South Pacific

South Pacific, composed by Richard Rodgers, with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II premiered in 1949 on Broadway and was an immediate hit, running for 1,925 performances. Rodgers and Hammerstein believed they could write a musical that would be financially successful and, at the same time, send a strong progressive message on racism and Mansfield Operatic certainly managed in this production to capture both the light and deeper messages of South Pacific without drifting into cliché or caricature that can result when portraying native islanders, American and French characters.

It has been some time since I have seen South Pacific and the production team certainly brought out some fresh performances from the lead characters on this first night.  Jo Dewberry was excellent as the energy packed Nellie Forbush throughout the night in movement, singing and character development with highlights including I’m gonna wash that man right out of my hair and This nearly was mine.  Jo was very well matched by Sean Curtis as Emile and the central relationship between these two characters was elegantly and subtly developed through the night.  Sean brought both gravitas and vulnerability to his characterisation with great vocal strength in solo and duet’s alike and should be congratulated for avoiding overacting scenes which would have diminished his portrayal.

Theresa Stafford had one of the more difficult challenges with Bloody Mary to avoid the pitfalls of the ‘pigeon english’ dialogue and she delivered a very sympathetic performance that portrayed the over confidence hiding fear for her, and her daughter’s, future.  David Egan vocally was on great form and complemented his musicality with a strong acting performance that made the untimely death of Lt Cable all the more impactful, especially when coupled with relationship that developed with Helen Mumby’s gentle Liat.

Paige Allen and Amelia Elvidge were both very impressive as Ngana and Nicole and their vocal work in Dites-moi was another highlight of the evening.The comedy for the night was brought with great effect by Wayne Shutt, Simon Brickell, Stuart Moody, Matthew Bird and Garry Richardson who ensured, along with the Ensigns, that the musical and dance numbers moved with enthusiasm, pace and enjoyment for cast and audience alike.

Performances of this quality don’t happen by accident and Pam & Carolyn should be congratulated for their vision, attention to detail and coaching of their cast in duet/dialogue, chorus and monologue work which were all equally strong.  The choreography was pitched very expertly, being both challenging and also approachable making the joy of delivery obvious to the audience.  This is no mean feat so hats off to Cassey.  As I have already mentioned, throughout the night the vocal performances were excellent which is a testament to the hard work Paul has obviously put into the rehearsal period.  On the night his command of the large orchestra, coupled with excellent sound design and execution ensured that there was a excellent balance between voice and orchestration.  Lighting, costuming, makup and set all added to the experience with predominantly speedy set changes adding to the overall effect.

Congratulations to all and I very much look forward to seeing you again.

Martin Holtom

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