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The National's commercial indulgence in tackling the shows of Rodgers and Hammerstein is now, perhaps inevitably, obeying the law of diminishing returns. Nicholas Hytner's revelatory 1992 staging of Carousel was undoubtedly a tough act to follow; but Trevor Nunn managed it with a safe but solid Oklahoma! in 1998 that, like Carousel before it, subsequently transferred to the West End and is now Broadway-bound, too. South Pacific, however, is unlikely to travel any further than the South Bank.
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It is clearly Mr Nunn's intention to toughen the show up a bit. The gloppy romance at its centre, between Emile de Becque (the ever-reliable Philip Quast), an exiled planter from France who has found himself on the Polynesian island, and Nellie Forbush (appealing American newcomer Lauren Kennedy), a naïve navy nurse from Little Rock who is stationed there, is only part of story of South Pacific, of course. But it's the one that provides the show's richest, most resonant melodies, for which this show is justly renowned and beloved.
© Whatsonstage
