Oscar Hammerstein, Richard Rodgers - South Pacific (Original 1949 Broadway Cast)

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Music reviews of South Pacific (Original 1949 Broadway Cast)

Music Review: Sterling-quality SOUTH PACIFIC with some minor demerits
Rating: 5 Stars

The highlight of this recording is Mary Martin's full-throated, sassy and spunky portrayal of Nellie Forbush. Every song she sings is a delight from first note to last, and she carries with her an infectuous and winning persona. Her renditions of "A Cockeyed Optimist" and "A Wonderful Guy" are delightful and charming, and she is able to bring out the comic relief in "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair" and also a truncated version of "Honey Bun." Martin's outstanding performance is ably matched by Ezio Pinza's sonorous Emile. He dives into Emile's numbers with a full-throated operatic fervour, and gives us ravishing performances of "Some Enchanted Evening" and a somewhat edited version of "This Nearly Was Mine." He is also magical on his duet with Mary Martin, the "Twin Soliloquies." The rest of the cast is just as superb, with William Tabbert showing the romantic and prejudiced sides of his believable portrayal of Lietunant Cable, when he sings 'Younger than Springtime" and "Carefully Taught." And, Juanita Hall makes a characterful and colloquial Bloody Mary. She is superb in dhe dreamlike quality of "Bali Ha'i" and the lightly frolicsome "Happy Talk." The sailors are full-throated on their numbers, but perhaps there needs to be more comedy in their version of "There is Nothing like a Dame", something like the version in the film soundtrack.

This reissue of this recording is graced by some bonus tracks that make it feel more complete. Mary Martin's honeyed alto voice shines on her renditions of the cut songs, "Loneliness of Evening" and "My Girl Back Home". She sings them wonderfully until you wonder why these two songs were cut from the final version of South Pacific. It also makes you yearn for a professional production that restores these two cut songs. Those wto listen to these recordings will undoubtedly feel that Mary Martin's voice has never sounded lovelier on record than on these numbers. Ezio Pinza tries his vocal cords at "Bali Ha'i", even if, for an opera singer, it may not be as dreamlike as Bryn Terfel's cover version, but even then, Pinza sings it wonderfully, even if the song may not be within his range. These three bonus tracks, which had incidentally been included on the previous Sony Broadway reissue of the recording, show up here again and help to make the recording more complete. And, to round off the experience, Andre Kostalanecz leads the Philadelphia Pops Orchestra in a sumptuous and atmospheric "Symphonic Scenario for Concert Orchestra." They do it wonderfully, even if it is slightly truncated. Besides the wonderful and gorgeous remastered sound, the real icing on the cake comes in the deluxe packaging. There is a well-written and insightful essay, and synopsis, by Marc Kirkeby that runs through the booklet pages, and it is jam-packed with rarely-seen photographs from the Broadway premiere.

If I had any qualms about this recording, it would be about the cuts that were made at some points in the score. Because this recording was made for 78 rpm discs and for vinyl at the same time, some songs had to be cut to fit the 78 sides. "Honey Bun" has lost its choral refrain, and ends only after Nellie finishes her verse, just as the sailors and Luther Billis are about to join in the fun of the performance. There are also cuts in the middle section of Emile's "This Nearly Was Mine," and in the overture (which can be heard complete on the outstanding Mauceri disc of the complete Rodgers & Hammerstein overtures.) But these cuts were only minor, considering the limitations of the recording media at the time. The other qualm I have is about the comic numbers, "There is Nothing like a Dame", "Honey Bun" and "I'm Gonna Wash That Man." Because of the slow speeds, they come off as staid, stoic and stiff, lacking in an extra degree of humour. Listeners like me can find compensation in the fact that this recording's finale makes use of the "Some Enchanted Evening" ending when Nellie and Emile sing the song together after the children finish "Dites-moi." It makes me wonder why Hammerstein did not write his script for that song to have the last word, and it makes me long for this more ravishing ending to be the standard for all South Pacific productions and recordings.

Overall, though, this is a wonderful gem of a Rodgers & Hammerstein cast recording, well-deserving of the acclaim that it has heaped up through the years. This is definitely a magical, essential and (as some might add), compulsory cornerstone of any Rodgers & Hammerstein collection, and can be recommended to any beginner of R&H musicals, or to any newcomer to this glorious musical that is South Pacific.

Description of South Pacific (Original 1949 Broadway Cast)

Broadway & Vocalists CDs

• Music > Styles
• Pop
• Soundtracks