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Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific (The New Broadway Cast) | 
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| Creators: Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein Ii, Kelli O'hara, Paolo Szot, Matthew Morrison, Loretta Ables Sayre, Danny Burstein
Label: SONY CLASSICS
Category: Music
List Price: $18.98
Buy New: $10.29
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Avg. Customer Rating:  72 reviews
Sales Rank: 433
Format: Cast Recording
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.9 x 0.4
MPN: 730457
UPC: 886973045725
EAN: 0886973045725
Release Date: May 27, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Condition: New! ---- New York's largest selection of CD's & DVD's at the lowest prices since 1976
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| Tracks:
| • | Act 1. Overture | | • | Act 1. Dites-moi | | • | Act 1. A cockeyed optimist | | • | Act 1. Twin Soliloquies | | • | Act 1. Some Enchanted Evening | | • | Act 1. Bloody Mary | | • | Act 1. There is Nothin' Like a Dame | | • | Act 1. Bali ha'i | | • | Act 1. My Girl Back Home | | • | Act 1. I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair | | • | Act 1. Reprise: Some Enchanted Evening | | • | Act 1. A Wonderful Guy | | • | Act 1. Reprise: Bali ha'i | | • | Act 1. Younger than Springtime | | • | Act 1. Reprise: Wonderful Guy | | • | Act 1. This is How It Feels | | • | Act 1. Finale Act 1 | | • | Act 2. Entr'acte | | • | Act 2. Happy Talk | | • | Act 2. Reprise: Younger Than Springtime | | • | Act 2. Honey Bun | | • | Act 2. You've Got to Be Carefully Taught | | • | Act 2. This Nearly Was Mine | | • | Act 2. Reprise: Some Enchanted Evening | | • | Act 2. Reprise: Honey Bun | | • | Act 2. Finale Ultimo |
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Album Description
The landmark musical's first-ever Broadway revival! The curtain rang down on Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific in 1954 after five years of extraordinary acclaim and countless awards including nine Tonys and a Pulitzer. Based on James Michener's Pulitzer Prize winning book Tales of the South Pacific, the musical is set on a tropical island during World War II and tells the sweeping romantic story of two couples - U.S. Navy nurse Nellie Forbush and French plantation owner Emile de Becque and Marine Joe Cable and a young local native girl Liat - and how their happiness is threatened by the realities of the war and by their own prejudices. Considered by many the finest musical ever written, the score's songs include such musical theater classics as "Some Enchanted Evening," "Younger Than Springtime," "Bali Ha'i," "There is Nothin' Like a Dame" and "A Wonderful Guy."
Album Description
New Broadway Cast Recording of South Pacific. The landmark musical's first-ever Broadway revival! The curtain rang down on Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific in 1954 after five years of extraordinary acclaim and countless awards including nine Tonys and a Pulitzer. Based on James Michener's Pulitzer Prize winning book Tales of the South Pacific, the musical is set on a tropical island during WW II and tells the sweeping romantic story of two couples - U.S. Navy nurse Nellie Forbush and French plantation owner Emile de Becque and Marine Joe Cable and a young local native girl Liat - and how their happiness is threatened by the realities of the war and by their own prejudices. The score's songs include such musical theater classics as "Some Enchanted Evening," "Younger Than Springtime," "Bali Ha'i," "There is Nothin' Like a Dame" and "A Wonderful Guy."
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| Customer Reviews: Read 67 more reviews...
 there is nothin' like a good revival June 6, 2008
19 out of 22 found this review helpful
it is too easy to judge a revival of a golden broadway hit by the template of the original and find the newer show wanting; this one is not, believe me. i can understand how frank rich of the new york times burst into tears in response to the opening night show; i almost did, too, when i listened to this cd for the first time. this edition of south pacific -- only the second on the broadway stage in 60 years -- is simply sublime. i found it better than the original in many ways. it is the best revival since guys and dolls with nathan lane, better than the recent revivals of the music man (close) kiss me kate (not so much) and pal joey (get oudda here...).
and folks who say this recording is insipid or lacks energy or that certain songs are "too well sung" are all wet. the orchestrations are true to the original ones, so the music will immediately sound familiar and comfortable, but now with 21st century technology and crystal clear sound so you can hear what the music sounded like to folks back in 1949.
kelli o'hara is out of sight as nellie forbush; her voice is pure and clear and pitch perfect and conveys all the energy you'd want and she interprets the lyrics "correctly" (read: as we have come to understand from mary martin and mitzi gaynor). she even affects a southern accent, and exudes way more in good looks and femininity than mary martin ever did, and is more energetic and more of a real singer than mitzi gaynor in the movie. they can mail kelli the tony right now.
paulo szot as emile de becque fills up the music hall with his baritone-bass voice on his big songs, especially twin soliloquies and this nearly was mine. some enchanted evening was a little softer than ezio pinza's and that song needs to be boomed out. i was as satisfied with his voice overall, however, as with pinza's or rossano brazzi's -- and paulo has a sort of robert goulet look about him, with a mustache no doubt meant to instantly convey the french planter look.
