South Pacific at Goodspeed Musicals

An Audience Favorite

By: Karen Isaacs - Jul 11, 2024

 

 

It’s hot, it’s humid, and there’s sand everywhere. This is not a beach vacation but the setting for Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific, now at Goodspeed Musicals.

The show is set on an island in the South Pacific during WWII as the pilots, officers, Seabees, and nurses struggle with weather conditions and primitive living conditions.

Goodspeed and director Chay Yew have mostly gotten it right.

Of course, Rodgers & Hammerstein (and book writers Oscar Hammerstein and Joshua Logan) have provided all the elements: romance, humor, drama, and tragedy told through soaring melodies.

While it is hard to imagine, some do not know this show about nurse Nellie Forbush from Little Rock, Arkansas, the older French planter she falls in love with (Emile de Becque); the entrepreneurial Seabee, Billis; the Polynesian woman Bloody Mary and her daughter Liat; and the newly arrived Marine pilot (Lieut. Cable) assigned to carry out a dangerous spying mission.

If you have never seen the movie or show, you must see this production.

The show, based on John Michner’s Pulitzer-winning collection of short stories, Tales of the South Pacific draws from the stories: “Fo’ Dolla’” and “Our Heroine.”

Danielle Wade totally embodies Nellie, the self-proclaimed “hick” who longs to escape her hometown, her mother, and the stifling culture. She has, but during the show, she must confront the baggage she couldn’t quite leave behind. Wade was terrific in last season’s Summer Stock; this year, she is even better, capturing multiple nuances of Nellie, as well as singing up a storm. She has one familiar song after another – “A Cockeyed Optimist,” “I’m Gonna Wash that Man Right Outta My Hair,” “I’m in Love with a Wonderful Man,” and “Honey Bun,” as well as reprises of “Some Enchanted Evening.”

As the French planter Emile de Becque, Omar Lopez-Cepero brings a fine baritone to the role and a reserved demeanor. There is sufficient chemistry between Wade and Lopez-Cepero to make their romance plausible, though it hardly seems like a grand passion.

You can count on Goodspeed to have fine production values. Alexander Dodge’s scenic design recreates the multiple settings of the show – de Becque’s home, the oceanfront, the Naval base offices, and Bali Hai, the enchanted island just a boat trip away. Junghyun Georgia Lee’s costumes are appropriate to the early ‘40s, though not always the most attractive. Amith Chandrashaker has provided breathtaking sunsets in the lighting design. The sound design by Jay Hilton captures the noises of a Navy airbase and the quieter sounds of an island refuge.

Most musicals of the period had two romances and a pair of comic characters. In South Pacific, the enterprising Seabee Billis and Bloody Mary provide the laughs, but not at the cost of dignity. Joan Almedilla is outstanding as Bloody Mary, the Tonkinese mother who sells things to the sailors and looks for the best marriage for her daughter, Liat. Alex Humphreys, as Liat, is charming and enchanting. Almedilla and director Yew make sure the character is not so much laughed at by the sailors but that she deliberately encourages it. She is in on the joke and uses it to her advantage.

Kevin Quillon, as Billis, also makes the role more than just a joke about the conniving sailor willing to dupe his comrades. His performance in “Honey Bun” is terrific.

This brings us to Lieutenant Joseph Cable and his romance with Liat. The role was written as a counterpoint to Nellie; while she eventually can overcome her prejudices (de Becque has fathered two children with a Tonkinese woman), Cable can’t conceive of bringing Liat, his true love, home to his well-to-do parents in Philadelphia. It sets up his song “You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught” about how prejudice and hate are carried on through generations.

Yew’s decision to cast Cameron Loyal, an African American, in the role creates a dissonance that will jar some audience members, particularly those more familiar with the work. What is called color-blind casting often can be effective; it can also be jarring, making it harder for audiences to suspend their disbelief.

In some cases, it can undermine the point of the piece. Yew, I assume, wanted to cast the role the way he did to point out that prejudice is not limited to whites.

Instead, the effect is jarring. Nellie talks to Cable about her concerns about Emile having “black” children and her upbringing in Little Rock. Would that be probable? Emile tells Cable that when Cable goes onto the island, where he will report on Japanese troop movements, he will meet two friends – “black men.” Again, is it probable that Emile would say that?

Rather than reinforce the idea that prejudice is universal, the casting simply confuses the situation.

That does not diminish Loyal’s performance. He sings and acts the role with conviction. His renditions of “My Girl Back Home” and “Younger than Springtime” melt your heart.

South Pacific is a show for romantics. It is one of my favorite shows and the audience’s cheers on opening night showed that they, too, loved it.

Tickets are selling fast. Visit Goodspeed.org for more information.

This content courtesy of Shore Publications and Zip06.com.