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Thursday July 28, 2022
South Pacific
This is my favourite musical (maybe second to Sweeney Todd), thus I've seen a lot of productions, and, seriously, this is the best. Truth to tell, most shows suffer because of my internal comparison with the film. However, I haven't seen such a charming and enthusiastically naive Nellie since Mitzi Gaynor - and There is Nothing Like a Dame is performed quite brilliantly (unlike some stagings where you think "is this ever going to end?"). True, modern productions benefit from performers being miked up, but nonetheless this one is really exceptional.
The musical itself has a lot of underlying serious themes - not sure if they are considered PC these days, but they are certainly at least addressed. This one showed very clearly the "unintended consequences" - of war, I suppose you could say - where a military outfit descends on a pacific island, totally disrupts the local economy, and then abruptly ships out. Being a creation of Americans, not long after said war, there is no real blame attached - just a terrible sadness. One even wonders how Nellie will fare after her "happy ever after" moment - maybe her good heart and her cock-eyed optimism will be enough to see her through.
Posted by Christina at 11:53 AM. Category: Art and Culture
