Review: Allenberry's SOUTH PACIFIC - This Paradise is More than Nearly Great

Despite those awkward votes for Rodgers and Hammerstein's OKLAHOMA as the Great American Musical, their SOUTH PACIFIC is far superior, and close to a perfectly... all right, a perfectly enchanted evening, when everything goes well. When it goes spectacularly, there really isn't anything better. It has some of R&H's most beautiful music, their most compelling drama, and their broadest comedy, all against the backdrop of the Pacific Islands during World War Two. (Richard Rodgers and WWII music go hand in glove. Does anyone else remember the musical glory that is VICTORY AT SEA?)

At Allenberry, directed by Artistic Director Ryan Gibbs, SOUTH PACIFIC isn't a small, perfect gem - it's a big, gaudy jewel that demands that you see how marvelous it is. It's almost over-the-top great, and a real reflection of the theatre's change in artistic perspective. It's big, but it doesn't feel too big for Allenberry's stage. The set, designed by Andre Valsing, combines highly realistic with highly stylized, and a realistic naval base and a stylish, stylized island of Bali Hai fits perfectly with the sailors' picture of the off-limits island as the epitome of their feverish dreams of utopia. Dann Dunn's choreography isn't overblown; these sailors dance like guys who are sailors, not sailors who are secretly ballet dancers, in a more-realistic-than-the-OKLAHOMA-ballet move that also works as it should.

Much has been made of Andy Lebon's Emile deBecque. And why not? He's handsome, he's stylish, and his "Some Enchanted Evening" in the first act is a thing of beauty - while his "This Nearly Was Mine," which I have always thought the superior song, in the second act, is magical. It takes Lebon a while to hit his stride in the show, but once he's hit it, he's the heroic superman that everyone wants. Two other performers, however, are the real hits here - Dennis Setteducati as the ever-scheming but mostly harmless SeaBee Luther Billis, who is a comic gift to this production, and Laura Yen Solito as Bloody Mary. The peddler Bloody Mary is normally portrayed as a combination of shrewd businesswoman and comic character; Solito gives the audience a new and fascinating take, as a woman close to the edge of sanity, or perhaps just a bit on the other side of it. The take feels fresh, and that's great. And Solito gives the classic "Bali Hai" the lush, romantic rendering that its fans love.

Allenberry veteran Katie Sexton plays Little Rock native, nurse Nellie Forbush, with real animation, a delight to see in "Gotta Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair" and in the classic comedy sequence "Honeybun" with Billis as the hula girl. Her sudden burst of anti-Polynesian racism that threatens her romance with deBecque almost seems out of place, given her level of charm.

There are those who find SOUTH PACIFIC dated, or perhaps contrived. While Rodgers and Hammerstein shows may be slightly archaic in form as book musicals in a post-Sondheim era, SOUTH PACIFIC isn't really an issue. If a pot shot must be taken at R&H, take it at CAROUSEL, a worthy target with its encouragement of domestic violence in its plot, and yet recently revived in Chicago with a star cast including Charlotte d'Amboise, or at the truly inexplicable STATE FAIR (and its even more inexplicable song, "Sweet Pig of Mine"). If nothing else, SOUTH PACIFIC has virtues not only in its lush, near-operatic songs, but in its unsparing looks at wartime military and at racism. Some may find the anti-racism message laid on a bit thickly, but current events suggest that perhaps America hasn't made the progress those critics might hope. It's a message that's still all over the evening news and still unheeded.

At Allenberry through August 30 and worth the trip. Your ears will thank you. For tickets and information visit www.allenberry.com or call 717-258-3211. B