South Pacific. Then and Now.

The LCT South Pacific revival opens in a few weeks. I caught an early preview and the show is in good shape with an attractive cast, full sets, full costumes, full staging and full (30 pc) orchestra. When was the last time a Broadway Musical Revival got all of those? These days, we're used to the pared down, reduced orchestrations, reduced cast, British-directed Sondheim revivals. So next to those, South Pacific looks pretty unique, and I wouldn't be surprised if it took the Best Musical Revival Tony.

That said, South Pacific has a tendency to cause controversy when it appears these days. In his Variety review of the 2005 Carnegie Hall Concert, David Rooney summed up some of the problems:

"With a leading woman who agrees readily to spy on the man she loves and recoils in shock upon learning he has a dead Polynesian wife and two brown-skinned children, the 1950 tuner challenged American audiences at a time when race attitudes were still very much in ferment. But such plot points require considerable concessions from contemporary theatergoers, as does the idea of an island woman who practically offers up her daughter for sex to a military man and potential husband (not to mention a Marine who sings 'Gayer than laughter, am I')."
(Variety, 6/13/05).

In Making Americans: Jews and the Broadway Musical, Andrea Most's chapter, "You've Got to Be Carefully Taught: The Politics of Race in South Pacific" suggests that the once forward-thinking statements against racial prejudice that were made in 1949 are now undercut by what the author sees as racial stereotyping in the portrayal of the Asian characters.

These problems didn't stop the 2005 concert (now available on CD and DVD) from garnering strong reviews, with most of the critics agreeing that the cast and staging managed to overstep the problems inherent in the material. A 2001-2002 tour production starring first Michael Nouri and later Robert Goulet was also generally well-received, a 2001 television film was a ratings success, and the show has been a favorite among school and amateur groups for the last half-century. Audiences continue to enjoy the show, particularly the score (which has been recorded countless times) and many enthusiasts bridle at the suggestion the show is "dated."

The current revival is being touted as the first-ever Broadway revival, which could be considered correct, though earlier revivals at City Center and Lincoln Center (a 1967 LC staging with Florence Henderson left behind a cast recording that has recently been issued on CD), might be considered "Broadway." The show was also seen in the late 80s in New York at City Opera, not to mention the recent touring production, the Carnegie Hall concert and the television film. Nonetheless, the current revival is the first new full staging in New York in many years.

In 2002, Trevor Nunn staged South Pacific at the Royal National Theatre and received mixed reviews. This production seemingly attempted to deal with some of the "problems" of the show by revising the material, rearranging scenes, altering the book, inserting cut songs, etc. (See Ken Mandelbaum's review of the CD for full breakdown.)

The current revival is somewhat in the mold of the Nunn production; the vast stage of the Vivian Beaumont is reminiscent of the large playing space at the Olivier. Also, like the Nunn, this production is luxuriously staged with large set pieces (trucks on stage, etc) and many detailed costumes. There are textual changes in Barlett Sher's new production, and like the RNT, this production inserts "My Girl Back Home" though it is in a different place here. However, the other changes to the script here are much less significant than in the Nunn production. There are a few lines cut here and there and a few new lines inserted (apparently taken from early drafts of the script), but by and large the text is presented in its original form.

We will see if critics think the new production successfully overcomes some of the show's problems. Personally, I think it's beautiful and well done but falls short of packing the emotional wallop the show is capable of serving up (as evidenced most recently in the 2005 concert). But for those who bridle at the criticism of South Pacific being a "dated" show, I do think it's worth noting than in 1949 everyone in the audience would have had a personal relationship with the war depicted in the show, and most people watching the show would likely have had little personal experience of interracial relationships, so those things alone do immediately distance us from the material. This production does not shy away from those aspects and even goes more boldly into that territory having Nellie now actually utter the word, "Colored" with regards to the mother of Emile's children. It's a significant moment that is historically realistic but made it easier for me to pull away and locate Nellie in a time and place far from myself. I don't know if this is part of why I felt fairly uninvolved with the show emotionally, but I suspect that it is.

We'll see what the critics think when the reviews appear on April 4th.