Good bye South Pacific and Thank You — Page 2

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#26

Good bye South Pacific and Thank You

Posted: 8/22/10 at 10:26pm

The performance this afternoon was outstanding, as others have mentioned above. I am completely in awe by the performances of Kelli O'Hara, Paulo Szot, Danny Burstein and Loretta Ables Sayre - all four are perfection and it is a dream come true that we have their performances preserved. All four were perfect today as well...it was a sad afternoon, but a very enthusiastic audience (including the legendary Barbara Cook!).

I was fortunate enough to introduce myself and meet Mary Rodgers in the lobby before the show. I have been a fan of her work for a long time now and she was very gracious and so nice to both me and my friend. She signed my CD covers of ONCE UPON A MATTRESS, HEY, LOVE and my playbill of HOT SPOT.

Also, it was touching in the speech how the "curtain will not fall on SOUTH PACIFIC." That really gave it a fitting end to this spectacular run. It was also nice to know that this revival of SOUTH PACIFIC is the longest running R&H revival ever!

Congrats to all involved...so glad I was there today to witness history.

#27

Good bye South Pacific and Thank You

Posted: 8/22/10 at 10:42pm

WithoutATrace: I saw someone who had their "mattress" CD signed and I asked who signed it...was that you who told me the women who signed your CD was Mary Rogers in the lobby?

#28

Good bye South Pacific and Thank You

Posted: 8/22/10 at 10:44pm

The tall white guy is my friend...I'm the darker skinned hispanic guy. I think it was my friend who answered you (we were near the box office area when Mary Rodgers signed our stuff), but yes, that was us!

#29

Good bye South Pacific and Thank You

Posted: 8/22/10 at 10:45pm

Yup, it was such a magical afternoon inside The Vivian Beaumont despite the awful weather.

Goodbye and farewell to the longest running New York revival of any R&H show. I already miss SOUTH PACIFIC.

#30

Good bye South Pacific and Thank You

Posted: 8/22/10 at 10:46pm

Were you also the ones at the stage door getting Kelli to sign "Pajama Game," "Piazza," and "My Life with Albertine" cds? If so, I saw you from across the way!

#31

Good bye South Pacific and Thank You

Posted: 8/22/10 at 10:50pm

too funny! its a small world

#32

Good bye South Pacific and Thank You

Posted: 8/22/10 at 10:51pm

Yes, that was us! My friend brought Piazza and Pajama Game...I brought Life with Albertine and Bright Lights Big City. We both also brought our "The Nose" playbills for Paulo Szot!

#33

Good bye South Pacific and Thank You

Posted: 8/22/10 at 11:19pm

Thank you all for reporting back on the final performance. How fortunate you are to have met the cast and others. I'm just wondering what the mood was at stage door and during curtain calls....did the cast especially the leads, etc. seem sad that the run has ended or was it a more celebratory mood?

#34

Good bye South Pacific and Thank You

Posted: 8/22/10 at 11:34pm

I would say that they seemed sad and touched during curtain call. Not many visible tears that I could find (but my own eyes were so teary that I really couldn't have told). I thought I was seeing some tears in Laurissa Romain's (young girl who plays Ngana) eyes as she came out for the final scene. Anyone else note that? As the cast walked off stage after the curtain call, there were certain people who lingered and shared a special connection. It looked like Danny Burstein and Loretta Ables Sayre were grouped at center stage sharing a moment. It also looked like Paulo Szot and Kelli O'Hara shared a special moment and left the stage together.

At the stage door it was kind of madness. I think a lot of hurrying to get to the closing party, especially for the non-principals. It seemed like Kelli, Paulo, Danny and Loretta all stayed and signed and took pictures with everyone who asked. They were all very gracious. Without any barricades like they have at most shows, they got a bit mobbed, but were still so kind.

#35

Good bye South Pacific and Thank You

Posted: 8/22/10 at 11:41pm

To CockeyedOptimist:
Thanks again, lucky you!

I fell in love with the show when I saw it over the summer with Laura and Paulo. Didn't think anything could top Laura but Kelli was similarly wonderful and born to play the role in my opinion. Planned to go again several times but, alas, my theater budget was blown by La Cage and Addams Family (as well as Night Music, and a few other shows I saw earlier in the summer)...in hindsight I wish I skipped Addams in favor of one more time seeing SP. Too soon old...too late schmart as my dear old German neighbor used to say...

