Intimacy isn’t a word normally associated with the Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific, just one reason the 200-seat Rubicon Theatre Company’s two-piano revival is a December must-see. Others are its superb quartet of lead performers, an all-around terrific supporting cast, direction by a gifted young Brit, refreshingly original choreography by a SoCal star, and a simply gorgeous production design, all of which more than do justice to a 20th-century American musical theater classic.

With not one but two timeless love stories (book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan, from James A. Michener’s Pulitzer-prize winning Tales Of The South Pacific), hummable melodies and astute lyrics, a richly romantic setting, an eventful WWII time frame, delightful bits of comic relief, and perhaps most importantly, a far ahead-of-its-time examination of the racial prejudices so deeply ingrained in mid-20th Century America, 1949’s South Pacific stands tall amongst the R&H oeuvre.

To begin with, it dares to open, not with the show girls and chorus boys of musical comedies before it, but with an extended dialog-and-song sequence between U.S. Navy Ensign Nellie Forbush (Madison Claire Parks) and expatriate French planter Emile de Becque (Ben Davis) as they fall in love over “A Cockeyed Optimist,” “Twin Soliloquies,” and “Some Enchanted Evening.”

It’s only then, a good twenty minutes into South Pacific, that the show’s male chorus makes its first entrance, a stageful of sailors singing the praises of “Bloody Mary” and women in general in “There Is Nothing Like A Dame,” a pair of bona fide showstoppers, after which we’re back in dramatic territory with the Navy’s request that de Becque help them on a daring secret mission that could easily cost him his life.

And speaking of daring, how many musicals’ last twenty-plus minutes get transformed into an edge-of-your-seat straight play with only some instrumental underscoring and couple of very brief reprises?

 When you talk about revolutionary Broadway shows, South Pacific tops the list, and with two-time Ovation-Award-nominated director Katharine Farmer eliciting stunningly nuanced performances from Parks, Davis, Alex Nee, and Jodi Kimura while adding her own original, well-researched touches along the way, Lee Martino choreographing for sailors who would die before dancing like chorus boys, and Mike Billings’ projections transporting audiences to sandy beaches and azure blue skies, the Rubicon revival ranks high among the ten productions I’ve seen.

Not only does Parks possess the most glorious soprano on heaven and earth, the depth she brings to Nellie Forbush is more than matched by her beauty, charm, and vivacity, and with Davis giving audiences as swoon-worthy an Emile as any South Pacific lover could ever wish for, vocals to die for, and just maybe the most heartbreaking “This Nearly Was Mine” ever, you’ve got a pair of leads guaranteed to earn both tears and cheers.

Nee’s Joe Cable has a darkness and edge that turns a role too often blandly played into a troubled young man you won’t soon forget, Kimura’s bravura Bloody Mary is as sinister as she is irrepressible, a mother who would do anything for (and to) her underage daughter if it meant finding her an American groom, and Jamie Yun’s lovely Liat looks so much “Younger Than Springtime,” you may see her relationship with Joe in a whole new light.

Dance captain Kirby Ward gives Luther Billis plenty of sass, Andy Umberger and Joseph Fuqua deliver salty turns as Captain George Brackett and Commander William Harbison, and Marc Ginsburg and Toby Tropper make for a tasty comedic duo as Stewpot and Professor.

 Song-and-dance kudos are shared by ensemble members Nikko Arce (Henry, Marcel), Lilli Babb, Bailey Blaise, Claire Burgi, Dani Bush, Brett Calo, Ethan Daniel Corbett (Radio Operator Bob McCaffrey), Samantha Corbett (Ensign Dinah Murphy), Kevin Gilmond, associate choreographer Natalie Mara Graham, Ian James, Marissa Mayer, Zachary Macias, Whitney Noelle, Josh Ranck, and Samantha Winters, with child charmers Ian Nunney and Isabella De Los Santos as Jerome and Ngana.

Martino’s choreography dazzles, and not because she’s got her sailors and sailorettes doing Broadway-style kicks and jumps. Instead, seabees celebrate there being “Nothing Like A Dame” with American football moves and calisthenics, Nellie’s fellow nurses swing towels with abandon as they wash that man right out of their hair, and Nellie’s Thanksgiving Follies look like they could have been choreographed by Nellie herself.

 Billings’s deceptively simple-looking tropical set undergoes one eye-opening transformation after another, his lighting ups the production’s gorgeousness with saturated island color, and wall-to-wall travelogue-style projections give this South Pacific a particularly cinematic look complemented by Pamela Shaw’s multitude of period costumes, from uniforms to island casual, and T. Theresa Scarano’s just-right properties.

Finally, musical director/first keyboardist Brent Crayon and associate musical director/second keyboardist ensure that a full orchestra is seldom missed as Jonathan Burke delivers a pitch-perfect sound design.

 Jeffry George is production stage manager and Madeline Wilson is assistant stage manager. Jim Prodger is production stage manager.

For those seeing South Pacific for the first time, this 69th-anniversary revival will make it abundantly clear why Rodgers & Hammerstein’s third Broadway smash continues to captivate audiences seven decades after its Broadway debut, and even those who’ve seen enough South Pacifics to last them a lifetime will find new reasons to swoon.

Rubicon Theatre, 1006 E. Main Street, Ventura.
www.rubicontheatre.org

–Steven Stanley
December 8, 2018
Photos: Jeanne Tanner

Tags: Joshua Logan, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Rubicon Theatre, Ventura County Theater Review