The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization

What better way to approach the end of a run than to have a performance televised live.  That’s what happened with the extraordinary Bartlett Sher-directed production at Lincoln Center Theater that ends its long run this weekend.  Live From Lincoln Center is a wonderful idea and a wonderful program – through the PBS network, different individual performance from all over the Lincoln Center campus gets broadcast absolutely live.  OK, the PBS stations around the country can either show it live or choose a delayed broadcast, but to keep the title of the series accurate, any replay has to occur within two weeks of the live event.  Over the years there have been concerts, ballets, operas, plays, and musicals as part of the series, and it was thrilling to know that SOUTH PACIFIC would be included.

So it was a loyal and friendly group who assembled at the Beaumont on Wednesday night.  Our rules for the tickets we were offered was simple: either people who had never seen the production, or whose passion for it created the need for one final fix before the closing.  Some from the latter group had seen in five times or more.  The bittersweet nature of what was about to happen was discussed as we all milled about. The show would be good, that we knew.  And we also knew it would be captured.  But within a few days, it would be history.

Six cameras were surreptitiously placed throughout the house, one robotic one hugged the very front lip of the stage, one could be seen in the pit focused on conductor Ted Sperling,  and one crane swung overhead, planted at the rear of the house.  None of them bothered us – there is something to be said for the small size of high end television cameras these days.  We were comforted to know that when we got home we could take a look and see what the home viewers were seeing (many of whom texted, tweeted and BlackBerried all night long with blow-by-blow accolades…)

While it is normal for a long run to take on slightly peculiar reality all of its own, this production just got better and better.  Starting from Sperling’s impeccable tempo for the Overture (the composer would have been very happy) and the ‘coup de theatre’ that reveals the 30 piece orchestra, the performance was amazing.  Since we were seeing six of the original principal cast members – Kelli O’Hara (Nellie), Paulo Szot (Emile), Loretta Abeles Sayre (Bloody Mary), Danny Burstein (Luther Billis), Skipp Suddeth (Brackett) and Sean Cullen (Harbison) – it was great to see how even more brilliant each one of them has become since the beginning.  Kelli and Paulo seemed like they were made for each other, which made the nuances of the relationship between the characters incredibly real.  Loretta has created a Bloody Mary of such mystery, humor, anger, mischievousness, resentment – and no one will ever get the reaction that she receives from “made otta head!”  Danny found laughs where there never were laughs before – pausing, for example, just enough before the “-tute” in “substitute for” – and created a Billis of more depth than I’ve ever seen.  His touching relationship with Nellie has never been explored with as much resonance.  And Skipp and Sean made such sense out of the military presence and leadership in their office scenes that everyone in the theater knew exactly what was happening with the military action on that island. That’s not an easy accomplishment.

I kept being blown away at how well told the story of SOUTH PACIFIC is.  And with a director’s eye as astute and sharp as Bart’s, every nuance of that story comes across.  Last night the grass skirts grabbed my fancy – what’s the heck is the point of grass skirts, I thought – except that they provide a vitally necessary reason for Blood Mary to enter the story and set up her modus operandi, and then they’re done away with in the connection with Capt. Brackett who, as Mary keeps chiding, is indeed “sending home Chicago to sexy sweetheart.”  (OK, Cleveland, actually, but close enough).  Because the audience was extremely responsive, some time was lost in the first act, so after the abbreviated intermission Bart was backstage telling the men to speed up the scene about the diversionary action in the second act. (Television, remember?)   The result?  The scene played like gangbusters, again, making total sense of something that in some productions I have seen, is a complicated, plotty, seemingly unnecessary part of an already long show.  Last night: clear as a bell that Billis’ modus operandi actually helped with the military action of getting Emile and Joe Cable behind enemy lines.

I could go on and on – that’s what seeing this production multiple times allows.  By the time of the last laugh – Nellie handing the soup ladle to Emile – and then the final Joshua Logan-inspired clasp under the table, out of sight of the two children, we all leapt to our feet.  Even though we were saddened at the thought that this production will no longer be performing after Sunday, it was heartening to know that Live From Lincoln Center at least captured the best possible souvenir.

- Ted Chapin

Don’t forget to check your local listings to find out when South Pacific is airing on your local PBS affiliate

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