the only voices i found wanting and suffering in comparison with the originals were loretta ables sayre as bloody mary -- she is not juanita hall and sounds too much like a middle-aged lea salonga and not gravelly and rough enough to convey bloody mary's edge and cynicism as hall did so well especially on bali ha'i or even happy talk
-- and matthew morrison, as joe cable, who has to strain to hit the high notes on younger than springtime, which william tabbert in the original show never had any problem with. springtime, along with some enchanted evening, are the male arias in this opera and need big voices to carry them off and morrison's is too thin. even on my girl back home he seems to be straining a bit. he does convey more youth than tabbert or john kerr, who played joe cable in the movie, did, which may be what R & H had in mind for the character.
the ensemble numbers -- there is nothin' like a dame, wash that man right outta my hair and i'm in love with a wonderful guy -- are strong and energetic; certainly no complaints there; every bit as good as the original.
one advantage of cds is that you can get more material on them than on lp records so there is some dialogue, which especially is effective when emile introduces his two children to nellie and she reacts as only a carefully taught bigoted southern belle would; you get more context for the drama and progression of the story in the songs.
the show is edgier and more up front and in your face re the race issue than the movie was; anyone who thinks rodgers and hammerstein were all warm and fuzzy fluffmeisters need only watch this show or listen to this cd -- and take a harder look at flower drum song to see that they had courage to confront, sometimes with seriousness and sometimes with humor, the race issue. finian's rainbow, which came out at about the same time, addressed it, too, but only showboat -- which came out 20 years before -- when done right and in its entirety with its full gravity and not as a minstrel show, confronts the race issue more and better than does south pacific.
i think there was an idealistic, optimistic (but not cockeyed) feeling in 1949 that it was a new world after the war and we all had a chance for a fresh start, under new rules, and the old rules, including of racial discrimination, were fair game to be overturned,, in polynesia as well as on main street usa, so R & H saw the opportunity to use michener's story as their soapbox to lend their voices to that movement.
if you are only going to buy one south pacific and want the best and most enjoyable one to listen to, i would buy this one rather than the original cast recording or the movie; i had both of those already, but from now on, this is the one i will mainly listen to -- it is that good.
Ravishing June 4, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Not to be missed...the right ages...the right voices...the original orchestrations...the correct order...the right conductor...brilliant interpretations.
What A Broadway Musical Is !!!!! July 19, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This show still puts the likes of Spring Awakening, Young Frankenstein, In The Heights and nearly every other show of the past couple of years, to shame. After nearly 60 yrs!!! In 60 more years will anyone remember any of the garbage from Spring Awakening? A revival of Passing Strange on Broadway? I doubt it.
South Pacific from biased reviewer August 13, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
An acquaintance of mine (friend of friends)plays Bloody Mary so I am predisposed to like it. But I was not disappointed in any aspect. I loved the original and loved the movie and I love this. I hope I can get to see it in a year or two. Also, the backdrop for the first half of the movie was the view from my condo in Kane`ohe, Hawai`i, for eight years, so when I want to be reminded of South Pacific, I just look at the mural on our wall in Oregon. Good luck Loretta. Keep on belting. Aloha.
Triumphant cast recording June 5, 2008
9 out of 13 found this review helpful
Let's get one (very) relative cavil out of the way. If, in an ideal world, if I had a choice as to how a recording for such a show as this would be done, it'd be this. I'd have microphones set up at an ideal place between orchestra and stage. After the run was established, I'd record, say, two weeks worth of performances. Then, I'd have the artists, producers and recording engineers have a vote as to what the collectively, mutually-agreed upon best performance is of each given number. Allow some stage noises. The audience's reaction. The live, raw performance, with all its edge, tensions and artistic personalities all at the fore.
This is very much a studio affair. The microphoning, fairly close. The artists, of the studio, of a different mindset than in performance mode. Knowing this is for posterity. A bit more control, care involved. No audience to give to and respond off of. A slight tamping down of theatrical projection. Putting down something for forever must be a nerve-wracking premise. Therefore, the energy in this recording is painted in more subtle rather than bold strokes.
That said, this recording is an absolute triumph. I got carried away in the euphoria hearing the fresh accounts of the songs in this score. Laughing in delight at times, getting choked-up at others. This timeless show, so relevant today, hasn't dated or staled an iota. South Pacific captures the perfect American vernacular. These are our treasures, our American sentiments, our American dreams, our American expressions. Our American soul. (As an aside: I think the best account of this show I've ever read was in Shelley Winters's first autobio circa about 1980. She evokes the emotional, universal, post-war response to the show with a spot-on account. She relates how everyone acquired the records of the cast recording, and that they were played by everyone, all the time. Winters at the time was euphemistically "dating" Burt Lancaster, and she poignantly recounted how he reacted, tearfully, at the line "Most people live on a lonely island," which gave the impression of how he felt about himself as a person. That insight made me realize the deeper meaning, and it ended my view that "Bali Ha'i" was a sort of novelty song)
Who would ever have dreamed that we'd have this rightness of casting here, today, 60 years later. Maybe even more right in some ways now than then.
