IT REALLY IS AN ENCHANTED EVENING
I had never seen South Pacific, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein’s famed and highly successful musical (winner 1950 Pulitzer and numerous Tony awards in 1950 as well as a 2008 Tony for best revival) though I was certainly familiar with the music. I was grateful therefore for the chance to see last night’s opening of director and choreographer Rachel Bertone’s excellent production at the Reagle Music Theatre in suburban Waltham.
Emile de Becque (Christopher Chew) and Jennifer Ellis (Nellie Forbush)
The Reagle has been using the empty theater of Waltham High School for their summer productions of classic Broadway musicals since their highly successful production of The Music Man in 1969. The space is outfitted with an orchestra pit and state-of-the-art lighting equipment, but it’s basically (from what I could tell) a flat stage floor that puts the emphasis on excellent performers. Set designer Janie Howland makes the most of the space with palm trees that extend out to the edge of the stage, a backdrop of giant frangipani flowers, and a multilevel structure that appears to be built of bamboo.
Emile de Becque (Christopher Chew) and his daughters (Lola Rhoads, Penelope Rhoads)
Four-time IRNE (Independent Reviewers of New England) recipient and two-time Elliot Norton Award winner Jennifer Ellis (Nellie Forbush) and Lyric Stage leading man Christopher Chew (Emile de Becque) pick up the emphasis on performance and are both fantastic. Ellis brings a feisty girl-next-door energy to her singing, her acting, and even her cartwheels. She has an open-eyed enthusiasm that completely fits the part of a young woman discovering and excited by the world beyond Little Rock. Ellis pulls off two of the show’s biggest numbers—“I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair” and “I’m in Love with a Wonderful Guy”—without a hitch.
Bloody Mary (Lisa Yuen)
I last saw Chew in Lyric Opera’s production of Sondheim’s Assassins, in which he portrayed President James A. Garfield’s embittered and crazed assassin. What a different role for him here! He exudes warmth and affection, first for his two children, French-speaking Ngana and Jerome (charmingly played by twin sisters Penelope Rhoads and Lola Rhoads), and a patient tolerance for Nellie who rejects him after she learns of his mixed-race children. Despite some initial problems with his microphone (soon fixed), Chew convincingly portrays a man of principled sophistication, successfully carrying off Emile’s hint of a French accent. His delivery of “Some Enchanted Evening,” the show’s signature romantic song, is perfect.
Lt. Joseph Cable (Blake Du Bois)
Hammerstein and co-writer Joshua Logan wisely do not limit their depiction of this type of racism to a white southerner. Handsome young Lt. Joseph Cable (Blake Du Bois), from a wealthy Philadelphia family, falls in love with Liat (Calico Velasco), a Tonkinese woman, but refuses her to marry her, despite his lack of passion for his Philadelphia fiancée.
The two love stories are the warp of South Pacific. Two other characters—Bloody Mary (Lisa Yuen) and Luther Billis (Brendan McGrady) are the weft, tying those stories together and bringing not only comic relief but insight into the sociology of the situation. Hammerstein and Logan’s book is based on James A. Michener’s Tales of the South Pacific, a fictionalized account of his experiences and of stories he heard during World War II. During the Overture, island people engaged in play and handicrafts until they were interrupted by a group of uniformed men marching across the stage, and Yuen and Billis personalize the perspectives of both of those groups of people. Yuen lights up the stage with her portrayal of a sharp businesswoman who is determined to make the best of an exploitive situation. She attempts to entice Cable with her haunting delivery of “Bali Ha’I” and joyously compelling “Happy Talk.”
The Ensemble
McGrady is a delight as the kind of natural leader who is able to mobilize people outside the approved lines of command. Appropriately, McGrady pulls off exactly the kind of delicious drag performance to “Honey Bun” that seems inevitable in an all-male society like the U.S. military in the World War II era. (While there are female nurses on the island, the enlisted men are not allowed to “fraternize,” or have non-professional relationships, with them.)
These stellar performances are well supported by Mark Szpak (Commander Harbison) and Rick Sherburne (Captain Brackett) as well as the larger ensemble of nurses and Seabees. Willy Nelson stood out within the ensemble for his cartwheels. Music director David Coleman, conductor Jeffrey Leonard, and an 18-piece orchestra brought Rodgers’s wonderful score to life for an enthusiastic audience.
Emile de Becque (Christopher Chew), his daughters (Lola Rhoads, Penelope Rhoads)
and Nellie Forbush (Jennifer Ellis)
A show like South Pacific, well-written, well-structured, and filled with music that has become part of the American songbook, is well worth performing and well worth seeing. While it was wildly successful in its initial performances, it was also controversial at the time for questioning racist attitudes. I’d like to say that those attitudes are all in the past, but of course as anyone reading this will know, that is sadly not the case. In addition to the pleasure of great music, performance, and staging, shows like South Pacific, as well as more recent compositions like A.R.T.’s Gatsby or SpeakEasy’s A Strange Loop, bring social questions to the forefront and offer a chance to consider ways in which we perpetuate injustice and inequality, either intentionally or through passive complicity.
photos by Bob Pascucci
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific
Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston
Robinson Theater, 617 Lexington St. in Waltham, MA
ends on June 23, 2024
for tickets, call 781.891.5600 or visit Reagle Music Theatre.