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Scene - A South Pacific island during WWII
ACT I
On the terrace of Emile de Becque's plantation home two Polynesian children, Ngana and Jerome, are playing and singing a French nursery song, "Dites-Moi" ("Say to Me"). Navy nurse ensign Nellie Forbush is visiting the plantation as de Becque's guest. Nellie is a naive country girl from Arkansas, known to her friends and compatriots as 'knucklehead' because she is A Cockeyed Optimist. Nellie and Emile are falling in love but neither is sure of the others feelings (Twin Soliloquies). Emile recalls how the couple met on Some Enchanted Evening at the officers club on the Navy base, and were immediately drawn to each other. The evening ends, Nellie returns to the hospital and Emile calls the children, his children, and sings their song with them.
On the edge of a palm grove near the beach a group of American sailors and Seabee's complain about the lack of action or anything to alleviate the boredom of their existence. A Tonkinese woman arrives, Bloody Mary, selling the sailors grass skirts and island artifacts to send home to their loved-ones. The sailors ringleader, the entrepreneurial conman Luther Billis, does a deal with Mary for a valuable curved tusk. He looks out longingly across the sea to the island of Bali Hai where many such items are to be found - and where the French plantation owners sent their wives and daughters to be away from the sailors. Starved of female company, the sailors proclaim unanimously that There is Nothing Like a Dame. A new lieutenant arrives on the island, Joe Cable of the Marine Corps has been sent to organise a daring spy mission behind enemy lines. Bloody Mary spots the new arrival and tries to entice him to visit the island of Bali Hai where she hopes to introduce him to her beautiful daughter. When Bloody Mary leaves, Billis takes over the persuasion, hoping to accompany Cable to the island since only officers can sign out boats.
Nellie is called to the Island Commander's office. The commander is hoping to recruit de Becque to assist in Cable's secret mission and, knowing of Nellie's friendship with him, asks her to obtain all the information she can about him.
Back with her friends on the beach, Nellie, confused about her feelings for Emile, decides that she is going to break up with him and Wash That Man Right Out Of My Hair. But when Emile turns up and invites her to a party to meet his friends, her turbulent emotions and duty to the Commander mean she cannot refuse him. After the party Emile convinces Nellie that he truly loves her (Some Enchanted Evening [reprise]) and she finally accepts that she too is in love with A Wonderful Guy. Emile brings out the children, and finally tells Nellie that they are his by his former Polynesian wife who died some years earlier. Nellie's small town racial prejudices are brought to the fore and, panicked, she rejects Emile and his mixed race children and runs from them.
At the Island Commander's officer, de Becque is asked to accompany Cable on his dangerous spying mission since he knows the island that Cable is being sent to, but, still dreaming of a future with Nellie he refuses to risk his life.
Cable visits the island of Bali Hai [reprise] where Bloody Mary introduces him to her daughter Liat, with whom he instantly falls passionately in love (Younger Than Springtime).
Meanwhile, back at his plantation, de Becque laments that he may have lost Nellie (Finale).
ACT II
At the naval base on the island, Nellie and some of the nurses and sailors have put together a show to celebrate thanksgiving. "The Thanksgiving Follies" opens with a lively song and dance routine (Dance) after which Nellie, as compere, credits the performers.
Backstage, Emile arrives to talk to Nellie but Billis, not wanting Nellie to be upset during the show, sends him away. Bloody Mary has brought Liat over from Bali Hai and tells Cable she must marry a Plantation owner unless Cable will marry her instead. She pushes Cable and Liat together and urges Cable to talk Happy Talk with her. But Cable is as much a victim of his prejudices as Nellie and refuses to marry Liat.
In the show Nellie does a turn with Billis in which they swap genders and Nellie, dressed as a sailor, praises Billis in grass skirt and wig as his "Honey Bun".
In a break in the show, Nellie runs into cable and they each reflect on lost loves and that they should be back home where they belong (My Girl Back Home). When Emile appears, Nellie tells him that she cannot overcome her prejudices and will not marry him. After Nellie leaves, de Becque asks Cable why he and Nellie have such inbred prejudices that deny them what they truly want. Cable replies that it's not something you're born with, You've Got to be Carefully Taught. Dejected, Emile reflects on what could have been, lamenting that This Was Nearly Mine. With nothing left to lose, he tells Cable that he will accompany him on the mission after all and they leave to tell the commander.
