'South Pacific' at Sadler's Wells

'South Pacific' by Rogers and Hammerstein is one of my favourite musicals but I'd only seen one production of it, the Lincoln Centre production that I saw in New York in 2010. I fell in love with that production and bought the cast recording. I saw it on the evening of snowmageddon, so while we were in the tropics in the theatre the city was covered in deep snow. 

That production came over for a season at the Barbican before going on tour so I saw it several times and thoroughly enjoyed it. Chichester Festival Theatre announced in 2019 it would stage a new version in 2020 with Julian Ovenden as Emile and I, naturally, bought tickets. Then everything stopped because of the virus. Enterprisingly, Chichester broadcast a recording of the production so I saw it online and later announced it would play over the summer 2022 in Sadler's Wells before going on tour, so I got tickets. 

It's the old, old story of boy meets girl, boy loses girl and then boy get's the girl back. It's set on a south Pacific island during the Second World War with America at war with Japan. It opens with the ending of a party held by one of the French plantation owners, Emile du Becque, and we meet his special guest, the American nurse Ensign Nellie Forbush. We follow the twists and turns of their romance and then after another party Nellie finds out that Emile has two children from his previous marriage to his indiginous wife and she breaks it off. In a sub-plot we see that a young lieutenant Cable falls in love with Liat on the fabled island of Bali Ha'i. but he can't marry her because she's indiginous. Emile subsequently volunteers to spy on the Japanese with the lieutenant, both facing almost certain death. I'll leave it there.

There's a lot more going on in this show with Bloody Mary making money selling local crafts to the USA navy, Seabee Luther Billis, the eternal chancer, also trying to make money in any way he can and has a crush on Nellie, Cable's background at home where he's expected to join the family firm of lawyers and, of course, the racism that bubbles just under the surface and becomes blatant with Nellie's reaction to Emile's children and Cable's refusal to marry Liat, Bloody Mary's daughter.

As soon as you hear the start of the overture you know you're in for a treat with lush music and beautiful songs, like 'Some Enchanted Evening', 'There is Nothin' Like A Dame', 'Younger Than Springtime' and the heartbreaking 'This Nearly Was Mine'. 'You've Got To Be Carefully Taught' is a powerful song about the  racism Cable feels, knowing it's wrong but unable to overcome his feelings. He speaks for Nellie too.

I liked how this production gives the Cable/Liat sub-plot more prominence by having Liat on stage a lot more. She both opens and closes the show with her dancing as well as the Bali Ha'i sequence. After her gentle dance at the start we're thrown into war with a dozen marines coming down ropes out of nowhere and onto the stage, spotlit and running round to set the scene before we head into the island's hills to meet Emile and Nellie. It was a surprise opening but worked really well, reminding us that everything we're going to see is happening against a background of war. 

I loved this production. Directed by Daniel Evans, set designed by Peter McKintosh, choreography by Ann Yee and music directed by Cat Beverage with her live orchestra. Julian Ovenden was great as Emile and I loved that he sang in his French accent. Julian has a really powerful voice and I first heard him in 'Grand Hotel' nearly 20 years ago. Nellie was played by Gina Beck who also has a lovely voice and a steady southern American accent. Joanna Ampil played Bloody Mary and she gave us a lovely, evocative version of 'Happy Talk'. Rob Houchen was OK as Cable but lacked oomph. Dougie McMeekin was OK as Billis but seemed a bit too young for the part. I really liked the grace and moves of Sera Maehara as Liat. 

Daniel Evans does good work. I first saw him as an actor along with Julian Ovenden in 'Grand Hotel' at the Donmar Warehouse and then in other productions, including playing the lead in 'Sunday in the Park with Georges' in both London and New York and I saw both. He then became artistic director at Sheffield Crucible Theatre and then at Chichester. I wonder what his next move will be? As for Mr Ovenden, he has a great voice and stage presence and should do more musicals (the good ones, obviously). The show is now on tour so go and see it - you won't regret it.

"Never let her go..."

O yes, that's easy for you to say but you did, Emile, you did you fool. You let her get away and look what happened. Luckily, you got her back.

What? O yes, I'm talking about one of the greatest love stories ever, the tale of Emile and Nellie in 'South Pacific', in one of the greatest musicals ever. I saw the Broadway revival at Lincoln Centre in New York five years ago and fell in love with the show. I'd never seen it before or heard it but I knew the songs from the '60s and '70s telly shows that they featured in. And seeing them together told the story I needed to hear. I bought the cast recording on the way out of the theatre and it echoed in my head as we walked out into the snow and ice of the New York winter night and back to the hotel. I floated on a Polynesian breeze...

The production transferred to the Barbican in London in 2011 and I was there to see it again. A different stage and a different cast (other than Bloody Mary) and it was still marvellous. So I got tickets to see it again. And when it went on tour in 2012 I bought tickets to see it at Wimbledon. It was still wonderful and I bought a fridge magnet to remind me of the joy. Listening to the cast recording brings it all back. Sometimes things just click and you get it.

