To see magnificent, culture-changing live theatre is always a joy. To see a superbly performed, exquisitely sung, and perfectly directed production such as the multiple Tony Award-winning Rodgers and Hammerstein classic South Pacific, back by popular demand at the Toronto Centre for the Arts until April 10, is something for the ages.
Readers of my Post City theatre columns over the past decade know that this writer is a student of musicals, who sees them as, next to jazz, the great American art form of the past century. And, it cannot be denied, this writer is also one who loves Stephen Sondheim’s work far more than any other artist in the medium, far more than nearly all the work created by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein (the latter being the mentor and one-time next-door neighbour of Sondheim). But when one experiences the nearly three hours of South Pacific, one witnesses Rodgers and Hammerstein at their best; this important musical is what King Lear was to Shakespeare, what Cherry Orchard was to Chekhov, what Endgame was to Beckett.
Not every production of South Pacific is worth seeing, of course: a musical that confronts such profound topics as life in wartime, finding love, cultural clashes and the mind-corrupting evils of racism demands high-quality acting, near-operatic singing, evocative sets, rapid pacing (the first act lasts nearly an hour and 45 minutes) and thoughtful, creative directing. This universally-praised version is so filled with now-classic songs (“Some Enchanted Evening,” “There is Nothin’ like a Dame,” “Bali Ha’i” and the hauntingly lovely “Younger Than Springtime,”) that it will touch everyone from pre-teens to the adults who grew up singing these tunes from the hit album of the early 1950s. And Bartlett Sher’s award-winning direction is a model for what can be done with a risky, still-daring script.
What stunned this critic was how much better the show is now than it was during its first visit to Toronto at the Four Seasons Centre last summer. The major male character, Frenchman Emile de Becque, is now being played by the fabulous baritone David Pittsinger (until March 6, pictured at left), who often surpasses the wonderful Jason Howard of Toronto, who will return to that key role until the end of the run. Carmen Cusack is still extraordinary, back as the love-hungry, Southern-cracker nurse, Nellie Forbush. Jodi Kimura also returns as the devious, money-hungry, daughter-pimping Bloody Mary, and is somehow even more on her game in 2011. And what a shock to discover the stunning improvements in the casting of Capt. George Brackett (Gerry Becker), Luther Billis (Timothy Gulan), and Lt. Joseph Cable (with Aaron Ramey now singing the moving and “Younger Than Springtime” better than I’ve ever heard it before). The floor of the wonderful theatre was wet from my tears.
A few final thoughts, and I have hundreds more – from the magical way each beautiful, lush song flows effortlessly from Joshua Logan and Oscar Hammerstein’s remarkably complex script, to how the seemingly wishy-washy liberal words of “You’ve Got to be Carefully Taught” remain surprisingly timely and profound (“You’ve got to be taught/to be afraid/of people whose eyes/are oddly made/and people whose skin is/a different shade/you’ve got to be carefully taught”) – the Toronto Centre for the Arts may seem like it is far from the entertainment district, but it is merely a half-dozen kilometres due north, and the TCA is probably the most comfortable theatre in the city.
Most important, there were a depressing number of empty seats the evening I experienced South Pacific again; far too many, considering what a truly essential, profoundly meaningful and joyously entertaining production this is.
Rush seats—at half the cost of previously-booked ones—will probably be available for nearly every performance. This is a production of such amazingly high quality that you’ll want to take your spouse, your teenagers, your best friend, anyone you love. I hope I’ve “carefully taught” you about what pleasures await you near Sheppard and Yonge until the 10th of April!
Allan Gould is Post City’s theatre critic