South Pacific

Opera Australia is presenting The Lincoln Center Theater (USA spelling) production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific.

One of the great Broadway musicals, South Pacific is adapted from James A Michener's 'Tales of the South Pacific' and was first staged in 1949 just four years after the end of World War 2, the events of which provide the background to the musical.

It surprises me that the Lincoln Center production in 2008 was the first ever revival of the musical on Broadway. It is an outstanding musical and its subject matter which covers race and intolerance was both relevant and controversial in the 1940s. I've read that one reason the musical had not been revived earlier was that those themes were no longer seen as 'fashionable' but it seems to me they are as relevant as ever.

In South Pacific, Rodgers and Hammerstein took several separate tales and interwove them into one storyline.

Unlike 21st Century musicals, South Pacific does not rely on high tech staging nor does it survive on just one dubious hit tune repeated ad nauseum. The musical has half a dozen or more wonderful, memorable songs and the staging is deceptively simple. It is terrific how effective the scene changes and settings are achieved with little more than adjustments to wooden slatted blinds.

The staging is full of colour and light.

The Lincoln Center Director, Bartlett Sher, is responsible for this production. The cast as best I can tell is almost entirely local and they are terrific. The Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra provides outstanding support.

Every cast member is 'miked' and whilst the amplification ensures every word is clearly heard it is the source of my only criticism of this production. The New Zealand baritone, Teddy Tahu Rhodes, has a powerful, penetrative voice which with amplification hit me over and over like a sonic boom.

Lisa McClune, Eddie Perfect and Kate Ceberano are all excellent but it is unfair to focus on the star names as everyone contributes star quality performances.

A wonderful production.

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