South Pacific
(Tour - The Mayflower Theatre, Southampton)
(Tour - The Mayflower Theatre, Southampton)
To start 2012 I decided to see South Pacific, a revival production that started off at the Lincoln Center, New York back in 2008. It recieved warm reviews and seven Tony Awards, which justified a transfer to London last year. It has now gone on a tour around the UK.
The musical is set on a Pacifc island during World War 2, where the US army is waiting to invade Japanese territory. A US Navy nurse called Nellie Forbush falls in love with a residing plantation owner, Emile de Becque, yet her racial prejudices prevents her from marrying him, since he is the father of two Polynesian children. Meanwhile, whilst waiting to go on a high risk mission, a Marine Lieutenant called Joseph Cable is attracted to a native girl, Liat.
These two romances are the basic plotlines to this musical. Elsewhere there are an assortment of characters who bring interesting threads to the storyline. 'Bloody Mary' is a strong willed native vendor who sells commodities to the soldiers. She is also the mother of Liat, and hopes to marry her off to Cable. Luther Billis acts as the comic relief as he leads the soldiers during a well choreographed number There is nothing like a Dame, where they lament the absence of women. Otherwise, we get to see bathing nurses during I'm gonna wash that man right out of my hair, the commanders in the war room, and the two delightful Polynesian children singing Dites-Moi.
I have seen the film version of the musical before, but I must confess that I was bored with it. My problem with this musical is that it is not plot driven. If I was to sum up the story I would say, 'a bunch of US soldiers and natives hanging around on an island'. You could say that without the songs, the storyline of Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music is nothing special, but at least there were a small number of interesting groups of characters who spent the second act avoiding the Nazis
In comparison, with all these different characters I felt that none of the plot lines stood out during South Pacific, and that we infrequently returned to the different plotlines. It made the underlying theme of racism less significant to me, so there was never a sense of conflict during the second half. Even when there was some action it all happened off stage, so I could not connect with the characters' dilemmas. I therefore went to see this musical, hoping to be persuaded that the music of Rodgers and Hammerstien would help create a stronger connection with the story than I saw in the film.
However, whilst I was expecting to be overcomed by the Overture, within the first few minutes I found the music underwhelming. This was not the score's fault because there are some memorable tunes, such as Some Enchanted Evening, yet the orchestra did not provide the depth that the music deserves.
Even then there were times where some of the characters' singing were drowned out by the music. Matthew Cammelle as Emile was one particular case, since his voice was at a low pitch with a strong French accent. It was one of those times where I wished that the production had used a sound system. I have seen many musicals at the Mayflower Theatre, many of which I have heard clearly in the area of the auditorium where I was sitting for South Pacific.
Elsewhere, Samantha Womack and Daniel Koek produced good performances as Nellie and Cable, though nothing to write home about. Props must be given however to the ensemble for providing some great song and dance numbers.
The sets were lovely to look at, though it did not take long to notice their simplicity. The scene I liked most of all was the Thanksgiving Concert, where a makeshift stage was brought on. During this scene there was always something going on in the background, and afterwards I was impressed by the way they had the soldiers dismantle the rig. On the other hand, it was a shame that the song I'm gonna wash that man right out of my hair was not performed with actual water.
The film dissapointed me because of the musical's weak storyline, but I went to this production hoping that the music would overcome this problem. It is not a great introduction to Rodgers and Hammerstein for a newcomer. There were however some good performances and noteworthy songs. Also, as a rule I do find that the stage musicals are better than the film musicals, and there were occassions during this musical that a film would not be able to convey fully. See this at a Restricted View and you wont leave this production feeling that you have wasted your money
