Cheap Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific (DVD) (Richard Pearce) Price

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Customer Reviews of Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific

If you're one of those purists who thinks that this script doesn't need to be tinkered with, think again! A lot of the original ideas are outmoded, but the new screenplay adds dimension to the story and characters only hinted at 50 years ago. The restructuring of the material, opening the show with THERE IS NOTHIN' LIKE A DAME, making Nellie Forbush, brilliantly and vibrantly played by our greatest American actress, Glenn Close, older, and strengthening the mission the DeBecque and Cable take on, are just some of this version's better changes.

There's nothing in the story that says Nellie needs to be in her 20s, and Glenn Close fulfills the promise of movie musical magic she hinted at during her engagement onstage in SUNSET BLVD. When she stands on the balcony and sings the TWIN SOLILOQUIES, you feel her falling in love with Emile. This Bloody Mary, small and mean as can be, a woman who would sell her daughter if she can make a profit, is a frighteningly real woman, not the caricature she's been played as in the past. (In a college production I saw, they had to do BALI HA'I as a comedy song because Bloody Mary couldn't pull off the drama!)

Harry Connick,Jr. is absolutely right as Lt. Cable,and his romantic renderings of CAREFULLY TAUGHT, YOUNGER THAN SPRINGTIME, and (on CD) MY GIRL BACK HOME show that he's the greatest crooner of standards in pop music.

Take a different viewpoint when you watch this SOUTH PACIFIC. See it, not as a film version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's greatest libretto, but as a genuine presentation of World War II. When looking at it as a war picture, it takes on a new dimension, and plays as the very real drama Michener portrayed in his novel, and which was what was hoped for on the stage. Be thankful that those awful filters which ruined the 1959 version are gone, and that Bali Ha'i is seen in Cable's mind, as it was meant to be seen. Enjoy the lively dance on the beach as Nellie and the girls perform A WONDERFUL GUY, and melt as Emile sings SOME ENCHANTED EVENING.

This SOUTH PACIFIC is a triumph! It's a masterful production of a great musical. Let's hope that upcoming productions (how about Ann Margret as MAME?) will come close to this great show!!!

Good remake, with emphasis on drama
This remake is definitely not the 1956 movie - which is both good and bad. Good - because dramatically, this production is far superior to the movie version - the actors actually act, and the dramatic energy never lets down. Realizing the pitfalls of casting herself as a young, naive Nellie Forbush, Glenn Close wisely chooses to play the role as an older, more experienced woman in mid-life. Does it work? Absolutely - the romance between Nellie and Emile makes more sense, as Nellie's character actually has some depth. Bloody Mary comes off kind of creepy - which is totally appropriate to the part. Emile is a wonderful actor - with an accent which even sounds French (rather than Italian).

The bad - while the more intimate approach to the songs works with Nellies songs - the songs for DeBeque were written for Enzio Pinza, and they require a strong, world class voice to bring them off. Although the character of DeBeque is very strong, and his voice is pleasant enough, it is too week to carry these songs. But since the overall approach to this production is to emphasize the drama, this is forgivable.

Overall, a fine production - if you want the score sung well, listen to the original Broadway cast, the movie soundtrack, or the fairly recent studio caste featuring Paige O'Hara and Justino Diaz.

Promise of Paradise
Truthfully, I was skeptical about the remaking of a movie based on James Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning book Tales of the South Pacific. I mean, how could you top the 1958 version, which in my mind is one of the greatest love stories of all time.

Well, that was until Rade Sherbedgia filled the role of the French Plantation owner, Emile. Glenn Close was a delight as Nellie. Here she almost adds a mature innocence to the story. She is filled with a intoxicating love for life, yet experiences the sadness of almost losing her chance at finding paradise because of her own inner demons.

Harry Connick Jr. adds a much more lusty flavor to this version as the Navy officer who is entranced by a beautiful Tonkinese girl and the tropical beauty of Bali Ha'i.

In general, there are a few scenes I felt were a bit overplayed and they should have included scenes that were much more exotic, like swimming by a waterfall or kissing while rolling on a beach in the surf.

There is rarely a story that can so capture the imagination. It is a story of love and loss in which four souls don't know why they feel the way they do, they just know that they do feel themselves being drawn into the path of destiny.

If you are looking for gripping suspense, drama, timeless songs, romance, seductive tropical islands, interracial romance and intense emotions all woven into a story about a naval base during the second world war, here it is!

Terribly Romantic and an final scene that will make you cry. Not that it is sad, but because love can be so beautiful when two souls finally find what they have looked for all their life.

If you love to run barefoot on a beach in the middle of a storm,
this is your movie!

Note: If you love the song: Bali Ha'i, I highly recommend Enchantment by Charlotte Church! Her voice captures everything the song was ever meant to be.