SOUTH PACIFIC Reviews...

Talkin' Broadway..
"What a joy it can be to be swept away by a tidal wave! But don't worry: The most engulfing and enrapturing experience of this year - and quite a few others in recent memory - is not the product of global warming or any other natural disaster. In fact, the word "natural" fails to properly describe its provenance: Something this transporting, this precise, and this beautiful can only be crafted by the most skilled of hands.

Specifically, those of Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II, and Joshua Logan, who created the enduringly exquisite musical called South Pacific, which Lincoln Center Theater is now resuscitating in a glowing revival at the Vivian Beaumont. As directed with superb reverence by Bartlett Sher and performed by an astonishing company, this production speaks and sings to your heart in a way few shows today do.

Everyone else is spectacular. Szot, an opera notable, brings an unimpeachable baritone, nuanced acting skills, and an effortless sense of comedy to Emile, as ingratiating in his own semi-silly reprise of "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair" as he is sensual in "Some Enchanted Evening" and searing in "This Nearly Was Mine." Sayre is a down-and-dirty Bloody Mary who wrenches you into her fantasies without ever falling for them herself. Li is an appealingly innocent Liat, while Burstein is a complete hoot as the opportunistic Billis.

Best of all, however, might be the orchestra. While the infinite vistas of beach of Michael Yeargan's set, Catherine Zuber's crisp costumes, and Donald Holder's excellent tropical lighting give the show the opulent look it deserves, the 30 outstanding musicians conducted by Ted Sperling give it an even more invigorating sound. Their playing of Robert Russell Bennett's peerless original orchestrations reminds you with every note how gloriously musicals once insisted on catching your ear.

If there's anything dated about this show, it's its mindset that the theatre should be a place where even the intervening concerns of the outside world are sublimated to the magic of art. Sher's meticulous and delicate staging, the 40-person cast, and the rich look and sound of everything put to shame the season's other threadbare and vulgar revivals, Grease, Sunday in the Park with George, and Gypsy.

Those keep you anchored in your seat, but this one sets you sailing the seas. To where? As Bloody Mary coos to Cable, "Bali Ha'i may call you any night, any day." But it's the siren song of this magnificent South Pacific you'll struggle to resist in the weeks, months, and hopefully years to come."

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Variety is a Rave:

Before Bartlett Sher's staging of "South Pacific" gets under way, an excerpt splashed across a front scrim from James A. Michener's source stories characterizes the writer's time stationed in the region during WWII: "The waiting. The waiting. The timeless, repetitive waiting." It's been almost six decades between the 1949 opening of the Rodgers & Hammerstein classic and the show's first Broadway revival, but the Lincoln Center Theater production sure makes the waiting worthwhile. From the seductive swell of a full orchestra playing the glorious five-minute overture through the poignant final tableau of love and reconciliation, this is ravishing theater.

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117936698.html?categoryid=33&cs=1

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LA Times is mixed to negative.

"Sadly, everything old can't be new again."

http://www.calendarlive.com/stage/cl-et-south4apr04,0,1251819.story

I have to agree with Murray --the production values of GYPSY did indeed look threadbare and as Mr. Musto says Lupone plays the role as though she is eating a live lobster. That sort of screams vulgar to me.

AM New York is a Rave:

"Grease," "Gypsy" and "Sunday in the Park with George" are receiving strong Broadway revivals, but none is so enchanting as Lincoln Center's revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein's "South Pacific."

Bartlett Sher's winning production, marking the first Broadway revival of the 1949 musical, is reverential yet freethinking, cinematic yet intimate, militaristic yet romantic...

http://www.amny.com/entertainment/stage/am-pacific0404,0,4967135.story

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"I have to agree with Murray --the production values of GYPSY did indeed look threadbare and as Mr. Musto says Lupone plays the role as though she is eating a live lobster. That sort of screams vulgar to me."



I disagree with you on the GYPSY set/production; I think the "threadbare" look is completely intentional and works perfectly with the type of acts that are being performed (as well as the venue), but I at least can see some people feeling the way you do. I don't agree, but I understand.

However, how in the hell could someone accuse the SUNDAY IN THE PARK... revival of being either "threadbare" or "vulgar"?

I saw SOUTH PACIFIC a few weeks ago and it's a pretty terrific revival, but I still prefer SUNDAY. I just don't quite get how someone could accuse it of what Murray seems to be.

Updated On: 4/3/08 at 07:54 PM

If the reviews keep going this way, the revival Tony will go to South Pacific. Gypsy will get its rewards in the acting categories. Lincoln Center seems to be a darling of the Tonys.

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Woah, it looks as if the revivals are the main highlights this year!

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Princeton78 - I agree. The best revival Tony will go to S. Pacific and the acting Tonys to Gypsy.

NY Times is a RAVE !!!!

http://theater2.nytimes.com/2008/04/04/theater/reviews/04paci.html

Updated On: 4/3/08 at 08:53 PM

Excellent reviews for an exquisite production.

I'm grinning from ear to ear right now. I'm so happy for everyone involved in the show!