Thoughts on SOUTH PACIFIC

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Thoughts on SOUTH PACIFIC

Posted: 3/1/08 at 11:00pm

Anyone?

"Y'know, I think Bertolt Brecht was rolling in his grave."
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum

re: Thoughts on SOUTH PACIFIC

Posted: 3/1/08 at 11:01pm

It's going to be a fun night. South Pacific and Gypsy comments.

re: Thoughts on SOUTH PACIFIC

Posted: 3/1/08 at 11:05pm

What time do you think people would have time to put up reviews? I think they will be up by 11:30. Hopefully

South Pacific has great songs but over time the whole Nellie Forbush "I'm adorable, but also a stupid idiot racist, is less appealing". I mean really...she breaks up with a great guy BECAUSE HE USED TO BE MARRIED TO AN ASIAN!!! In its day maybe understandable - but today we may as well have a sympathetic klansman. Maybe we can say it reflects its time and place - but sorry that female lead to me has always been unlikeable and if the characters are rooted in the prejudices of the 1940's -and maybe that's the point - it doesn't make me like her any more. More like - jeez some people were really f**ked up back then.

re: Thoughts on SOUTH PACIFIC

Posted: 3/3/08 at 4:18pm

And they're still not f-d up today? Racism, gee, I didn't realize it's disappeared these days...

"It's not so much do what you like, as it is that you like what you do." SS

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana." GMarx

re: Thoughts on SOUTH PACIFIC

Posted: 3/3/08 at 4:34pm

Preach, Tom.

re: Thoughts on SOUTH PACIFIC

Posted: 3/3/08 at 11:58pm

You have to put youself in the mindset of WW2. Yes, it was a big problem for Nellie at that time. Remember she is a naive girl from the South with the racial prejudices of that time. She had to change what she had lived with all her life.

For a more informed understanding of the book of the musical, read James Michner's TALES OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC - a collection of short stories on which the musical is based.

It Sucks To Be Me

re: Thoughts on SOUTH PACIFIC

Posted: 3/4/08 at 11:49am

I didn't mean to imply it's (racism) not around today - but I don't think a character as bothered by the issues Nellie's bothered by in South Pacific would be not even come close to being acceptable in a character we're supposed to find appealing, even if she does come around in the end. I know this may seem ridiculously p.c but it just is how she seems to me.

re: Thoughts on SOUTH PACIFIC

Posted: 3/4/08 at 12:38pm

It wasn't that he was married to the Polynesian woman..it was that they lived together and he fathered 2 children by her. They were not "married." To Nellie, raised in Little Rock, this is just not acceptable. Given the time frame, it makes sense. If the show were reset in modern times it would not work at all.

Cast albums are NOT "soundtracks."
Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!

I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com

#10

re: Thoughts on SOUTH PACIFIC

Posted: 3/4/08 at 12:44pm

I've never seen this show live. I've seen what I can stand of the film, and that unfortunate TV version they did wasn't any good either, marred as it was by Harry Connick Jr.'s looking like he was passing a stone every time he sang. That concert version had some moments, mainly Brian Stokes Mitchell singing a heartbreaking "This Nearly Was Mine" or whatever it was.

I'm looking forward to this production. Bartlett Sher is one of the best directors around. I hope it is good. The material might just end up being simply too dated.

"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." Thomas Pynchon, GRAVITY'S RAINBOW "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Philip K. Dick My blog: http://www.roscoewrites.blogspot.com/

#11

re: Thoughts on SOUTH PACIFIC

Posted: 3/6/08 at 7:36am

Is it possible for a show set in the past to become dated? After all, the issues are being faced by characters who were products of their time.

#12

re: Thoughts on SOUTH PACIFIC

Posted: 3/6/08 at 11:29am

i did this show in high school... was not a fan of it then.. and still not now. the songs are gorgeous, but truly the only reason i would see this show is to see kellie o'hara as nellie.

hear my song; it was made for the time when you don't know where to go, listen to the song that i sing, you'll be fine..

#13

re: Thoughts on SOUTH PACIFIC

Posted: 3/7/08 at 5:40am

We saw S.P. on Wednesday matinee and it was simply stunning. It is beautifully staged and the performances are amazing. It deserves to sell out for its entire run.

GO SEE and reserve your judgement until after.

"Your eyes..... they shine like the pants on my blue serge suit"

#14

re: Thoughts on SOUTH PACIFIC

Posted: 3/7/08 at 8:07am

I agree. A WONDERFUL production. Go and decide for yourself.

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