Sometime later, after Cable and de Becque have been flown off on their mission Billis is brought before the Commander. He had stowed away on the seaplane and bailed out near the island that the spies were being sent to infiltrate. A major rescue operation had to be launched to rescue him, but the resulting commotion had distracted the Japanese and allowed the submarine that the spies had been transferred to to deliver them safely onto the island.
Their radio reports on Japanese movements are invaluable in helping American warplanes to turn the tide of the war in that area and begin to drive the enemy back. Nellie has heard of reports from "the Frenchman" that proving to be of such value and comes to ask the Commander if it is de Becque whom she has not seen for two weeks. The Commander tells her it is and, concerned for his safety, she realises she still loves him and prays for his safe return.
A final radio report from de Becque reveals that Cable has been killed by the Japanese, and is then suddenly cut off as the enemy return. But the Americans are on the move and the island on which de Becque is hiding is the first to be invaded.
Nellie returns to de Becque's plantation to care for his children and remembers how they met (Some Enchanted Evening [reprise]). The children persuade her to join them in singing their favourite song, she forgets some of the words but then de Becque, just returned having been rescued from the island, joins in (Finale Ultimo).
South Pacific opened to massive reviews on its Broadway debut almost sixty years ago and has been a perennially popular favourite with theatre audiences around the world ever since. The story is perhaps by now a little dated and its exploration of racial issues is done in a most cursory manner, but the romantic storyline following two love affairs on a South Pacific island, one ending in tragedy and one in triumph, is essentially timeless.
The production employs two major sets. The first, which is used throughout the major part of the production, is flanked by the twisted boles of palm trees with a gently sloping sand coloured floor and variously movable elements to represent specific locations on the island. The second employs a Stars and Stripes covered proscenium to stage front and a wood framed corrugated wall to stage rear.
Helena Blackman as Nellie Forbush, her first major starring role since finishing runner-up in BBC TV's 'How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?' talent show, commanded the stage like a twenty year veteran and added substantially to her theatrical reputation with a superb performance as the quirky and unsophisticated girl from an American hick town. Whilst her acting talents are perhaps as yet still in need of some refinement, her singing voice is first class, her American accent utterly convincing, and her charisma inexhaustable.
Playing opposite her, Dave Willetts gave a solid performance as Emile de Becque, coping well with the French accent, delivering his numbers with great aplomb and working hard to give sympathy to a very difficult character. This, in fact, is my major criticism of this musical as a whole, that, no matter how well performed, the de Becque character is essentially just not very likeable. Perhaps I am alone in this assessment (this is after all Rodgers & Hammerstein's most celebrated work), but for me de Becque is fundamentally arrogant and self-centered - evidenced by his hiding his children from Nellie until he believes he has ensnared her, ignoring them as something worth living for when Nellie rejects him, and giving no consideration at any time to what he is asking Nellie to sacrifice or what is best for her. I cannot escape the feeling that de Becque is a user, taking advantage of Nellie's naivety in his pursuit of her, and this ruins the chemistry as I invariably find myself willing Nellie to come to her senses and get well away from him. Nellie is by far the more sympathetic character, and I can't help feeling I want better for her.
But back to positives and the show has two gems in Sheila Francisco as Bloody Mary and Christopher Howell as the Bilko-like Luther Billis. Francisco was hilarious and cringingly accurate camping it up as the stereotypical pidgin English speaking islander. Her delivery of her musical numbers was equally as good and the enchanting 'Bali-Hai' was a highlight of the show. Howell's Billis was equally funny, and his cross-dressing episode in "The Thanksgiving Follies" had the audience rolling with laughter.
The musical solos in this production are strong but it is the big production numbers that really carry the show. The first of these, the all-male "There is Nothing like a Dame" sets the pace and is a real mood lifter. Its female antithesis a little later is the bright and bouncy "I'm Gonna Wash that Man Right Outta My Hair", whilst the second act opens with a big dance number. Neither act ends with the traditional big finale but overall the choreography is excellent and the direction keeps the whole thing rolling along at a brisk pace.
A lively show with some fine performances and memorable musical numbers.