The national tour of South Pacific arrives in Seattle as a perfect little Valentine treat. Sun-soaked beach, romantic villa on hill, mist-bound island in the distance, and two love stories (one happy, one sad, take your pick which moves you the most),
This is Bartlett Sher's South Pacific, full of the sophisticated pleasures familiar to anyone who has been following Sher for the last decade at Intiman Theatre. Sher tapped his favorite design team, Michael Yeargan and Catherine Zuber, to brighten this South Pacific without artificially updating it.
Instead, Yeargan delivers a glowing and highly functional set that keeps the action moving without the need for unnecessary blackouts or long intermissions. Zuber's costumes make Nelly and her fellow nurses as wholesome as apple pie and as sexy as a 1940s pin-up, while turning Bloody Mary back into the Tonkinese conniver and survivor that echoes James Michener's original tale.
Here lies Sher's boldest gamble as a director: rather than trying to stamp his personality all over the classic musical, Sher trusts the script and his audience enough to let this tale unfold at its own lovely pace. He even gives the nod to Michener with a curtain that resembles the typed manuscript, beginning a story of a queer moment of tropical peace and boredom before some of the bloodiest battles of World War II. Take a moment before you hustle out of the theater after the final round of applause to check the changed curtain and apropos ending.
An outstanding cast delivers assured performances as in the iconic roles. Carmen Cusak (Ensign Nellie Forbush) looks fantastic with soap bubbles in her hair or wandering barefoot in an evening gown and sounds even better when delivering "Cockeyed Optimist" or "A Wonderful Guy."
As for the hunks, Rod Gilfry represents Nellie's favorite brand of French sophistication with such tunes as "Some Enchanted Evening" and "This Was Nearly Mine." Anderson Davis is the hot young American who blunders blindly into his own romantic tangle on the fabled Bali Ha'i.
Two character roles truly shine in this production: Matthew Saldivar as the always scheming Luther Billis and Keala Settle as the fearsome Bloody Mary. Both emerge as far more prickly and interesting, and far less comic relief than you might expect. A great deal of credit goes to the actors, but more than touch belongs to Sher for not letting the musical comedy traditions overbear the real drama of the tale.
It's this type of subtle sophistication and intelligent interpretation that Seattle audiences have had ten years to appreciate at Intiman and New York applauds enough to award Sher his first Tony (but undoubtedly not last).
South Pacific continues at the 5th Avenue Theatre downtown until February 21.
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