SOUTH PACIFIC Revival?- Page 2

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 2:37pm

Theatreboy -- I think for a Broadway revival you need to have somebody young play the role. Didn't we learn anything from Glenn Close's pre-menopausal Nellie in the horrible TV version?

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 2:44pm

I'm totally Asian and I played Emile deBecque in South Pacific. It worked. Ohk, maybe the Act 1 finale required a bit of suspended disbelief. Ohk, maybe it required a lot of it. Either way, people really didn't care and it was surprisingly really well received. I think Brian Stokes Mitchell makes a wonderful Emile deBecque.

And yes, boo to the TV version.

~Steven

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 2:49pm

Your post made me laugh Steven -- out of curiosity -- what race were the children?

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 2:51pm

They were Asian and they were played by short high schoolers, ha.

~Steven

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 2:52pm

Nothing like short high schoolers to play the kids! I once saw a production of THE SOUND OF MUSIC, though where both of the "boys" were over six feet tall ! :)
Updated On: 3/21/05 at 02:52 PM

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 2:53pm

Haha.

Yeah, I was also in The Music Man and Winthrop and Amarillis were played by high schoolers. In fact, Amarillis was taller than Marian, heh.

~Steven

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 2:58pm

Would *LOVE* to see a revival of this. Absolutely love it. Fabulous show with fantastic music.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 3:22pm

Just wanted to point out that Mary Martin, who created the role and whom the role was written for, was 35 when the show opened on Broadway. It doesn't matter how old Nellie was in the book -- the Nellie Forbush that Hammerstein and Logan created for the musical adaptation was 35.

[Mattio98]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 3:33pm

Thank you Margo! I now re-nominate my choices for Nellie! And if you really want to go young, maybe Jessica Grove?

[HeyMrMusic]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 3:46pm

Well, although Mary Martin was 35, the character is supposed to be younger, probably in her 20's. It still doesn't rule out anyone over 30, though.

~Steven

[Matt_G]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 3:47pm

Good. Rebecca Luker & Marc Kudisch it is.

[Mattio98]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 3:52pm

How about Krakowski?

[Matt_G]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 3:53pm

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh.

Now you're talking!

[baddadnpa]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 3:55pm

How about Christina Applegate. I hear she is free.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 4:10pm

Just because Mary Martin created the role at the age of 35 doesn't mean that is the "correct" age of the character. She also played Maria in THE SOUND OF MUSIC when she was over 50 -- whats your point?

And techinically, isn't Emile supposed to be a good deal older then Nellie? Isn't that the initial reason Nellie has some caution about their relationships?

Marc Kudisch might be too young unless Nellie is played by Dakota Fanning.




Updated On: 3/21/05 at 04:10 PM

[Mattio98]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 4:13pm

Yes and Menzel and Chenoweth were well into their 30's when they played the roles of Elphaba and Glinda which are approximately 18-22. And the ensemble of Hairspray is not in high school. Casting is not always totally age-appropriate in theatre. So what?

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 4:17pm

I have no issue with someone playing younger then they are if they look younger. Sally Murphy is 40 and looks 25. But to say Nellie in the musical is 35 because Martin was 35 when she played it is kind of absurd.

[Bwaybaby109]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 4:19pm

"Yeah, I was also in The Music Man and Winthrop and Amarillis were played by high schoolers. In fact, Amarillis was taller than Marian, heh."

That's funny, when I did it our Winthrop was taller than our Harold Hill. It was funny esp when Harold tells "Now I'm bigger than you are so listen" Pretty funny.

I think Krakowski would make a fine Nellie. The only person I really liked in that South Pacific remake was Harry Connick Jr. I would love it if they cast him as Cable but there are many guys on bway who could play him just as well like Gavin Creel maybe. I saw this on tour a few years ago and the guy who played Sir Harry in the revival of Mattress was Cable and he was so good. And the woman who played Bloody Mary was the black woman who played the Queen of Hearts in that Alice in Wonderland tv series that was on the Disney Channel like 10 years ago. She was great!

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 4:30pm

If Krakowski could sing it, she might be fun! I tell you who would be really good in that part is Zooey Deschanel, who is playing Krakowski's revival role - Lardy Larkin in the television ONCE UPON A MATTRESS.

She has a great voice and the right qualities for the role and is the ideal age.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 5:06pm

Absurd? How so? Rodgers and Hamerstein were the two most powerful men in the American theatre in 1949. In addition to writing South Pacific, they also produced it. They could have cast absolutely any actor on the planet to be Nellie Forbush. They chose Mary Martin specifically and tailored the role specifically to her talents -- her voice, her persona, everything. And no, they didn't cast her because she was a "name" - their names sold tickets all by themselves. They cast her because she was their complete vision of the role. So, sorry, if I have to choose between YOUR vision of how Nellie is supposed to cast, and Rodgers and Hammerstein's, I'll go with theirs.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 5:13pm

Margo,

Mary Martin was definitely a star who could "sell tickets" when she did SOUTH PACIFIC on Broadway. She had been the lead in ONE TOUCH OF VENUS, and had stopped the show cold with MY HEART BELONGS TO DADDY in LEAVE IT TO ME. She had also had a film career. I'm not disagreeing that SOUTH PACIFIC was written for her unique talents; I'm simply disagreeing that the role of Nellie is 35 simply because that is the age Martin was when Rodgers and Hammerstein conceived the role.

Perhaps its worth noting that when the film version was made, the same Rodgers and Hammerstein chose Mitzi Gaynor, a much younger then 36 year old actress to play the role, just as they cast 30 year old Julie Andrews to play the role of Maria in THE SOUND OF MUSIC -- which if we are to believe your theory should have been cast with a 50 year old, because that was the age Martin was when Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote it for her.



Updated On: 3/21/05 at 05:13 PM

[bwaybaby891]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 5:14pm

I love the idea of reviving it. There are so many people who could do the parts so well on Broadway today.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 5:15pm

I'd still like to see Reba originate a role on Broadway. even if it is in a revival, I'd like to see her in a Tony race. That would be fun, yah. and Ewan for Cable! whoo hoo! he could definitely find a way to whip it out in South Pacific. Guys and Dolls not so much...

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 5:17pm

Reba should do WHOREHOUSE on Broadway. Miss Mona is the ideal role for her...

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 3/21/05 at 5:25pm

Nevertheless, I think YOU'RE wrong to say that some of the 30-something actors others have suggested for the role are "too old" to play it. If R&H had no problem with a 35 year old playing it, who are YOU to say that 30-somethings like Emily Skinner and Jenn Collela are too old?