A Sneak Peek of "South Pacific"

This is how Tony Award-winning director Bartlett Sher describes the audacity of Rodgers and Hammerstein in creating South Pacific, a romantic musical about World War II just five years after the war ended: “It’s like saying ‘let’s make a musical about the war in Iraq. Wouldn’t that be fun?’” he says with a laugh.

Sher is speaking at the Four Seasons Centre in downtown Toronto, where media and guests were treated to a sneak peek of South Pacific on Monday morning. Dancap Productions is bringing the lavish musical to the Centre in August as part of their inaugural Summer Broadway Series, and Sher, director of the award-winning Lincoln Centre revival, will be at the helm.

South Pacific takes place on a South Pacific island during World War II and follows the love story between Ensign Nellie Forbush, a young Navy nurse, and Emile de Becque, an older French plantation owner who is the father of two mixed-race children. Besides the requisite themes of romance, passion, and humour, the musical deals with the cruelty of war and racial prejudice – one of the many reasons Bert Fink of Rodgers & Hammerstein calls the musical both “timely and timeless.”

There are other reasonsSouth Pacific is considered groundbreaking both then and now: it begins not with a lavish opening musical number, but a series of quieter, more intimate songs to set the mood. And at the time it was written, musicals were rarely based on real events and rarely took place in foreign locales.

It’s also considered one of the greatest musicals in history, and audiences will likely recognize the melodies, if not many of the songs themselves. On hand to preview the Toronto production of South Pacific were the two stars, Jason Howard, a musical and opera singer based in Toronto, and Carmen Cusack, who spent the last two years playing Elphaba in the touring production of Wicked.

The two performed “A Cockeyed Optimist,” “Some Enchanted Evening,” “A Wonderful Guy,” and “This Nearly Was Mine,” accompanied by a 25-piece orchestra made up of local Toronto musicians (many of whom will be performing in the show in August). Although both had lovely voices, I found the singing a little too pat – they executed the songs perfectly but without the raw, natural expressiveness that makes you believe in the singers as their characters and draws you into their stories.

Still, there’s no doubt this touring production will be visually dazzling – and with its rich pedigree, a good chance that first impressions won’t be lasting.

South Pacific runs Aug. 12-Sept. 5 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. For more information, visit www.dancaptickets.com or www.southpacificontour.com.