South Pacific 4/22 (teeny-tiny spoilers)

[dramamama611]

Posted: 4/23/08 at 4:43am

WOW!!


I have to admit, South Pacific was one of my favorite movie musicals as a child. (I was a weird kid, what can I say?) I think one of the things I loved about it was that no matter how many times I saw it, I learned more and more...understood more and more. Tonight's viewing was no different, worlds opened up, nuances were found, interpretations were unfolding. This is NOT your grandmother's South Pacific. It is ours.

Racism and personal prejudices (in case you did not know) are at the soul of SP, and in this production they pull no punches about it: they use it and highlight it and the result is devasting. Devastingly powerful.

This was one of the most beautiful and moving theatrical experiences I've ever witnessed. (I started crying with the end of Act I and, aside from a fabulously delicious $4 cookie, kept crying through the curtain call.) The staging, the direction, the acting, the sets, the lighting: every single aspect of this show worked together to create one unified event...there was never an unwasted movement, set piece or even note of music. Even the set changes were in sync. (OK, maybe the naked tushes weren't quite in synch...but they certainly didn't retract.)

The stage at the Vivian Beaumont is ENORMOUS, but most of the story unfolds on the beautiful thrust stage. (Which, BTW, retracts to reveal the AMAZINGLY stunning 30 piece orchestra! It was a symphony for your ears.) The audience was incredibly appreciative of full orchestra and the members seemed truly moved to be reocognized as so valuable. Note about the audience in general: they were amazing. So many extended applauses throughout the show, shouts of bravo/a at well-deserved times, and many sniffles and the wiping of eyes.

I won't go into any sort of acting analysis, because short of the children (don't get me started with children on stage) the entire cast delivers both in acting and singing. Not a weak link to be had. However, standouts were EASILY found in O'Hara (Forbush), Szot (de Becque), Sayre (Bloody Mary) and Morrison (Cable). What an ensemble of fine performances all around.

The sets and lighting made it a visual smorgasbord, constantly and consitantly, without ever being gratuitious or pretentious. (The set rec'd individual applause, not once, but twice.) I wanted more, more, more: and all in a good way.

Run, do not walk: South Pacific is a keeper and not to be missed.

The rest of the shows this week have a top job of impressing me after this one.

[KrissySim]

Posted: 4/23/08 at 1:31pm

Thanks for your take on it. I'm going to order tickets for my trip to NY (late summer/early autumn) as soon as I know my schedule. I'm thinking I may want to see this one twice.

[scripps]

Posted: 4/23/08 at 2:01pm

I was there last night as well, front row dead center thanks to the Lincoln Center Theatre Young Patron program. It was magical. I cannot begin to express praise enough for this production to friends, family and the strangers who stopped me on street corners last night asking me how the show was when they spotted my playbill
Updated On: 4/23/08 at 02:01 PM

[Malice]

Posted: 4/23/08 at 2:22pm

dramamama, I guess I was a weird kid also. Out of the three Rodgers and Hammerstein movie musicals my mother always had on, South Pacific was my favorite as a kid, I watched it every time it was on. I also loved the concert version with Reba and Brian Stokes Mitchell and have watched and listened to it over and over again since it was on PBS. But finally getting to see it live last night was amazing. I will be back again and again to see it more than once more.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 4/24/08 at 7:08am

For me the beauty of it has the opposite affect: I do not want to see it again. I don't think the magic could affect me in quite the same way again: it was too perfect.

I choose to let in languish in my memory...as the ideal production!