South Pacific

A few months back I saw on PBS this " Live From Lincoln Center "  ( Doubly not- ive in my Cali case , as not only was it delased , I actually saw KQED's 2 AM-ish repeat of their prime time schedule , as they ( I assume still . ) do . ) production of Rogers and Hammerstein's musical " South Pacific " , a staging of this couple-years-back hit Broadway revival of it that toured after that ( Playing here . ) , before the PBS staging .

  As a child my parents had the LP of the Martin/Pinza original cast , and I 

You need to be a member of Captain Comics to add comments!

Join Captain Comics

Votes: 0
Email me when people reply –

Replies

  • ...( Okay , my posting conditions tendency to have to do short chunks can make for awkward divions of my writing , especially when I get distracted at this end and get into talking to people , especially since the beginning of a line goes up most prominently on top there .

      However , that said...Continuing...)

    ...have seen the Gaynor-starrer Logan film over the years . 11-ish years back there was a made-for-TV remake of it with Glen Close/Serbidjija  and Harry Connick , Jr. , which I saw only a bit of , tho I'd like to see more . Some years ago I actually read Michener's original book , " Tales Of The South Pacific " .

      Anyhow , did anybody else see the PBS show ?

    ( Disclosure: I mised a little of it/had some parts of the dialogue covered up my stuff at my place . Also , I will SPOIL here . )

      For a atarter , just to be a " critic " , to my tastes the singing wasn't strong enough - perhaps the director/the R&H estate decided to empasize " acting " a bit more - the woman playing Nellie Forbush seemed to emphasize the Southern accent a little too much , maybe I don't tend to care so much about " actor-ly " correctness when there's singing in musicals , and I suppose that goes against the general grain of stage performances to-day?? I mean , it's not like I have the money to go to stage plays ever ( Spending too much money on funnybooks ? )...I mean , I am actually bring up a subject that I suppose skews even OLDER than our general demogarphic/cohort here ( Gasp !!!!! )...

      I am vamping here , hoping someone will step in w/an opinion...

  • ...Actually , when I tuned in , the " singing sailors " part was getting to be a bit much , and I was wondering whether I'd last...But then the woman who played Bloody Mary ( Nioe: This show appears to not be listed at IMDB now ! :-( ) sang " Bali 'Hai ":-)...and that resuec it for me , I kept on .
  • I don't think I saw that version, which you can read about here http://www.playbill.com/news/article/142172-Broadways-Tony-Winning-... and http://blogcritics.org/video/article/tv-review-south-pacific-live-f... among other places on the Web.

    I did see a remade version from a few years back, but it was not a Broadway staging of it. Like you, my parents had the soundtrack album when I was a kid (they were Mary Martin fans), and I've known the songs for a long time. I have a copy of the CD still today. It's hard to appreciate a remake when the original is so well ingrained in you.

    BTW, you might want to consider writing your comments in a Word file or on Notepad or some other place where you can keep it together until you've got it the way you want, and then cut and paste it into message box.

    I do that with anything that's going to be more than a few paragraphs, because something might glitch while I'm working, and then I lose it all--and rewriting long posts is not much fun.

    -- MSA

  • ...Thank you for the links and thank you for the advice ~! :-)

      However , my present posting circumstances , etc. , do not allow me to follow the latter , I thinkseth . I sowwy:-(...

      I'll presume that it was this Close/Connick ( Harry played Lt. Cable , not Nellie's fellie :-)! ) MfTV version you saw...

  • Yes, that's the one I saw. It wasn't bad, although Glenn Close is not Mary Martin. I don't remember seeing that PBS one, but it might be worth seeing ,too.

     

    -- MSA

  • I saw the recent one, too. It was good but I liked Kevin Kline's Cyrano de Bergerac better!
  • ...I wondered a little when I saw it whether they were using Joshua Logan's?? original 1948 book or an updating of it , and ,  At Another Board , someone else wondered that too .

      The film was the only version I'd seen of it in full , and it was made when the Production Code - as well as just general 1950s sensibilities and , of course , Hollywood-zation in general , were both there...

  • ...IIRC , in the film...

      It is stated that Enrique's children from his previous relationship to a native woman were from a marriage . Did this version specify that ?

      As far as Lt. Cable's doomed romance:

      I think that , in the picture , Bloody Mary stated that the woman she matches Cable to was her daughter . I don't think that was stated in the 21st Century revival that PBS showed .

      Furthermore , BM's fixing up of the woman and Cable starts off decidedly less " respectable " in the PBS version .

      Bluntly , it is made clear , if only at a PG-13 if that level , if that , that Cable and the woman allow Cable to obtain release/satisfaction " on the first date " ., and this is acceptable to both the woman and BM . Their relationship progresses to " true romance " , and I guess marriage is at least mentioned as an ideal/something to be hoped for ( Though , certainly for Main Line Philadelphia WASP Cable , totally hopeless , with a non-Westernized Pacific Islander )...

  • ...and so , Cable leaves on his doomed last mission , after singing the touching " Carefully Taught " .

      So , blah blah blah , the " sacrificial goat/gate " character , allowing , symbolically , the primary characters to proceed to romantic/personal fullfillment after his sacrifice .

      BTW , it might seem odd that Nellie , as a military woman , stays on the island when all other Americans abandon the island , but , even from a straightforward military context , as ( Though , IIRC , she was officially broken up with Enrique at the time the de-Americanizing happens . ) the best-qualified person to guard/take care of American asset Enrique's children , aside from letting her rest/get over her heartbreak/possibly ( As of course the story concludes with...) re-Cupidize with Enrique , should he survive , I guess that would be the justification .

      The actor playing Cable seemed to me , sort of , as if he had been directed to act as if he was in rehab , sniffing/snorting/sweating alla time !!!!!!!

This reply was deleted.