South Pacific
Music/Lyrics by Rodgers and Hammerstein
Book by Joshua Logan
Directed by David H. Bell
at Marriott Theatre, Lincolnshire (map)
thru June 2 | tickets: $40-$48 | more info
Check for half-price tickets
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Bali high!
Marriott Theatre presents
South Pacific
Review by Lawrence Bommer
Only one week elapses in this noble “musical play” but it’s enough: Rodgers and Hammerstein fuel the seemingly inevitable action with very human impulses–to survive, to love, to make a difference. Never far from death even in the outlying islands of the Pacific campaign, four lovers count only on the moment: Nurse Ensign Nellie Forbush from Little Rock – so naïve she’s pure Americana – must forget her prejudiced past and her lover’s former marriage. Middle-aged French planter Emile de Becque knows that
Right now it’s hard to imagine a more necessary musical than this 1949 Pulitzer winner, a healing tribute to decency in adversity and tolerance in the thick of war. Consummate showmen, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II knew just why Americans need to believe in themselves and what threatens that faith. Nellie’s small victory for her own humanity is the kind of good we want to believe can come from war. It gives standing to the sacrifices.
Another Marriott Theatre triumph, Director David H. Bell’s all-embracing arena staging delivers everything but the vista of Bali H’ai’s twin peaks floating in the distance. It simply revives a landmark musical to the glory it deserves. Cleanly presented, its very inevitable story rises to every occasion. A worthy successor to Ezio Pinza, Rossano Brazzi and Robert Goulet, Stephen R. Buntrock’s Emile, as much an actor as singer, delivers the aching yearning in “Some Enchanted Evening” and the heartbreak in “This Nearly Was Mine.” Elizabeth Lanza, echoing Mary Martin and Mitzi Gaynor, is the all-American girl next door, as Nellie moves from unforced sweetness (in that perfect waltz “A Wonderful Guy”) to the equally unforced nobility of the moving ending.
 
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The owner of a thrilling tenor, Ben Jacoby’s Lt. Joseph Cable acts through every note, his “Younger Than Springtime” as ardent as his “You’ve Got To Be Carefully Taught”–Hammerstein’s unanswerable diagnosis of bigotry–is timeless. (You just wish that Cable had the courage of the anger as he sings how racism corrupts innocence.)
Fresh from playing another con man in “The Music Man,” Stef Tovar finds himself happily typecast as the scheming Seabee Luther Billis, whose drag turn in “”Honey Bun” shakes the grass skirts and brings down the house. Bloody Mary is as mysterious merry in Bethany Thomas’ Tonkinese troubadour, wise in the ways of inarticulate love as she plays with “Happy Talk.” Whether Lindy Hopping or Jitterbugging, the chorus of sailors and nurses captivate as much as convince. Finally, supple prop changes separate scenes but the overarching tropical canopy by Thomas M. Ryan delivers a free trip to paradise.
Rating: ★★★½
South Pacific continues through June 2nd at Marriott Theatre, 10 Marriott Drive, Lincolnshire (map), with performances Wednesdays at 1pm and 8pm, Thursdays/Fridays 8pm, Saturdays 4:30pm and 8pm, Sundays 1pm and 5pm. Tickets are $40-$48 (with dinner packages available), and are available by phone (847-634-0200) or online through Ticketmaster.com (check for half-price tickets at Goldstar.com). More information at MarriottTheatre.com. (Running time: 2 hours 25 minutes, includes an intermission)
Photos by Peter Coombs
artists
cast
Stephen R. Buntrock (Emile de Becque), Elizabeth Lanza (Nellie Forbush), Ben Jacoby (Lt. Joe Cable), Bethany Thomas (Bloody Mary), Emily Morales (Liat), Alexis Navarrete (Ngana), Dylan Lainez (Jerome), Stef Tovar (Luther Billis), Jerry Galante (Stewpot), Stephen Schellhardt (Professor), Dev Kennedy (Captain George Brackett), Robert Hunt (Commander Harbison), Audrey Billings, Dara Cameron, Aaron Conklin, Jameson Cooper, Courtney Crouse, Jim DeSelm, Jon Harrison, Patrick Martin, Alexandra Palkovic, Amanda Tanguay, Travis Taylor (ensemble).
behind the scenes
David H. Bell (director), Matt Raftery (choreography), Andy Hite (artistic director), Ryan T. Nelson (music director), Tom Ryan (set design), Nancy Missimi (costumes), Diane Ferry Williams (lighting), Bob Gilmartin (sound design), Sally Weiss (props design), Patti Garwood (music conductor), Peter Coombs (photos).
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