I love this show. I love the songs and the structure, the repetitions of the themes and phrases from the songs. It works as a complete whole with no need for a prequel or sequel. It opens with Nellie and Emile appearing after a lovely day together and we don't need to know how they met, we just know that they've discovered love. It's self-contained and I like to think of Nellie and Emile living their lives quietly in the hills of their Polynesian island, hosting occasional parties and bringing up children and grandchildren with visits to the USA now and then. Nellie would keep up to date with nursing practices in the local hospital and Emile would generate money for college scholarships for local children.

Life goes on y'know.

'Carousel' at the Arcola Theatre

I've never seen the Rogers and Hammerstein musical 'Carousel' either on stage or the film so the Arcola Theatre revival was the perfect opportunity to put that right. Like everybody else, I'm very familiar with 'You'll Never Walk Alone' as a song (but not the dramatic context) and I know 'Mr Snow' from hearing Barbara Cook sing it and 'What's the Use of Wonderin'' from Amanda Palmer's first solo record. The rest of the score is a mystery.

'Carousel' is, of course, a classic American musical following the smash hit of 'Oklahoma!' and before 'South Pacific' and it suffers slightly by coming between those two shows. Still, it has a great following (which I don't quite understand) and is revered by musical theatre people.

The Arcola puts on a great tribute to the show, a big production in a rather small space that made me worried the dancers would bounce into me (I was sitting in the front row) when they were being energetic and thrown around.

The story opens with the funfair in a small New England town and Carrie and Julie getting free tickets for an evening out. Julie falls for Billy, the fairground barker, and both lose their jobs but end up marrying. Julie realises she's pregnant around the same time as he hits her and, when he knows he's going to be a dad, agrees to rob the local bigwig. It all goes wrong (obviously) and he dies, only to look down from heaven (or wherever) and realises he can help his lost daughter who has just turned 15. This is where it really lost me, when Billy meets his daughter and slaps her hand but she tells her Mum that he slapped it so hard that it doesn't hurt and is that possible Momma? To which Julie replies, 'yes'. Stupid person. You've lost me entirely at this point. The book needs a re-write... badly. What kind of messages has it been promulgating for the last 60 years or whatever?

I thought the cast were great, the play was (largely) fast paced, the songs vigorous and life-affirming. Billy was played by Tim Rogers with lots of energy compared to Julie who was played by Gemma Sutton as a calm centre of the storm. I didn't believe in their relationship as much as I did that of Carrie (Vicki Lee Taylor) and Mr Snow (Joel Montague). I was quite delighted to be introduced to Enoch Snow after listening to Barbara Cook singing about him for years now. I could've done without seeing him in his rather tight underpants but hey, that adds an element of reality I suppose. Both Vicki and Joel had good voices and solid presences and that added to the play.

I liked the recurring circus theme that kept emerging throughout following the introductory 'ballet' - I suppose it plays to the little kid in me that yearns to run off and join a circus. Even when we are taken to the gates of heaven it's the circu characters that greet Billy as (rather stupid) angels and allow him to revisit his family. I worried about the two main circus performers hanging upside down from ladders for so long, Katrina Dix and Joseph Connor, who were consistent throughout. Well done people and to Charlotte Gale for her fire breathing as well.

Much as I hate to dismiss the writers of the magnificent 'South Pacific', 'South Pacific' this ain't. My dissatisfaction with the play isn't really about the production or the actors, it's the play I find fault with. Wife-beating and the bad boy doing what he wants isn't really a story I want to see and I just found it distasteful and its messages worrying. If you've seen any of my previous reviews of plays then it'll be clear that I respond at an emotional level to what I see and if the male lead is a wife-beater then that's all I need to know. Quite frankly, I don't care if it's been a hit all over the world, Julie should slap Billy around the chops and get a divorce.

It's not the production I didn't like, it's the book. And the extended dancing pieces in lieu of songs. Sorry 'Carousel' fans, but it didn't work for me. Possibly it was the bloke behind me that at one point kept banging his foot against the back of my seat that distracted me from the art (until I reached back and vigorously shoved his foot away)? Possibly it was the ridiculous heat and the abstract queue at the under-staffed bar? Possibly it was the interruption by the fire brigade at half time?

I really lost any involvement when we see wife-beater and capitalist-stabber Billy on the borders of heaven complaining about his life. My response was to tell him to shut the fuck up but no, God's (rather stupid) angels decide to give him a second chance and send him back to Earth 15 years after he left it so he can get angry at his daughter and slap her hand. Violence is always his response, it seems. Of course, it could be argued that this is behaviour he's learned from his own father and it's not really his fault, etc etc etc. Well, I don't care, I don't like Billy Bigalow.

My reading of the book probably isn't the same as fans of the musical and that's probably because I'm not a fan. How could I be? I'll honour Rogers and Hammerstein for 'South Pacific' (which confronts the inherent racism of island life) but not for this musical. I probably won't be seeing it again.