 South Pacific History
South Pacific is a musical, with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and book by both Hammerstein and Joshua Logan. The story is based on two short stories by James A. Michener from his Pulitzer Prize-winning 1948 book, Tales of the South Pacific. The musical won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1950. The issue of racial prejudice was sensitively and candidly explored, particularly for a 1949 stage work.
South Pacific is generally considered to be one of the greatest musicals in history. Several of its songs, including "Bali Ha'i," "Some Enchanted Evening," "Younger than Springtime," and "A Wonderful Guy" have become worldwide standards. The Broadway production of South Pacific was nominated for ten Tony Awards and won all of them, including Best Musical, Best Score and Best Libretto. It was the only musical production ever to win all four Tony Awards for acting. The show was a critical and box office hit, and the musical has since enjoyed many successful revivals and tours and spawned a 1958 film and other adaptations.
Background: Director Joshua Logan, a World War II veteran, read Michener's Tales of the South Pacific and decided to adapt it for the stage or screen. He and producer Leland Hayward arranged to purchase the rights for the work from Michener; they also asked Richard Rodgers to compose music for the work and Oscar Hammerstein II to write lyrics and the libretto. Hayward would produce, and Logan would serve as director and producer. Rodgers and Hammerstein accepted, and they began transforming the short stories "Fo' Dolla" and "Our Heroine" into a unified tale. Since both stories were serious in tone, Michener agreed to write a third story about Luther Billis, a womanizing sailor.
During this time, the team received a telephone call from Edwin Lester of the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera. He had signed Metropolitan Opera star Ezio Pinza for a new musical, but the musical fell through and, according to his contract, Pinza had to be paid $25,000 regardless of whether he actually performed. Lester was searching for a new vehicle for Pinza, and Rodgers and Hammerstein eagerly signed Pinza to play Emile De Becque, the male lead. Hammerstein had been particularly inspired by Mary Martin wearing a gingham dress in the last scene of One Touch of Venus, and he wanted her to play Nellie Forbush, the female lead. Martin was playing Annie Oakley in the touring company of Annie Get Your Gun, but after Rodgers and Hammerstein auditioned three songs, "A Cockeyed Optimist", "Some Enchanted Evening", and "Twin Soliloquies" for Martin and her husband, Richard Halliday, she accepted the role.[4].
Hammerstein, according to the contract, was to write both the lyrics and libretto. However, he knew very little about the U.S. Navy in World War II or about Nellie's Southern dialect and culture. Rodgers asked Logan to help Hammerstein with the libretto, and Logan helped Hammerstein write the book, asking to be credited as co-author. Hammerstein agreed to give Logan credit as co-author of the libretto, but added, "Of course, it goes without saying that you won't get anything whatsoever of the author's royalties."
Productions: Original Broadway production - After out-of-town tryouts in New Haven and Boston in March 1949, South Pacific opened on Broadway on April 7, 1949, at the Majestic Theatre, moving to the Broadway Theatre in June 1953. It was produced by Rodgers and Hammerstein in association with Leland Hayward and Joshua Logan, with direction and musical staging by Logan. The production ran for more than five years. At the time it closed on January 16, 1954, after 1,925 performances, it was the fifth-longest running show in Broadway history. The original cast starred Mary Martin as Nellie Forbush, and opera star Ezio Pinza as Emile de Becque. Also in the cast were Juanita Hall, Myron McCormick (both of whom won Tony Awards for their performances) and Betta St. John. Although Forbush and de Beque were already fully developed characters in Michener's stories, at some point during the creation of South Pacific, Rodgers, Hammerstein and Logan began to adapt the roles specifically to the talents of Martin and Pinza and to tailor the music for their voices. The production won ten Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Score, Best Libretto, Best Director and all four acting awards.
Original West End production - London's West End production ran from 1951 to 1953 at the Drury Lane Theatre. It starred Mary Martin and Wilbur Evans, and featured Muriel Evans, Peter Grant and Ivor Emmanuel.
2001 West End revival - The Royal National Theatre (Olivier Theatre) in London staged a limited run of the musical from December 2001 through April 2002 timed to celebrate the centenary of Richard Rodgers' birth. This production was directed by Trevor Nunn, with musical staging by Matthew Bourne and designs by John Napier. Nellie was performed by Lauren Kennedy and Emile was performed by the Australian actor Philip Quast.
2005 Carnegie Hall concert - On June 9, 2005, a concert version of the musical, edited down to two hours but including all of the songs and the full musical score, was presented live at Carnegie Hall. It starred Reba McEntire as Nellie Forbush, Brian Stokes Mitchell as Emile, Alec Baldwin as Luther Billis, and Lillias White as Bloody Mary. The stars had a full supporting cast. The production used Robert Russell Bennett's original orchestrations. This production was taped and telecast by PBS on April 26, 2006.
2007-08 UK Tour - A major new touring production of South Pacific opened in the UK at the Blackpool Grand Theatre on the August 28, 2007. The tour is expected to finish at the Cardiff New Theatre in July 2008. The tour stars Helena Blackman as Nellie and Dave Willetts as Emile. The tour is produced by Peter Frosdick and Martin Dodd for UK Productions. The production is directed by Julian Woolford, with choreography by Chris Hocking. This production was most noted for its staging of the overture which charted Nellie's journey from Little Rock to the South Pacific. On entering the theatre, the audience first saw a map of the USA, not the theater of war.
