Theater review: A stellar ‘South Pacific,’ in every way

The Lincoln Center’s national touring production of “South Pacific” is quite simply one of the best musicals in the American repertoire, performed to its full potential.

It all adds up to the finest “South Pacific” I have seen, by a mile.

Let me list just a few reasons:

• It features an exceptionally large pit orchestra – 29 pieces – which filled the INB Performing Arts Center with the incomparably lush sound of the original 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein arrangements.

• The staging, by original Lincoln Center director Bartlett Sher, emphasized the show’s serious themes of racism and tolerance. These are the themes that have always set “South Pacific” above the pack – and won it a Pulitzer Prize.

• The cast is seasoned, talented and utterly in command of the material.

• David Pittsinger, as Emile de Becque, sang the most emotional and most musical version of “Some Enchanted Evening” I can remember.

• Finally – and don’t discount the importance of this – it had an exceptionally good sound system. Every line of dialogue and every lyric was clearly articulated.

Kristie Kerwin is a dynamo of a Nurse Nellie Forbush. Nellie’s a perky, happy all-American girl – but she also possesses some less attractive American traits. She’s a 1940s kid from Little Rock, Ark., sickened by the very thought of race-mixing.

Kerwin is a fine comic actress and a great singer who moves with a fluid grace. And when she has to express Nellie’s darker thoughts, she shows considerable depth.

Pittsinger is a deep-voiced Emile, who delivers “Some Enchanted Evening” with the nuance and precision of an international opera star – which is exactly what Pittsinger is.

It took me a while to warm up to Anderson Davis as Lt. Joe Cable. He plays Cable as cocky, arrogant and entitled, with a Big Man on Campus swagger. Only in the second act did it dawn on me – that’s exactly what Davis is going for. After decades of seeing Lt. Cable played as wimpy and lovestruck, we finally see him as an all-American stud headed for a fall.

This revival is loaded with subtle re-interpretations, all combining to give the show a harder edge. Listen to Davis sing these lines from the show’s key thematic song: “You’ve got to be taught, to hate and fear … You’ve got to be carefully taught.”

He virtually spits those words in brutal self-contempt.

Also, I can guarantee that the original 1949 production did not include male nudity in the famous shampoo scene. This one does, although it’s strictly a rear view (full-backal nudity?).

This version is also a tremendous amount of fun when it’s supposed to be, as in the hilarious “Honey Bun,” when the Seabees stage a camp show, complete with guys wearing coconut bras.

And I can’t remember when I’ve enjoyed the number “There Is Nothing Like a Dame” so much. As usual, it’s a bunch of lonely sailors loudly expressing their aching desire for “what there ain’t no substitute for.” But it also made me realize that “South Pacific,” among its many other qualities, has a way of distilling even the more mundane experiences of the Greatest Generation at war.

By the way, two supporting performances provided much of the charm of this production: Timothy Gulan, as the irrepressible Luther Billis, and Jodi Kimura, as the marvelous and big-voiced Bloody Mary.

Billis is one of the great characters of musical theater, a classic American combination of entrepreneur, con man, tough guy and good-hearted softie. Gulan dominates every scene he’s in.

In fact, I think you could make the case that Billis and Bloody Mary are the true lead roles in “South Pacific.” Discuss amongst yourselves.

One more word about that magnificent orchestra: Most of the 29 members are Spokane musicians. The show travels with a core of key musicians and hires locally for the rest. Bravo to all, for achieving such a gorgeous, lush sound.

Feel free to dismiss this as mere gushing, but I am not alone in this opinion. This Lincoln Center revival won seven Tony Awards and became one of the hottest tickets on Broadway in 2008.

This touring version is nearly identical to that show. We’re lucky to have it.