Is SOUTH PACIFIC about anything specific, or is it just a bunch of World War II drinking songs?

[Dollypop]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 9:30pm

I'm curious.

[Pinguin]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 9:32pm

HAHAHA...man, I hate that show...but this is the musicalheaven synopsis:

Set in an island paradise during World War II, two parallel love stories are threatened by the dangers of prejudice and war. Nellie, a spunky nurse from Arkansas, falls in love with a mature French planter, Emile. Nellie learns that the mother of his children was an island native and, unable to turn her back on the prejudices with which she was raised, refuses Emile's proposal of marriage. Meanwhile, the strapping Lt. Joe Cable denies himself the fulfillment of a future with an innocent Tonkinese girl with whom he's fallen in love out of the same fears that haunt Nellie. When Emile is recruited to accompany Joe on a dangerous mission that claims Joe's life, Nellie realizes that life is too short not to seize her own chance for happiness, thus confronting and conquering her prejudices.

Other than that, it's a show with a song called "I'm gonna wash that man right outta my hair."

[shira467]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 9:34pm

Pinguin, doesn't it also have "Nothing Like A Dame"?

[ljay889]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 9:35pm

Was this the show Edena Espenzel recently starred in??

[Pinguin]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 9:35pm

Oh yes, Nothing Like a Dame, another winner.

HA.

What a ridiculous and boring show.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 9:37pm

Does "strapping" mean that Joe Cable is into bondage?

[Unknown User]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 10:14pm

Is "Some Enchanted Evening" from this show?

and "Bali H'ai"?

Or, are those from SADIE THOMPSON?

[jmnpublications]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 10:19pm

Ah, I just love men who look good in coconut shells! Not.

lc

[MusicMan]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 10:45pm

I thought it was about surfers "hanging ten." (the surfing term)

[buffyactsing]

Posted: 5/31/05 at 10:48pm

I've never seen the show but it has some of the best music of R&H's career (ok, and a few not so great ones).

[Ourtime992]

Posted: 6/1/05 at 12:37am

I think it's the only major Rodgers and Hammerstein piece that hasn't been revived yet. I think the movie with the bizarre color shifting just killed it.

For my money, "You've Got to Be Taught" is the best song in the show and among the best that R&H ever wrote. Mandy Patinkin's self-indulgent recording on his "Oscar and Steve" album totally rocks too.

[ShuQ]

Posted: 6/1/05 at 12:39am

It IS about something specific...and lol, I don't hear that many drinking songs to consider it "a bunch."

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 6/1/05 at 1:14am

my favorite part about south pacific is the perfectly placed reprises. my favorite parts of the whole show are the reprise of "Younger Than Springtime" after "Happy Talk" and the reprise of "Some Enchanted Evening" after they lose contact with Emile. they're both just the epitome of what a great reprise is and how they can really be necessary to further the emotional weight of the story... it's so beautiful. I think I'm gonna cry... excuse me...

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 6/1/05 at 1:19am

I love the score of South Pacific. I think the second act drags on for WAY too long. The book is definitely problematic. "I killed a man. Will you marry me?" But I love the songs.

Yeah, this Filipino boy played Emile deBecque. What what, colorblind casting! Haha.

~Steven

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 6/1/05 at 1:24am

see... when I saw it, I thought the second act was way too short!!!

[shira467]

Posted: 6/1/05 at 1:34am

Bali Hai -- that's a pretty song.

[Davethefan]

Posted: 6/1/05 at 1:38am

you mean south pathetic? some of the songs are just annoying....there's a few good ones

[tagiunagi]

Posted: 6/1/05 at 1:43am

I heart South Pacific... especially Happy Talk. Bloody Mary is the original comedianne of the Broadway musical.

[eslgr8]

Posted: 6/1/05 at 2:00am

Some of the posts in this thread are truly dismaying. Does your knowledge and appreciation of musical theater stretch back no further than the first performance of Wicked?

[Pinguin]

Posted: 6/1/05 at 2:06am

I appreciate Oklahoma, The King and I, The Sound of Music as much as the next person. But South Pacific just happens to be my least favorite musical...

[Yawper]

Posted: 6/1/05 at 2:34am

FWIW: Author James Michener was a naval historian assigned to the South Pacific during WWII. While there he used to write notes every night reflecting on what he saw that day. These notes evolved into his 1948 Pulitzer Prize winner "Tales of the South Pacific". The musical is based on his book.

Tales of the South Pacific Updated On: 6/1/05 at 02:34 AM

[etoile]

Posted: 6/1/05 at 3:35am

Ahhhh, Dolly, it's still like fish in a barrel.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 6/1/05 at 4:51am

Dolly, I thought you were old enough to actually be there. Hmm. Guess not.

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 6/1/05 at 5:05am

It's a Broadway mounting of the 1942 Betty Grable film musical SONG OF THE ISLANDS. They cut the number "O'Brian Has Gone Hawaiian" after Mary Martin refused to do a hula as she thought it "too suggestive" for Broadway audiences.

Updated On: 6/1/05 at 05:05 AM

[MusicMan]

Posted: 6/1/05 at 9:05am

Did Mary do I AM THE QUEEN OF THE GYPSYS in this one?