South Pacific--the new Broadway cast recording on CD

Having liked Kelli O'Hara in previous shows in which I encountered her, I was looking forward to listening to this new Broadway version of South Pacific. I was also interested to hear Paulo Szot's singing as he has made a splash for his other attributes. Nothing disappointed.

I've never seen this show on stage, but have seen the film many times, and previously discussed a concert version with Reba McIntyre. I can't discuss in depth the book of this show, but if it is half as good as the music, then it's pretty good.

One of the things I like about this show, is that R&H have continued to develop the new ideas that they've introduced in their previous shows. South Pacific has twin soliloquies, which build on the solo soliloquy in Carousel. Rather than a dream ballet, the dance moment morphs into the Thanksgiving Follies. The writers are not just routinely inserting formats that worked before, but are conforming them to the world of the story. Can you imagine the dream ballet with Billis, Stewpot and the other sailors?

Kelli O'Hara continues to impress me with her vocal talents. In the little bit of dialogue included on this disc, she has taken on a thick Southwestern drawl which annoyed me. But as Ms. O'Hara is a native of Oklahoma, I'll trust that she's gotten the Arkansas patterns right.

I was surprise that Paulo Szot's voice isn't a little darker in color, although that may be vocal the ghosts of Ezio Pinza and Brian Stokes Mitchell in my ears. Mr. Szot sings everything well and handles the high notes with easy.

I'm a little depressed to note, however, that Mr. Szot is four years younger than I am. I had hopes my ingenue days were still in full bloom.

South Pacific

Music by Richard Rodgers

Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II

Book by Joshua Logan

Opened originally in 1949, this production in 2008

Cast: Kelli O'Hara, Paulo Szot, Danny Burstein, Matthew Morrison, Loretta Able Sayres

Lost in the Stars--film on DVD

Kurt Weill's career and works are generally divided into two sections, his Wiemar Germany days-- which include Threepenny Opera, the Mahagonny songspiel and opera, and The Seven Deadly Sins--and his Broadway efforts, which include Street Scene, Lady in the Dark, and One Touch of Venus. The two periods contrast one another in themes, musical styles, and structure.

However, Lost in the Stars, Weill's final Broadway effort before his death in 1950, feels to me like a synthesis of the two Kurt Weills. Here is the theme of poverty and the struggles of "have-nots" against "haves" from his early works. Also musically, this show uses its chorus much as the German Weill used the chorus--commenting on the action and extolling some of the inner dialogue of the main characters. While there are certainly more tuneful songs in Lost in the Stars than in Threepenny Opera, some of Stars' music sounds like the Wiemar Weill, too--harsher, more confrontational, and angry.

Perhaps it is the story line that lead Weill to include these aspects in the score. Based on Alan Paton's Cry the Beloved Country, Stars follows the story of Stephen Kumalo a Black, rural South African minister looking for his grown son in the slums of Johannesburg. When he finds him, the son Absalom has shot a wealthy white man and is going on trial for murder. Despite Absalom's repentance and decision to tell the story truthfully in court, he is found guilty and sentenced to die by hanging, while his cohorts lie about their involvement and are let go for lack of evidence against them. The elder Kumalo resigns his post as minister, because he finds he can not see God's justice in this world. That nihilist viewpoint seems right out of Weill's days with Bertold Brecht.

There are several beautiful songs in this score that are not heard enough elsewhere. The title song, sung by Stephen Kumalo when he is asking God for help for those of us "Lost in the Stars", is the most familiar tune of the show. Rightfully so, it is a lovely lyric and a fine legato tune. I had also heard the song "Trouble Man" from this score and like it very much, but I was also taken with the song "Stay Well" sung by the same character (Irina, the pregnant girlfriend of the condemned man).

This film version of the 1949 show was made in the 1970s and at times is a little awkward in its camera-work. Brock Peters as the elder Kumalo has a wonderful resonant baritone and delivers his songs well. Melba Moore as Irina sells "Trouble Man" for all it's worth, but struggles somewhat with the more challenging "Stay Well". Clifton Davis as the younger Kumalo has one song that seemed very much in the Wiemar style--angry, tuneless, and with a chorus commenting on his emotion and action.

As I first sat down to watch this, I wondered why concert stagings and opera house versions of Weill's Broadway shows happen regularly, but Lost in the Stars is not done. Having watched and listened, I know why. In addition to the challenges of finding a primarily African cast, there are great sections of this show that feel stylistically awkward and would be a challenge for a contemporary audience, despite the still-timely issues of race relations and struggles with poverty.


Lost in the Stars
Music by Kurt Weill
Book and lyrics by Maxwell Anderson
Opened on Broadway in 1949, film version released in 1974
Cast: Clifton Davis, Melba Moore, Brock Peters

South Pacific in Concert from Carnegie Hall on DVD

Rodgers and Hammerstein's follow-up to Carousel was South Pacific, and my follow-up to the film Carousel is the 2005 taping for television of a one-night only semi-staged performance of South Pacific at Carnegie Hall.

The star-studded cast for this event was mostly from the world of musical theater with a couple of notable exceptions--Reba McEntire, and Alec Baldwin. Emile de Becque is sung by Tony-winner Brian Stokes Mitchell; Jason Danielley is Joe Cable; and Lillias White is Bloody Mary.

Mr. Mitchell is one of my favorite baritones, in the mold of John Raitt, with a robust and resonant voice that can climb into the high baritone range without losing its core. His singing of "Some Enchanted Evening" holds its own with the long list of operatic baritones who have sung the song before him, "This Nearly was Mine" rightfully brings the house down. In a show that is so much about race, though, I find it hard to see Nellie Forbush falling for Emile (portrayed by an African-American) then balking at the skin color of de Becque's children. But in a concert version, that is probably less important than in a fully-staged version.

Jason Danielley is a very likeable performer who can handle the rangey songs of Joe Cable. I've heard him live in concert, with his wife Marin Mazzie. While Mazzie is a high-wattage performer, Mr. Danielley can deliver the goods, too, as he does here with "Younger Than Springtime" and "You've Got to be Carefully Taught", although I question whether this song was shortened in this version.

Ms. McEntire is well-cast as Nellie Forbush. Her trademark accent and singing style really drive home the differences between Nellie and Emil. While I don't always agree with some of the vocal choices she makes, its hard to argue that she is a very watchable and listenable performer--in any genre.

Concert stagings of shows are hard things to balance, I would imagine. Often times, the performers' focus on their hand-held scripts seems to keep the performance from reaching out past the stage edge. Lillias White as Bloody Mary seems to understand this, and sings "Bali Hai" off book. It makes her performance that much more watchable, for me. Ms. McEntire does the same with the "Honey Bun" song, which from both a staging and engagement standpoint make it a lot more fun.

South Pacific
Music by Richard Rodgers
Book and Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
Presented in concert in 2005 at Carnegie Hall
Cast: Reba McEntire, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Alec Baldwin, Jason Danielley, Lillias White.