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A Timeless Rendition:
Opera House brings “South Pacific” to life once again

By: Susan Zedella

“Bali Ha’i.” “Some Enchanted Evening.” “Happy Talk.” “Younger Than Springtime.” “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair.” Chances are, one of these titles has readers humming a tune under their breaths right now. They are the memorable tunes of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “South Pacific,” the first musical of the summer to be presented by the Opera House Theatre Company. These catchy songs, along with several others from the score, have become worldwide standards.

The story of “South Pacific” is based on two short stories by James A. Michener from his Pulitzer Prize-winning 1948 book, Tales of the South Pacific. The Broadway production ran for five years beginning in 1949, was nominated for 10 Tony Awards and won all of them, including Best Musical and Best Score. It was the only musical production ever to win all four Tony Awards for acting. The show was an instant critical and box-office hit, and the musical has since enjoyed many successful revivals and tours, and spawned a 1958 movie, as well as other adaptations. Now in the midst of its first Broadway revival, “South Pacific” continues to receive outstanding reviews. What is it about the play that continues to thrill audiences today as much as it did in 1949?

“The show was written very, very well,” Ron Chisolm, director and choreographer of the upcoming Opera House production, stated. “There is a mixture of lightness but also tones of heaviness. It’s a story about prejudice.” With not only catchy songs but also themes of racial discrimination and war time, it’s an all-familiar plot that could have just as well been written in 2008, 60 years later.

“South Pacific” takes place on an island during WWII. A naive and bubbly U.S. Navy nurse from Arkansas, Ensign Nellie Forbush, falls in love with middle-aged French plantation owner Emile de Becque and his plantation. Even though everyone else is worried about the outcome of the war, Nellie explains to Emile that she’s still “A Cockeyed Optimist.” The fidgety American sailors are led by Seabee Luther Billis and are struck by island fever, with no young women around to relieve their restlessness. Their boredom is so relentless they proclaim to love Bloody Mary, the wacky middle-aged Tonkinese (Vietnamese) woman who sells grass skirts and shrunken heads to the sailors. Bloody Mary introduces Lieutenant Joseph Cable to her daughter, Liat. The two fall in love, just as Bloody Mary planned. The two couples—Nellie and Emile, Liat and Joe—gain a deepening affection. Both Nellie and Joe find they must struggle with deep-seated ethnic prejudices in the face of love.

One of the challenges Chisolm has faced in directing the story is taking the Rodgers and Hammerstein script and score, and paring it down to a length that is suitable for modern audiences. “I sliced it, diced it and compacted it,” he stated. “But it’s not necessarily cut; it’s rearranged.”

In the 1940s, original audiences were in for a three-hour production with a full-length musical. “Back then, the big number was the 11:00 number,” Chisolm explained. Theater-going was certainly a late-night affair. Through his vast experience, Chisolm has found that by compacting the show, it is much more suitable for today’s audiences, without sacrificing any of the catchy songs. “The songs are part of the flow,” he explained.

Chisolm is currently taking part in his 19th season with Opera House. He also previously directed “South Pacific” in 2000. For his current production of the play, he is relying heavily on the strength of his actors to transport the audience to the show’s location.

“I’m doing an open stage—there is a very open feel,” he said. “The actors are so strong that the scenic element becomes secondary…I don’t rely on a set because you don’t need a set in a show like this. The dialogue and the songs transport the audience to the location.”

Richard Bunting, an Opera House veteran who will be playing the lead role of Emile DeBecque, agrees that the trick is to make the story passionate but to also move it along. He has appeared in “South Pacific” a couple other times, but the Opera House production will mark the first time he has performed the role of Emile. He joked with his counterpart, Shannon Playl, who will be performing the role of Nellie Forbush, “It always helps to like the people you work with.”

Playl recently appeared in Thalian Association’s production of “The Wizard of Oz” and will be acting for the first time with Opera House in “South Pacific.” Playl revealed that she feels she shares many traits with her character, including her optimism. “Everything except the whole everybody-falling-in-love-with-me thing,” she mused.

Don’t miss Opera House’s production of “South Pacific” on the Thalian Hall mainstage June 4th-8th; 13th-15th; and 20th-22nd.

Tickets may be reserved by calling the Thalian Box Office at (910) 343-3664.