#36

Good bye South Pacific and Thank You

Posted: 8/22/10 at 11:53pm

It's such an unbelievably different experience watching the show live than on PBS's LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER. I'm glad they did the broadcast, but the camera and piped in sound can't capture the human eye's ability to gauge depth and perception of seeing the entire stage and backdrop as well as the ear's affinity for the acoustics of the theatre. So bummed that SOUTH PACIFIC is done. :o(

Glad to hear folks who stagedoored had a successful time.

#37

Good bye South Pacific and Thank You

Posted: 8/23/10 at 2:36am

Did anyone catch the final Five 'til Curtain? Nice send off from the guys. I hope someone is watching and decides to put these two together again. They work well off each other.
Final FTC

"All our dreams can come true -- if we have the courage to pursue them." -- Walt Disney We must have different Gods. My God said "do to others what you would have them do to you". Your God seems to have said "My Way or the Highway".

#38

Good bye South Pacific and Thank You

Posted: 8/23/10 at 3:05am

So sad to see this show close. I think this revival will go down in History for perfect direction and perfection as a whole

Genius lasts longer than beauty.

#39

Good bye South Pacific and Thank You

Posted: 8/23/10 at 5:13am

Let's hope that someone at PBS had the good sense to press the "record" button.

I wish a WestEnd transfer materialises.

#40

Good bye South Pacific and Thank You

Posted: 8/23/10 at 5:46am

I regret never seeing this show in person on Broadway. The PBS showing which I caught 3 times was mesmerizing. I saw highlights every year live at Bryant Park and it was great; sadly putting most of the other shows performed to shame. They don't write them like this anymore. Rodgers & Hammerstein were geniuses of the musical stage and must never be forgotten. Kudos to PBS for airing this and to others who allowed this show to be revived.

#41

Good bye South Pacific and Thank You

Posted: 8/23/10 at 6:56am

Broadway producers take note: A respectable sized orchestra with REAL musicians DOES matter!!!

Recreation of original John Cameron orchestration to "On My Own" by yours truly. Click player below to hear.

#42

Good bye South Pacific and Thank You

Posted: 8/23/10 at 8:28am

YES real musicians ..... Live and on the premises means so much to the authenticity of the show ....... KEEP MUSIC ALIVE .... and live !!!!!!

#43

Good bye South Pacific and Thank You

Posted: 8/23/10 at 9:33am

A full orchestra provides a depth that you cannot duplicate with synthesizers, etc. I think that the revival of "Les Miz" is an example of this. They skimped on strings, etc. and it was very apparent.
Again, tho--will definitely miss this production of South Pacific----just amazing!

#44

Good bye South Pacific and Thank You

Posted: 8/23/10 at 6:38pm

"It's such an unbelievably different experience watching the show live than on PBS's LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER. I'm glad they did the broadcast, but the camera and piped in sound can't capture the human eye's ability to gauge depth and perception of seeing the entire stage and backdrop as well as the ear's affinity for the acoustics of the theatre."

jsg03jd, I'm glad you wrote this. Not having seen it live, I was really surprised that I didn't enjoy watching the PBS recording that much. (I'm almost ashamed to write it here!) Since I've heard nothing but raves - and I mean NOTHING but raves - I'll have to watch it a couple of more times to try to find it. I have to say Loretta Ables Sayre and Paul Szot were absolutely brilliant, but the actor playing Cable was pretty dire. I'm quite envious of those of you who saw it at Lincoln Center.

#45

Good bye South Pacific and Thank You

Posted: 8/24/10 at 5:03pm

It really was a wonderful performance. I agree that the television broadcast didn't really show one of the major strengths of the production, which was the use of the incredibly deep stage and the real epic sweep of the design and staging. The almost cinematic transitions between some of the scenes were really lost in the PBS showing.

The design of the show was really pretty incredible.

At the stage door, I'm not sure the ensemble folks were hurrying to get to the party; I think that they were just unused to being asked to sign and were assuming no one would ask them. For whatever reason, even in the early part of the run, South Pacific was never a big stage door show, so I'm guessing they (unjustly) were used to no one asking them. As far as I could tell, they were happy to sign when someone asked them. (The less than ideal setup at the stage door didn't help matters.)

"What was the name of that cheese that I like?" "you can't run away forever...but there's nothing wrong with getting a good head start" "well I hope and I pray, that maybe someday, you'll walk in the room with my heart"

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