There Is Nothing Like . . .

On Saturday to see the Lincoln Center production of South Pacific at the Barbican. I had to go. I not only know many of the songs, but I mangled my way through several of them in acting school earlier this year. And although I’ve only ever seen the film version – once, ten years ago - I maintain that this Rodgers and Hammerstein show is the best musical ever written.

As for the plot... well, I’d forgotten most of it, only remembering that it’s set on a Pacific Island during the Second World War and involves inter-generational and inter-racial love and sex. My partial amnesia was in fact a blessing, because it allowed me to watch the show without knowing what was going to happen.

Of course I loved it. From the opening scene with Jason Howard as plantation owner Emile de Becque (the role on some nights is played by Paulo Szot) singing “Some Enchanted Evening” to the final scene where Samantha Womack sings “Dites-moi” with De Becque’s children, my attention was gripped. The acting and singing, by British and Americans, were all crisp and ranged from very good to fantastic, the direction (by Bartlett Sher) smooth, the sets (by Michael Yeargan) on the shallow stage ably represented the different settings, of the beach, De Becque’s house, the army command centre and so on.

My quibbles were minor. Loretta Ables Sayre, as Bloody Mary, speaks her lines with an accent so realistic as to make it sometimes difficult to understand her, especially in the Upper Circle, and her rendering of “Bali Hai” is perfectly in character, but it weakens the romance inherent in one of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s greatest songs. The use of two black children as De Becque’s children were good but unbelievable as children who are supposed to be half-white and half-Polynesian. (But the number of acting school children in London who fit that description is presumably small, and their colour stressed the racial difference that De Becque’s intended finds so difficult to accept.)

Other thoughts that came to mind… the comic role of fixer Luther Billis (ably played by Alex Ferns) was a precursor of CPO Pertwee in the 1960s BBC radio series The Navy Lark (played by Jon Pertwee, who later became a Doctor Who) … “Younger than Springtime”, sung by Lt Cable (the excellent Daniel Koek) to Bloody Mary’s daughter Liat (apologies to the actress for losing her name) implies that the girl is both a virgin and possibly in her early teens … And the shower scene with the naked sailors was a pleasant and unexpected surprise… 

If you live in the provinces and the show is coming to you, definitely buy tickets - it's an evening you will not forget.