Review: SOUTH PACIFIC IN CONCERT at Olney Theatre Center

Originally scheduled to open Olney Theatre Center's Olney Outdoors Summer series, Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific in Concert played on August 20th on the Roberts Mainstage, safe from the very heavy rain pouring outside. 

The show featured the classic music of the beloved show, as well as snippets of the book. Both Jessica Lauren Ball and William Michals returned from the previous, full-on production as Nellie and Emile, respectively. The two were joined by Rayanne Gonzales as Bloody Mary, Ben Lurye as Lt. Joseph Cable, Justine "Icy" Moral as Liat, Calvin McCullough as Luther Billis, and Bobby Smith as Capt. Brackett. The featured soloists were positioned at the front of the stage, in clothes that evoked costumes of the period. 

Behind them were the many talented musicians, as well as the Baltimore Choral Arts Society. The concert featured full instrumentation, which was a special treat, as it can be difficult and expensive for theaters, particularly regional ones, to provide such robust musical coverage (as mentioned before the show). 

Even without the text, the show's pertinent themes were communicated through the soaring music and vocals. One song in particular stood out in terms of current day relevancy, and that was "You've Got to Be Carefully Taught" sung by the wise Lieutenant Cable. He sings "You've got to be taught to hate and fear / ... 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 taught before it’s too late, / Before you are six or seven or eight, / To hate all the people your relatives hate— ... " It's the culmination of the shows themes, and a moment of direct adress to audience, spoken directly from the show's creators. Its both inspiring and saddening to see that racism and bigotry was so clearly understood 75 years ago, and that the these words, these lyrics, are still needed, if not just as much back then as today. The show inspires hope, however, that even those of us who are raised in prejudice can overcome it, and turn hatred into love. 

Aside from the themes, the show was technically moving. The music, the vocals, and the ambience were all enjoyable, and surely filled many audience members with nostalgia for pleasant memories of the show's history, or perhaps the popular film adaptation. 

It was an enchanting night of envigorating and touching music and tender narrative—a celebration of one of the most famous and apt musicals in the American Canon. While this was a one night only engagement, Olney Outdoors has their last event on the 24th. Information on that and the rest of their season can be found on Olney Theatre Center's website.