 1,925 performances. At the time it closed on January 16, 1954, it was the fifth-longest running show in Broadway history.[3] The original cast starred Mary Martin as the heroine, Nellie Forbush, and opera star Ezio Pinza as the French plantation owner, Emile de Becque. Also in the cast were Juanita Hall and Betta St. John. Although Forbush and De Beque were already fully developed characters in Michener's stories, at some point during the creation of South Pacific, Rodgers, Hammerstein and Logan came to have both Martin and Pinza specifically in mind for these two roles. Martin shared with Ethel Merman the status of being the leading Broadway musical comedienne of the era; Pinza was a well-known opera singer. The subsequent music, and its presentation within the show, was therefore tailored for the voices of Martin and Pinza.
- Original West End production
London's West End production ran from 1951 to 1953 at the Drury Lane Theatre. It starred Mary Martin and Wilbur Evans, and featured Muriel Evans, Peter Grant and Ivor Emmanuel.
- 2005 Carnegie Hall concert
On June 9 2005, a concert version of the musical, edited down to two hours but including all of the songs and the full musical score, was presented live at Carnegie Hall. It starred Reba McEntire as Nellie Forbush, Brian Stokes Mitchell as Emile, Alec Baldwin as Luther Billis, and Lillias White as Bloody Mary. The stars had a full supporting cast. The production used Robert Russell Bennett's original orchestrations. This production was taped and telecast by PBS on April 26 2006.
- 2002 West End revival
The Royal National Theatre (Olivier Theatre) in London staged a limited run of the musical in 2002 timed to celebrate the centenary of Richard Rodgers' birth. This production was directed by Trevor Nunn, with musical staging by Matthew Bourne and designs by John Napier. Nellie was performed by Lauren Kennedy and Emile was performed by the Australian actor Philip Quast. [4]
- 2007-08 UK Tour
A major new touring production of South Pacific opened in the UK at the Blackpool Grand Theatre on the August 28 2007. The tour is expected to finish at the Cardiff New Theatre in July 2008. The tour stars Helena Blackman as Nellie and Dave Willetts as Emile. The tour is produced by Peter Frosdick and Martin Dodd for UK Productions. The production is directed by Julian Woolford, with choreography by Chris Hocking. This production was most noted for its staging of the overture which charted Nellie's journey from Little Rock to the South Pacific. On entering the theatre, the audience first saw a map of the USA, not the theater of war. [5]
- Scheduled Broadway revival
A revival is scheduled to open at Lincoln Center on Broadway in March 2008 at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre,[6] with Kelli O'Hara as Nellie and Matthew Morrison as Lt. Cable.
Recording
Columbia Records 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.
Synopsis
On a South Pacific island during World War II, a U.S. Navy nurse from Arkansas, Ensign Nellie Forbush, falls in love with a middle-aged French plantation owner, Emile de Becque. Meanwhile, the restless U.S. Navy sailors, led by the entrepreneurial Seabee Luther Billis, lament the absence of women or combat to relieve their boredom. Lieutenant Joe Cable of the U.S. Marine Corps arrives on the island to take part in a dangerous spy mission that might help turn the tide of the war against Japan. Since only officers can sign out boats, Billis convinces Lt. Cable to accompany him to the mysterious and valuable island of Bali Ha'i. There Bloody Mary, the native souvenir dealer, introduces Cable to her teenage daughter, Liat. The two fall in love. The two couples -- Nellie and Emile, Liat and Joe -- gain deepening affection, and marriages are proposed. But Nellie has deep-seated ethnic prejudices, and Emile is a widower with biracial children from his marriage to a Polynesian wife. Nellie, torn between her long-held Arkansas prejudice and her heartfelt love for Emile, hesitates to marry Emile. And Joe refuses to marry Liat because she is Polynesian. Joe's refusal infuriates Mary. Though aware of and ashamed of their bigotry, Nellie and Joe are prisoners of their upbringings: they think they have no options. Dejected and with nothing to lose, Emile agrees to join Joe on his dangerous mission behind Japanese lines. The two successfully send back reports on enemy forces. The Americans use this information to intercept and destroy Japanese convoys. "Operation Alligator" gets underway, and the previously idle sailors, including the reluctant Luther Billis, go off to battle. Joe is killed; Emile narrowly escapes a similar fate. Emile returns home to the now-understanding Nellie and his -- soon to be their -- children.