2008 Broadway revival - The first Broadway revival of South Pacific began previews on March 1, 2008, with an official opening on April 3 at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theatre, directed by Bartlett Sher and choreographed by Christopher Gattelli with Kelli O'Hara as Nellie Forbush, Paulo Szot as Emile de Becque, and Matthew Morrison as Lt. Cable and featuring Danny Burstein and Loretta Ables Sayre. Among the favorable reviews for this production, Ben Brantley writes in the New York Times: "I know we’re not supposed to expect perfection in this imperfect world, but I'm darned if I can find one serious flaw in this production. (Yes, the second act remains weaker than the first, but Mr. Sher almost makes you forget that.) All of the supporting performances, including those of the ensemble, feel precisely individualized, right down to how they wear Catherine Zuber's carefully researched period costumes."[10] The revival won five Drama Desk Awards, including Outstanding Musical Revival, and garnered 11 Tony nominations, including best revival, director, choreographer, all four acting categories, and all four design categories. It won best revival and six other Tonys. The late Robert Russell Bennett was recognized for "his historic contribution to American musical theatre in the field of orchestrations, as represented on Broadway this season by Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific."
Synopsis: Act I - On a South Pacific island during World War II, Ngana and Jerome, two Polynesian children, sing "Dites-Moi", a charming French song. A naive U.S. Navy nurse from Arkansas, Ensign Nellie Forbush, falls in love with middle-aged French plantation owner, Emile de Becque, and his plantation. Even though everyone else is worried about the outcome of the war, Nellie explains to Emile that she's still "A Cockeyed Optimist". She and Emile are in love, but each wonders if the other reciprocates their feelings ("Twin Soliloquies"). Emile recalls how they met at a dinner given at the officers' club ("Some Enchanted Evening") and were immediately drawn to each other. Nellie returns back to the hospital, and Emile calls Ngana and Jerome to him, for they are his children.
Meanwhile, the restless American sailors, led by the entrepreneurial Seabee Luther Billis, lament the absence of women or combat to relieve their boredom. It's so boring that "Bloody Mary", a middle-aged Tonkinese (Vietnamese) grass skirt seller, is the girl they love. Billis wants to go to a nearby island, Bali Ha'i. He and the sailors proclaim that "There is Nothin' Like a Dame". Lieutenant Joe Cable of the U.S. Marine Corps arrives on the island to take part in a dangerous spy mission that might help turn the tide of the war against Japan. Bloody Mary tries to convince him that "Bali Ha'i" is his special island.
After learning more about Emile's past and realizing how little she knows about him, Nellie tells the other nurses "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair" and break up with Emile. She meets Emile unexpectedly and realizes that she loves him. He invites her to a party on Friday to meet all his friends. Nellie eagerly accepts, and after Emile returns home, she declares that she's in love with "A Wonderful Guy".
Since only officers can sign out boats, Billis convinces Lt. Cable to accompany him to Bali Ha'i. There Bloody Mary introduces Cable to her teenage daughter, Liat. The two fall in love, just as Bloody Mary planned. Cable tells Liat she is so beautiful that she is "Younger than Springtime". The two couples – Nellie and Emile, Liat and Joe – gain deepening affection, and marriages are proposed. But Nellie has deep-seated ethnic prejudices, and Emile tells her after his party that he is a widower with biracial children, Ngana and Jerome, from his marriage to a Polynesian wife. Nellie, torn between her long-held prejudice and her heartfelt love for Emile, refuses to marry Emile.
Act II - Liat and Joe spend more time together, and Mary urges them to get married and talk "Happy Talk" all day long. Joe says he cannot marry Liat because she is Tonkinese (Vietnamese). Joe's refusal infuriates Mary. Though aware of and ashamed of their bigotry, Nellie and Joe are prisoners of their upbringings: they think they have no options. Nellie is responsible for the Thanksgiving Show for all the sailors, and she does a vaudeville turn dressed as a sailor singing the praises of his "Honey Bun". Billis plays Honey Bun, dressed in a grass skirt and coconut shell bra.
Emile, who loves Nellie, asks Joe why he and Nellie have such prejudices. Joe replies that it's not something you're born with; "You've Got to be Carefully Taught". Emile imagines what could have been, lamenting "This Nearly Was Mine". Dejected and with nothing to lose, Emile agrees to join Joe on his dangerous mission behind Japanese lines. The two send back reports on enemy forces which the Americans use to intercept and destroy Japanese convoys. "Operation Alligator" gets underway, and the previously idle sailors, including the reluctant Luther Billis, go off to battle. Joe is killed; Emile narrowly escapes a similar fate. Nellie, meanwhile, spends time with Ngana and Jerome and learns to overcome her prejudices. Emile returns home to the now-understanding Nellie and his – soon to be their – children, and they join in "Dites-Moi" (reprise).
--Courtesy of Wikipedia
|
