South Pacific

South Pacific is without doubt one of the great musicals with a sparkling score and a touching and daring - at the time - script.    It was brave enough to tackle the delicate issue of racism on stage.   This, in 1947, was truly ground breaking.    Leatherhead O.S. performed this mighty show with great skill, panache and musicality.    A very strong cast underpinned  the strength of this most enjoyable evening.

The leads Amy Watkins as Nellie Forbush and Tim Evans as Frenchman Emile de Becque were both superb with beautiful voices and accurate accents.    Emile's children Ngana and Jerome (Mollie Hanant and James Gaffney respectively) were cuteness itself and their duet "Dites-Moi" was very touching.    Michael May as his servant Henry did well.

Lieutenant Joe Cable, Jaco Botha has a pleasant and distinctive voice.   I particularly enjoyed his "Younger than Springtime"  and his portrayal of a strong but vulnerable character.

Janet Jones as Bloody Mary was a delight in every way, she together with Tim Evans, had the best singing voices in the show.   Hers is a wonderful part to play and absolutely key in this show.   I have not seen it bettered.    Her "stingy bastard" repeatedly made me smile.   Mary's daughter Liat, Lt. Cable's love interest, was prettily played by Drew O'Hare.  

Luther Billis, played with impish and streetwise charm by Daniel Burns, can be proud of his performance.    Similarly for Ian Radburn (Capt. George Brackett) and Mark Mowbray (Commander William Harbison), both of them having a strong military, mature bearing combined with an element of kindness.

The well equipped Leatherhead Theatre allowed the highly experienced Director, John Harries-Rees full rein to keep the scene changes moving slickly.   His Director's note in the detailed and well laid out programme state that, as a six year old, "South Pacific" was the first film he saw.   He can certainly feel justly proud of this slick, pacy production.    It was well cast, acted, sung and danced.    It was reassuring to see so many young people in the company - not merely the children.   Choreographer  Louise Wilson assisted by Karen Ward must take much credit too.   The company numbers were truly outstanding and "Nothing like a Dame"  and "I'm gonna wash that Man" were fabulous.   Musical Director Colin Copestake did full justice to this melodious score, though once or twice the musical underscore during dialogue was a little loud.

Lighting provided by Richard Pike was well used and enhanced the varying moods on stage.   Costumes were accurate for the period, though I thought ideally the Island boys should have worn waist sarongs rather than shorts.

One small gripe - there was no mention of NODA in the programme.    Sadly this is becoming more common with societies generally.

All in all a rattling good show performed by a talented and hard-working company and I was very grateful for the invitation to review.

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