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SOUTH PACIFIC – A Total Winner At The Golden Gate Theatre

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic musical is the very best of Carole Shorenstein Hays and Robert Nederlander’s “Best of Broadway” Season

By Seán Martinfield
Sentinel Editor and Publisher
Photo by Lynn Imanaka

SOUTH PACIFIC, now at the Golden Gate Theatre until October 25th, is a must-see. The production marks the launch of the National Touring Company of the Broadway production which swept the 2008 Tony Awards. The show took seven honors including Best Musical Revival and Best Director for Bay Area native Bartlett Sher. The ideal cast includes Rod Gilfry as “Emile de Becque”, Carmen Cusack as “Nurse Nellie Forbush”, Anderson Davis as “Lieutenant Cable”, Keala Settle as “Bloody Mary”, and an unforgettable performance by Matthew Saldivar as “Luther Billis”. Sixty years having passed since the original cast starring Mary Martin and Ezio Pinza opened at New York’s Majestic Theatre, the musical score remains fresh and vibrant and its political and social messages equally provocative for today’s audiences. “You’ve got to be carefully taught,” says Lt. Cable. “You’ve got to be taught to be afraid of people whose eyes are oddly made, and people whose skin is a different shade.” The re-instated language is direct, the meanings clearly understood. Somewhere out in the South Pacific, a U.S. Navy team is forming a reconnaissance mission to determine the status of an island occupied by “the Japs”. Among the team are a number of “colored” sailors who are sometimes grouped apart. Nellie from Little Rock can accept the fact her heart has gone out to the Frenchman, Emile – an older man, a murderer and escapee – but becomes totally undone upon learning he is the widower of a Polynesian woman. Lt. Cable, a Philadelphia aristocrat, is conflicted and angered by his sudden love for a native girl he has used, assuming her to be a prostitute. Emile, now abandoned, agrees to lead the dangerous reconnaissance with Cable – who will be killed by the enemy. Tenor Anderson Davis’s silvery rendition of “Younger Than Springtime” and bass-baritone Rod Gilfry’s virile delivery of “This Nearly Was Mine” capture the heart and guts of this overall stunning production.

Rod Gilfry & Carmen Cusack, Anderson Davis & Sumie Maeda, Photos, Peter Coombs

Carmen Cusack is the perfect choice for “Nellie Forbush”. A mezzo-soprano with a belt, Ms. Cusack glides easily through “I’m In Love With A Wonderful Guy”, pulls out the charm for “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair”, heats up a mean “Honey Bun”, and flashes her mezzo chops with “Some Enchanted Evening”. It is so refreshing to hear the Classic Broadway voice. I have had my fill of the nasal-twanged and perky Disney Princess Variety. Carmen Cusack’s performance is down to earth and filled with joy.

The role of “Emille de Becque” demands the Olympian pipes of a much-experienced opera singer. The Classically-oriented crowd know Mr. Gilfry’s able dexterity with such composers as Mozart, Verdi, Messiaen, Schubert, and Strauss. Throughout the length of the show and all the various reprises of “Some Enchanted Evening”, Rod Gilfry’s solid musicianship and warm vocal tone remained on point and thrilling.

Rod Gilfry as “Emille de Becque”. Photo, Peter Coombs

Anderson Davis is totally hot as “Lieutenant Cable”. His smooth lyric operetta-variety of tenor voice comes as a surprise to most audiences saturated by the blaring over-amplified pop-rockers that have so dominated musicals of recent years at the Golden Gate, Orpheum, and Curran Theatres. His sweet rendition of “Younger Than Springtime” is reminiscent of the Olde School of handsome young tenors – all of those prior to 1965 who sang such roles without a microphone.

Keala Settle as “Bloody Mary”. Photo, Peter Coombs

In the role of hustling entrepreneur “Bloody Mary”, Keala Settle was consistently manipulative, with the energy and comical appearance of a Hirschfeld caricature. Her signature song, “Bali Hai”, was light and enticing. Her frothy attempts to persuade Cable into a carefree future through “Happy Talk” with her daughter are blown apart by his realization that such a union can never be. With equal enthusiasm, Keala displays Mary’s “bloody” side – she will now sell her daughter to the highest bidder.

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific won the 1950 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It took ten Tony Awards including Best Original Score and all the acting nominations. The sweeping beauty of the music, its impressive list of hit songs, and challenging scripts would be matched in 1951 with The King and I, Cinderella (1957), Flower Drum Song (1958), and The Sound of Music (1959). Together with musical staging by Christopher Gattelli, director Bartlett Sher has resuscitated the wonder and excitement of the original production and its story of adult romance and the world at war. While we can dream of the projects ahead, South Pacific is the show to see now. Young singers wearied by Wicked and drowning in Grease and the endless absurdities of the High School Musical series will discover in SOUTH PACIFIC the vocal challenges of Broadway’s Golden Age and the immense depth and beauty within the standard American Songbook.

SOUTH PACIFIC, Photo, Peter Coombs

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