Album Description: The landmark musical's first-ever Broadway revival! The curtain rang down on Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific in 1954 after five years of extraordinary acclaim and countless awards including nine Tonys and a Pulitzer. Based on James Michener's Pulitzer Prize winning book Tales of the South Pacific, the musical is set on a tropical island during World War II and tells the sweeping romantic story of two couples - U.S. Navy nurse Nellie Forbush and French plantation owner Emile de Becque and Marine Joe Cable and a young local native girl Liat - and how their happiness is threatened by the realities of the war and by their own prejudices. Considered by many the finest musical ever written, the score's songs include such musical theater classics as "Some Enchanted Evening," "Younger Than Springtime," "Bali Ha'i," "There is Nothin' Like a Dame" and "A Wonderful Guy."
There Ain't Nothin Like the Real Thing As smooth a production as this current version is, even the Tony award winning Paulo Szot and perfect technique of Kelly O'Hara can't match the vocal beauty and excitement of the original cast. Of course the music is timelessly great but the woman who sings Bloody Mary doesn't capture the native sounding joy of the original. Ho-hum. I'm afraid broadway singing has gone the way of the rest of American culture - into mediocrity.
Sparkling Performance From Cast and Orchestra! Great purchase. Surely the most "complete" South Pacific I've ever come across. Kudos to the orchestra, who bring Rodgers score, with ample assistance from orchestrators Robert Russell Bennett and Trude Rittman, a freshness that is only improved by the clear digital sound. Emile is sung with exoticism and clarity, Nellie and Cable with youth and yearning. Well worth the eleven bucks. Even got me to write my first review.
Ho-Hum It is a sad commentary on the state of American Musical Theatre that the other reviewers praised this tepid effort. One of the magical ingredients of the original mounting was the energy level of every last principal and chorus member. This version puts me to sleep. None of the voices can compare to the origianl; bloody Mary sounds like she just got in from the Bronx. Our heroine's first song should be called "cockeyed sonambulist", her French planter sounds almost like a community theatre singer. And embarassingly the male ingenue sounds as if he's thinking about another sailor instead of an exotic beauty. Buy the original recording and be delighted; lei's stop praising mediocrates.
Something Must Have Gotten Lost The first Broadway revival of "South Pacific" has been greeted with absolutely ecstatic reviews and a host of awards. I honestly don't think I've seen or read a single negative thing about this production. However, something must have been lost in the translation to CD, because I find this recording to be little more than mildly entertaining.
Musically, there is very little fault to be found with this CD. The performeres all have good (and in the case of Kelli O'Hara and Paolo Szot, great) voices. O'Hara's crystal clear tone rings like a bell on her songs, and Brazilian opera star Szot uses his expert understanding of musicality and dynamics to good effect. Szot is particularly impressive on "Some Enchanted Evening," where his voice caresses the melody and makes this oft-sung song sound new again.
Even more impressive is the orchestra, which at nearly 30 pieces is one of the largest on Broadway. This recording will make you long (if you don't already) for the days when such large pit orchestras were common, because they sound absolutely fabulous. From the first sumptuous chords of the "Bali Ha'i" melody that begin the overture to the final ultimo, the musicians - under the expert baton of conductor Ted Sperling - transport you to the tropical South Pacific and find every ounce of texture in the score's orchestrations.
With so much right, why only three stars? Well, it's almost as if the score is a little too perfect. In taking such care with the music, the performers seem to have lost the life of the characters. Rodgers & Hammerstein's brilliance was their ability to write beautiful melodies while serving story and character. The people they wrote these songs for are living life to the fullest, and experiencing a plethora of emotions they can only express in song. Many of the tracks on this CD lack that life and vigor. When we get the occassional glimmer of true feeling (such as during O'Hara's delightfully playful take on "Honey Bun"), it makes the rest of the CD that much more disappointing in comparason.
Don't get me wrong; I'm sure the show as performed nightly at the Vivan Beaumont is excellent. This recording does a lot of things right, and I know many people will absolutely adore listening to it again and again. But for me, I want more conviction captured on the CD, since like many people who buy it I will probably not get the chance to see the show live.
South Pacific (new Broadway cast) I bought the CD because I was going to see the play. Both were wonderful. I think they are better than the original. Kelli Ohara not only has a perfect voice but is a terrific actress and you can hear that on the CD. All of the others are fabulous also. The only one not quite as good as the original was Bloody Mary, but I think they were trying to make her less of a caricature and they did succeed in that.
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