INTRODUCTION
South Pacific was an immediate hit on Broadway in 1949, and a successful film version followed in 1958. Adapted from James A Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, it combines passionate romance in a South Seas paradise with the realities of a world at war.
On a small South Pacific island, Nellie Forbush, a US Navy nurse, falls for a mysterious French planter whose lifestyle could not be more different from the conservatism of her own Arkansas background. Meanwhile, Lt Joe Cable arrives to carry out a top-secret spying mission against the Japanese fleet from behind enemy lines. He is befriended by a Tonkinese trader, Bloody Mary, and soon becomes involved with her beautiful young daughter...
(Source: NT seasonal booklet)
I wish I could tell you about the South Pacific. The way it actually was. The endless ocean. The infinite specks of coral we called islands. Coconut palms nodding gracefully toward the ocean. Reefs upon which waves broke into spray, and inner lagoons, lovely beyond description. I wish I could tell you about the sweating jungle, the full moon rising behind the volcanoes, and the waiting. The waiting. The timeless, repetitive waiting.
From James A Michener's Tales of the South Pacific |
THE NT REVIVAL
South Pacific is the only major American musical to be set in World War Two and it opened only four years after the war ended. In the original version the war was only the background to a plot which basically dealt with two love stories. With this revival of South Pacific, the first major one after 50 years, Trevor Nunn was determined to go beyond the "schmaltz-filled" tradition and and explore the darker themes of the story. Together with his creative team he thoroughly re-examined the text and the orchestration after which he reinstated a number of provocative passages of dialogue and restored two songs that were cut in previous versions.
Philip Quast continues the long tradition of having non-Frenchmen with big voices in the role of Nellie's French beau, but the approach has been radically changed.
CHARACTER DESCRIPTION: Emile de Becque
A wealthy, cultured, middle-aged French planter, Emile is a man of stature and dignity, who realises where his great chance of happiness lies and has to be honest about his past, even at the risks losing all. In Michener's novel he is described as follows:
"He was in his forties, slim, a bit stoop shouldered, he had long arms and wrists, and although he used his hands constantly in making conversation, they were relaxed and delicate in their movements. The tall Frenchman was eager for someone to talk to; he was an able arguer, impressing on all present the fundamental soundness of his reasoning."
MUSICAL NUMBERS
ACT ONE
Prologue - Orchestra
Bloody Mary - Men
There is Nothin' Like a Dame - Luther Billis & Men
Bali Ha'i - Bloody Mary
Dites-moi… - Emile's children
A Cockeyed Optimist - Nellie
Twin Soliloquies - Nellie & Emile
Some Enchanted Evening - Emile
Dites-moi (reprise) - Emile & children
I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair - Nellie
Enchanted Evening (reprise) - Emile
A Wonderful Guy - Nellie & Nurses
Bali Ha'I (reprise)
Younger Than Springtime - Cable
A Wonderful Guy (reprise) - Nellie
This Is How It Feels - Emile
A Cockeyed Optimist (reprise) - Nellie & Emile
Finale Act One
ACT TWO
"The Thanksgiving Follies" - Nellie & Company
Happy Talk - Bloody Mary & Liat
Younger Than Springtime (reprise) - Cable
Honey Bun - Nellie
My Girl Back Home - Cable
Carefully Taught - Cable
Now is the Time - Cable & Emile
This Nearly Was Mine - Emile
Enchanted Evening (reprise) - Nellie
Finale Ultimo - Dites-moi (reprise) - Nellie, Emile & children
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Philip Quast on Emile de Becque:
He left France as a young man, having killed someone, and went to Marie Louise island, 18 years ago, and then came here. I suspect he came to this island when his wife died. He's very damaged. Very wounded. And he probably thinks that he's unworthy of anyone because of what's he's done. It's not just a murder. He actually killed someone with his bare hands. Strangled them. That's not the same as shooting someone, in a weird way. You have time to change your mind. For the anger to abate.
Philip Quast about singing 'Some Enchanted Evening':
It's hard because it's cliched. I've heard it sung so many times rather operatically. It's been aria-ed. Baritones have done it as this big operatic number, and it's not. It may reach that by the end, but it 's much gentler.
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The National Theatre had planned the publication of a book titled Staging South Pacific: The National Theatre at Work, by Robert Butler. The author had spoken to many of those involved as they created the show and was going to relate how each moment of the production had been throughly re-examined by Trevor Nunn and his crew.Unfortunately the book was never published, allegedly because the R&H Organization failed to give their final "green light". |
I liked the homespun charm leading lady Lauren Kennedy and powerful timbre of Philip Quast's singing voice.
Baz Bamigboye, The Daily Mail |
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SOUTH PACIFIC
Full Cast & Crew
