South Pacific

Musicals from Broadway’s “Golden Age” were written for a different era and a different set of cultural and societal differences. Mostly their portrayal and treatment of characters, by today’s standards, can seem outmoded and outdated. South Pacific is no exception. Revolutionary at the time for it’s depiction of racism, to a contemporary audience it seems heavy-handed, yet it’s the racism spine (and exceptional score) that gives South Pacific its strength and longevity on stage.

Deian Ping’s production is reverential to the source material with some good performances all round but an outstanding song and dance turn by Louise Drysdale as Nellie Forbush sets the bar extremely high. Ebullient, with a gift for humour and a bright clear singing voice, she was the epitome of the small-town nurse from Little Rock, Arkansas. She carried the show. Opposite her, Valdemar Jakobsen was a stiff, patriarchal Emile De Becque who made the most of the score’s two classic solos, “Some Enchanted Evening” and “This Nearly Was Mine.

Maria Newman brought fire and personality to the opportunistic Bloody Mary, singing an expressive “Bali Hai” and a charming finger-talking “Happy Talk” with Thien-Tam Nguyen (Liat). Michael Lewis was appropriately hunk material as Cable, James Rogers mined the comedy of the raffish Luther Billis, scoring laughs with “Honey Bun,” whilst Matai and Jai Godbold brought a sincere innocence to De Becque’s children Ngana and Jerome.

The men’s chorus were virile and sounded great on “There Is Nothing like a Dame”, with the women’s chorus matching them in vocal prowess as they lustily sang the reprise of “I’m In Love with a Wonderful Guy”.

Deian Ping’s use of Mike and Tracey Bennett’s full-stage tropical island video projections throughout the show was a great idea and instantly transported you to the locations, likewise the footage of vintage warfare planes and troops added a period reality.

While “My Girl Back Home”, a song dropped from the original production was reinstated as a heartfelt duet for Nellie and Cable in the second act, it only added to a long, long night on this tropical isle, not helped by the inclusion of a traditional indigenous dance during the “Bali Hai” sequence. But I enjoyed it!

Peter Pinne