Here we have Paulo Szot, an Emile of one's dreams. The right age, voice, temperament, looks. Not younger than springtime, definitely younger than winter and autumn. Very much the summer is he, in his prime, not past it. Father of two very young children. A youngish, vital man. This is very much a baritone Emile, not Grandpapa Emile, not stately, not operatically grandiloquent, but human, thoughtful and romantic. His English, touched with the continental, is perfect. "Some Enchanted Evening" as warm, tender, thoughtfully phrased as one could wish. At first musing, contemplative, the song builds to a glorious climax, ending on a beautifully pensive note. His crowning moment comes in "This Nearly Was Mine." Inward, restrained, allowing the line to speak for itself; no overemoting, as I heard another, recent Emile do. No Emile I've ever heard makes the line 'close to my heart she came' so filled, as Szot achieves, with such a touchingly poignant sense of heartbreak. After the bridge, the return to the main melody is sung with even more quietly, its perfectly sustained, slender line of tone conveying a deeply pronounced loss and sadness. Szot allows his voice to quiver slightly at 'Now, now I'm alone,' and his concluding, 'Once, nearly was mine' to pour out with emotional fervor. You can deduce why Szot has won such a favorable response from audience and critics. I look very much forward to Szot's future work in opera; the MET, if it is smart, will not let him get away.
As Nellie, Kelli O'Hara is another winning casting coup. Blessed with a non-ingenue voice and manner, she brings a welcomely straightforward, easy spontaneity, as well as verve, to her music. Most notably, she avoids that all-purpose, dreadfully cheerful "spunk" (as Lou Grant says, "I HATE spunk") in her manner. O'Hara can Broadway-belt AND sing in an authentic soprano register. This is important. The belt is for the extrovert emotions of "I'm Gonna Was That Man Right Outta My Hair," and "A Wonderful Guy," and can hit the lows and highs very soundly, musically. Yet, when she has to sing the reprises of "Some Enchanted Evening," she can impart a soft, romantic timbre; particularly on track 24, she sings the verses with a most tender, wistful sense of longing, and she successfully utilizes a ballad-like singing tone. A very appealing portrayal, and O'Hara wins us over by her excellent tastes and instincts.
You may correctly assume that Matthew Morrison, as Joe Cable, does not have a "classically" trained voice, and I imagine he needs amplification. No matter; he sounds the part to a T - plausibly youthful. Morrison *really* sounds the young, bloom-of-youth marine. He has a very sweet tone, and uses it well, expressively. He doesn't bleat as some exponents of Cables do, nor does he sound confusingly sophisticated and professional as Bill Lee (excellent singer though he is), singing for John Kerr in the film soundtrack. "Younger than Springtime" is fresh, tender and romantically infatuated. But Morrison finds a new edge of realization, maturity and defiance in "Carefully Taught." Fittingly, he provides the right boyish contrast to the debonair, urbane, older Emile of Szot.
Loretta Ables Sayre is an impeccably right Bloody Mary. Right accent, right kind of strong, earthy, memorably "peasanty-islander"-evoked tone. Yet musical, characterful. "Bali H'ai" is alluringly sung, and "Happy Talk" is sprightly, but not overdone. Ables Sayre was a lucky find for this revival.
For all that is individual as these characterizations are, what makes these work with such dynamite success is how well they complement, yet *contrast* each other. Each character has its own voice, its own flavor and culture, and they collectively add up to a colorful series of vastly different personalities.
Then, too, the choral numbers have never sounded so lusty and roaring with life. They're having fun, and this is the kind of music to let it out.
We have here a very full representation of the show, a good one-third of it - clocking in at 65 minutes. The all-important reprises are included, as well as some dialogue, underpinned by the music. Very important, as it shows the evolution of the characters and story, with all its connective tissue. I always think that a show like this (and others) are akin to French Opera Comique, where there's songs, dialogue, and dialogue enhanced by music. The action brought forward by the dialogue, the song/music expressions of emotions.
The conductor, Ted Sperling, presides over the score with great love, precision and skill. I don't ever recall such a hand of such concise musical sensitivity applied to the score as here. The intros to numbers, and the dialogue underlinings stand out, and have an unusually emotional tug, and are all set up and delivered superbly well. "Bali H'ai," for example, is allowed its full mystical, harp-laden intro, and it gives it just that tantalizing, paradisiacal ambiance.
I salute all those involved in this peerless, joyful revival, which the public has turned into a hit show - again. Easy to see why. Besides its great music and moving story, and without needing any further elaboration, its themes are never more apt than they are now. I thank the collective efforts of all involved for fulfilling a "dream in my heart."
Niel Rishoi
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