Songs
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- Additional songs
- "Loneliness of Evening" - sung by Emile, was in the original score but was cut before the first Broadway production. It is, however, on some LP versions, and was also sung by the Prince (Stuart Damon) in the 1965 production of Cinderella.
- "Girl Back Home" - also called My Girl Back Home, sung by Lieutenant Cable, was in the original score but was cut before the first Broadway production. Still, it is on some LP versions and is in the movie version.
- Some LP versions feature a track of Ezio Pinza singing "Bali Hai", but he did not sing it in the stage version; neither was it written for his character in the show (Emile de Becque) to sing. "Loneliness of Evening" and "My Girl Back Home" were recorded by Mary Martin, backed by Percy Faith's Orchestra, and released as a single in 1951. On some later CD versions of the cast album these two songs are included as bonus tracks along with "Bali Ha'i," sung by Ezio Pinza.
Film and television versions
South Pacific was made into a 1958 film of the same name that topped the box office that year, and the 65 mm Todd-AO cinematography (by Leon Shamroy) was nominated for an Academy Award. The film was also nominated for and won the music-adaptation-and-sound award.
An elaborate television production of the show was made in 2001. It starred Glenn Close and Harry Connick Jr.. This version omitted the well-known song "Happy Talk" and cut "Bali Hai" in half, among other changes. The film was criticized because it changed the order of the songs and because Rade Šerbedžija, unlike all the previous Emiles, did not have an operatic singing voice. Also, the character of Nellie Forbush was conceived as a young and inexperienced woman fresh out of nursing school, in military service. Glenn Close was felt by many to be too old to play the role of someone who describes herself in song as "immature and incurably green."
Cultural references
The 1954 film Men of the Fighting Lady, set during the Korean War and also based on material written by James A. Michener, has a prologue where Michener (played in the film by Louis Calhern) is introduced to a Navy flight surgeon. The surgeon comments, "Mr. Michener, I fought in the South Pacific in World War II, but I never realized how much fun it had been until I read your book!" Michener replies, "I never realized how much fun it was either, until Rodgers and Hammerstein set it to music!" The play is mentioned in Billy Joel's song We Didn't Start the Fire.
References
- ^ Critic John Simon writes: "Many are the knowledgeable and discriminating people for whom Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific, brilliantly co-written and staged by Joshua Logan, was the greatest musical of all." ]
- ^ "With South Pacific, Rodgers and Hammerstein rose to new towering heights of success, both commercially and artistically, following their triumphs with Oklahoma! and Carousel.... The veteran producer Arthur Hammerstein called it the greatest musical show Broadway had ever seen, perfect in every respect. The critic Richard Watts, Jr., described it as "a thrilling and exultant musical play, an utterly captivating work of theatrical art."
- ^ The World Almanac and Book of Facts, 1966, page 137
- ^ http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/South%20Pacific+135.twl National Theatre archive
- ^ http://arts.monstersandcritics.com/news/article_1343914.php/U.K_tour_of_South_Pacific_opens_today monstersandcritics article on South Pacific UK tour
- ^ http://www.playbill.com/news/article/111501.html playbill article on revival, Oct. 1, 2007
Sources
The World Almanac and Book of Facts, New York, 1966, New York World-Telegram
External links
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller |
Pulitzer Prize for Drama 1950 |
Succeeded by No Award Given |
| Preceded by Kiss Me, Kate |
Tony Award for Best Musical 1950 |
Succeeded by Guys and Dolls |
| Preceded by Kiss Me, Kate by Cole Porter |
Tony Award for Best Score 1950 |
Succeeded by Call Me Madam by Irving Berlin |
| Preceded by Kiss Me, Kate by Samuel and Bella Spewack |
Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical 1950 |
Succeeded by Guys and Dolls by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows |
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Oklahoma! • Carousel • State Fair • Allegro • South Pacific • The King and I • Me and Juliet • Pipe Dream • Cinderella • Flower Drum Song • The Sound of Music |
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1949: Kiss Me, Kate • 1950: South Pacific • 1951: Guys and Dolls • 1952: The King and I • 1953: Wonderful Town • 1954: Kismet • 1955: The Pajama Game • 1956: Damn Yankees • 1957: My Fair Lady • 1958: The Music Man • 1959: Redhead • 1960: The Sound of Music† • 1960: Fiorello!† • 1961: Bye Bye Birdie • 1962: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying • 1963: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum • 1964: Hello, Dolly! • 1965: Fiddler on the Roof • 1966: Man of La Mancha • 1967: Cabaret • 1968: Hallelujah, Baby! • 1969: 1776 |
