Jam packed with some of musical theatre’s most glorious Rodgers and Hammerstein songs, South Pacific is a delight from start to finish.
While it is difficult for any stage production to compare with the famous movie that has a gorgeous French Polynesian islands setting that is just as memorable as the songs and acting, this Chichester Festival Theatre production does not try to compete. Rather, it is all set in a functional corrugated iron military base set and on that metallic backdrop some videos vaguely suggest palm trees and sunserts and the idyllic Bali Ha’i.
A revolve dominates the way the drama is presented, whether shifting the actual scenes, or enabling movement to take place without actually having to move far (clever footwork), and with a simple but effective “carry-on” veranda transforming the stage into the French plantation of Emile de Becque.
The show focuses very clearly on the racism of the story which is of course in the film but here seems to hit home more strongly. Similarly while there is jingoism and patriotism from the Americans fighting the Japanese I do not remember there being the question of whether the war was going to bring a better world.
Sera Maehara
Rob Houchen and Gina Beck
Gina Beck and Julian Overton
There are strong performances throughout and this is a master class in musical theatre singing by Julian Overton who risks singing everyone else off the stage. Once we have gotten used to his French accent, every song is perfection and demonstrates his honing of the craft of emotional and engaging show-stopper singing. It would have been worthy of a concert performance alone.
The folksy hick ensign Nellie Forbush is sung with fun and energy by Gina Beck and she sails through those well-known toe tappers such as I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair, I’m in Love With a Wonderful Guy.
Director Daniel Evans’ presentation of Lt Joseph Cable, beautifully sung by Rob Houchen, and Liat was more intriguing as the young girl is mainy a dancing role and wonderful Sera Maehara is. She is the daughter of the other key character in the story Bloody Mary, powerfully played by Joanna Ampil. There is some humour in the way she is portrayed but here she is a far more hard hitting, cynical woman.
Luther Billis, played by Douggie McMeekin, is a more cuddly and soft character than I picture for the rough and tumble scam artist who is ready to cut virtually any deal. Yes, he has a heart but the the Thanksgiving Concert scene, when he appears as a mock Polynesian woman, isn’t that funny.
The show is at its best in the first half and seems rushed after the interval when the plot races to its denouement but all in all it is a joyful night out. The attention is very much on the plantation owner-Amercian nurse relationship and the charm of the young lovers seems very secondary. Lt Cable vocalises the anti-racism theme of the show while Liat is almost foisted on him by Bloody Mary so the young girl can have a better life. As one of my friends commented the song Happy Talk was almost an act of desperation by Bloody Mary to marry them ff before the Yanks pulled out.
This sensitive show does end with most of the Yanks leaving the island as the tide of the war has turned, and our brave no longer quite so disillusioned Emile de Becque returns to the arms of the not so racist Nellie Forbush. However, Joseph Cable has made the ultimate sacrficise and rightly the closing image of the show is Liat leaping in despair into the air, the lights cutting out as she is mid-air. I wonder how soon the nuclear tests in the atolls began.
Wales Millennium Centre until October 15.
Images Johan Persson
https://www.wmc.org.uk/en/whats-on/2022/south-pacific