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A CurtainUp 
Berkshire Review Review
Berkshire Review ReviewSouth Pacific
By Elyse Sommer
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You've got to be taught to be afraid Of people whose eyes are oddly made. . . --from "You've Got To Be Carefully Taught" |
Gail Nelson as Bloody Mary and Gordon Stanley as Capt. Brackett
Photo: Timothy Raab) |
- A double romance, one doomed one ending happily
- An adventure story intensified by its lush Pacific island setting and the shadow of war.
- Comedy that fuses ballads with high camp production numbers
- Social commentary triggered by history bringing people from different cultures together
With a screen version (not great!) and countless regional productions over the years (many with less than compelling casts), some people are likely to approach yet another revival skeptically, wondering if the story and even the songs won't be too familiar. Just reading the song list in the programs will , bring the melodies popping into your ears. But not to worry. Julianne Boyd has not only picked a perfect time -- Richard Rodgers' Centennial -- to bring her version of the show to Barrington Stage, but she has done a super job in staging it. Even without the magic of meeting memorable musical characters for the first time and hearing them sing songs you've never heard before but will remember forever, this South Pacific is thoroughly entertaining and still moving. The two-man piano band (Douglas Coates and Bryan Wade may seem meager for a show with a twenty-two member cast (the largest ever for BSC) but they do full justice to the score.
Christianne Tisdale as Nellie Forbush and Peter Samuel as Emile deBeque (Photo: Timothy Raab)
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Ms. Boyd has also provided Nellie with a leading man (Peter Samuel) handsome enough to turn any girl's head, and a rich bass to make "Some Enchanted Evening" and "This Nearly Was Mine" soar. The baggage the middle-aged Frenchman brings to his love-at-first-sight relationship with the young American girl includes the murder of a man who tyrannized his native French village and being a widower with two Polynesian children. For a girl raised in the color-conscious South, this is not only a lot of baggage to take in but calls for powerful emotional sparks between that first enchanted meeting and the reunion after Emile is nearly killed. That magnetism isn't always quite there, but Tisdale and Samuel do make beautiful music both together and apart.
Elaine Marcus as Liat and Ayal Miodovnik as Lt. Joe Cable
Photo: Timothy Raab) |
Gail Nelson, who is already known to BSC audiences as Lady Day, is an inspired Bloody Mary. Her "Bali Ha'i "and "Happy Talk" are tinged with a jazzy feel you won't soon forget. Equally outstanding in both the acting and singing department is Christopher Vettel as the scrappy Seabee Luther Billis. He turns low comedy into high art during the hilariously funny "Honey Bun" production number.
The ensemble overall performs with verve, including Brittney Arneson-White and Arielle Watlington, two local schoolgirls, who portray the de Beque children, opening and closing the show with that charming French lesson, "Dites-Moi". It's also refreshing to see some real-life proportioned rather than rail-thin dancers. Speaking of dancing, Tony Parise's choreography is fun and bouncy, as are Lora LaVon's costumes. Miguel Romero supplies everything needed to shift from DeBeque's lush plantation patio, to the front and back stage of the "Thanksgiving Follies" and the strategy planning sessions for and during Cable and deBeque's war mission.
Being something of "A Cockeyed Optimist" myself I'm convinced that somewhere there's another Rodgers and Hammerstein who'll come forward with a new "classic." Until then you could do a lot worse than to take a trip back in time with Rodgers and Hammerstein.
| SOUTH PACIFIC Music by Richard Rodgers Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein, II Book by Oscar Hammerstein II and Joshua Logan Based on Tales of the South Pacific by James Michener Director: Julianne Boyd Choreographer: Tony Parise Choreographer: Cast (in order of appearance --* indicating actor's equity member): Ngana/ Brittney Arneson-White; Marthe/ Arielle Watlington; Henri/ *Enrique Cruz DeJesus; Emile de Beque/ *Peter Samuel;Nellie Forbush/ *Christianne Tisdale; Bloody Mary/ *Gail Nelson, Stew Pot /*Adam Mastrelli, The Professor/ *Brian Golub, Seabees and Sailors: *Michael Bunce *Enrique Cruz deJesus, Ruben Flores, Jack McDowell, Samuel Pettit, *Matt Stokes, Luther Billis, *Christopher Vettel; Nurses: Amy Justman, Teri Watts, Lucy Roth Sorensen; Lt. Joe Cable/ *Ayal Miodnovik; Capt. George Brackett/ *Gordon Stanley; Cmdr. Bill Harbison/ *Michael Bunce;Liat/ *Elaine Marcos; Mendoza Ruben Flores McCaffrey/ *Enrique Cruz de Jesus;Lt. Buzz Adams/ Samuel Pettit; Shore Patrolman/ *Matt Stokes Scenic Design: Miguel Romero Costumes: Lora LaVon Lights: Marcus Doshi Sound: Jim van Bergen . Conductor & Musical Director: Douglas Coates Assistant Musical Director & Pianist: Bryan Wade Barrington Stage at Consolati Performing Arts Center, Sheffield, MA (413/528-8888 Website Performances: June 19, 2002 through July 13, 2002 . Tuesday through Sunday Running time: Approximately 2 hours 25 minutes plus one fifteen minutes intermission. Reviewed by Elyse Sommerbased on June 23rd performance |
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Musical Numbers
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Act One
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Act Two
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