SOUTH PACIFIC - NEW RECORDING
South Pacific has a lot to answer for; it drew me into a lifelong love affair with musical theatre. I was around nine years old when my mum took me to see the new Hollywood version at the Majestic Cinema in Leeds. The songs, the colours, the exoticism of the setting, the thrill of the wartime narrative - it was some enchanted matinee! Since then, since first glimpsing that special island of Bali Ha’i some six decades ago, my passion for Rodgers and Hammerstein has never dimmed. I am still bathing in the warm glow of the wonderful revival of this show at the Chichester Festival two years ago. So it was with great anticipation that I listened to the new DigiMIX of JAY’s Studio Cast Complete Recording of South Pacific.
From the grand overture onwards, we are in top rank musical hands. JAY has a reputation for paying keen attention to the original orchestrations and the respect and appreciation of the full score and this was no exception. The orchestra conducted by John Owen Edwards sounds gorgeously rich and beefy – plenty of bold brasses, clarion horn calls, shimmering strings and powerful percussion giving satisfying segues from show-start to showstopping melodies. This is Richard Rodgers at his tuneful best and Oscar Hammerstein’s lyrics are deftly clever, beautifully understated though often in songs such as Nothing Like a Dame he can rhyme like a Sondheim or a Porter. JAY’s recording balance puts the singers very much in front and every word, every nuance of the sinewy score is heard. Though 70 and more years old, the musical sounds freshly minted in this recording. This is also billed as the most complete recording of the work. Earlier studio albums have rushed Rodgers’ tempi to fit on a vinyl LP or comply with restrictive union rules. Here the whole work is given its correct width, length – and depth. It has room to breath in those fragrant Pacific breezes.
There are many delightful surprises here – musical preludes and interludes not heard in the film, neither on many a stage version. There are reprises that don’t just repeat earlier songs but add dramatic nuance. This after all is a serious show about love, war and racial prejudice. I really loved too the snippets of spoken dialogue – just enough to give context to the musical narrative; perfectly balanced.
Paige O’Hara with her Dixie drawl is perfect as the naïve young woman falling for the older French planter Emile – Justino Diaz who has a spot-on big operatic baritone and convincing accent. O’Hara acts as much as she sings. You can ‘see’ the beam on her face, as big as the Pacific, as she opines about being in love with her ‘Wonderful Guy’. I certainly fell in love with her. Her Broadway belting and his opera-infused voice help delineate their respective characters with dramatic truth. The reflective inner-thought duet leading to the gorgeous ‘Some Enchanted Evening’ was done with great verve and stately beauty. Puccini would surely have been proud of this.
In rehearsal: (l to r) John Yap (JAY Records), Paige O’Hara and Justino Diaz
The great chorus numbers such as Nothing Like a Dame, Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair and Honey Bun are done exactly as they should be – rousing, joyous and grand scale. Pat Suzuki as the Tonkanese procurer of young island girls to homesick wartime GIs is as good a Bloody Mary as you will ever hear – full throated, sly, salacious but dreamily hypnotic in Bali Ha’i.
The recording does justice to one of music theatre’s most profoundly disturbing number, an anti-racist plea in song: You’ve Got to be Carefully Taught – that is to hate all the people your relatives hate. Hammerstein was an out and out liberal who wanted use this medium of music theatre to say serious things albeit in gorgeously tuneful packages. Sean McDermott actorly singing is spot on as Lt Cable, the troubled US army man stranded by his love for a local ‘non white’ girl and sings the song with suitable venom.
Pat Suzuki (Bloody Mary)
The final few numbers of the show are given in full. Here the standard musical format gives way to drama with incidental music as a wartime adventure involving our two heroes – Emile and Cable - risking their lives in a reconnaissance mission against the Japanese overwhelms the story. I’ve never been sure if this is a strength or weakness in the structure of the work. Here JAY bravely gives us all the musical numbers, fillers and underscores so one can judge for oneself.
This newly released DigiMix recording of South Pacific is a must for all lovers of R&H. Uncut, ravishingly sung and orchestrated it should also win new followers of this magical art form. And somewhere out there perhaps there’s a nine year-old listening to this album for the first time and set to become a lifelong devotee.
https://jayrecords.com/recording/south-pacific/
