Comedy drama is nearly perfect

By BARBARA FREDRICKSEN, Arts & Entertainment
Published October 7, 2007

Madeline Thompson plays a graceful, tender Bloody Mary in an all-around convincing South Pacific cast.
	[Photo by Bud Thacker]

Pull out all your superlatives. You'll need them for the Show Palace Dinner Theatre's newest production, the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic South Pacific.

Each element of this show seems to outdo the next -- Matthew McGee's perfect casting and directing, Tom Hansen's awesome South Seas sets, Angela D. Hoerner's authentic 1940s costumes. It almost makes you forget the sometimes wheezy recorded music in the background.

Indeed, terrific voices like those of Erin Romero, as the spunky nurse Nellie Forbush; W.C. Green, who plays the rugged French planter Emile de Becque; and Madeline Thompson, who is a graceful, tender Bloody Mary, hardly require accompaniment.

Romero's clear soprano, Green's powerful baritone and Thompson's mezzo-soprano, all done with fine characterizations, are near show-stoppers.

Backed with right-on performances by a strong supporting cast, these players create a Show Palace triumph.

South Pacific is the ground-breaking World War II musical comedy-drama based on stories from James Michener's novel Tales of the South Pacific. It has terrific comedy bits, sparked by the irrepressible Candler Budd as jokester Luther Billis, but it is the heart-breaking theme of racism that makes this show special.

In it, Arkansas native Nellie meets and falls in love with the handsome Emile, but her love is tested when she learns he was once married to a Polynesian woman and had two children with her.

At the same time, Philadelphia-bred Lt. Joseph Cable (Jared Miller, a fine tenor) falls in love with the beautiful native girl Liat (Regina Fernandez), the daughter of Bloody Mary.

Because of their upbringing, neither Nellie nor Lt. Cable can deal with interracial relationships, which leads to tragedy in one instance and near-tragedy in the other.

This plays out against Hansen's gorgeous backdrops that include a glowing, threatening volcanic island in the background, a lush forest "waterfall" for a romantic tryst, a shower bath with running water, and a meticulously detailed officer's office.

Those sets intensify the effect of Thompson's touching Bali Ha'i, Green's intense Some Enchanted Evening and This Nearly Was Mine, Romero's lively A Cockeyed Optimist, A Wonderful Guy, I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair, and zany Honey Bun, done with Budd and her plucky fellow nurses.

The songs pleasantly stick in the head, but the story stays in the heart, which is why it was important for director McGee to find performers who could act as well as they sing, and he did.

Interestingly, one of the most affecting performances is that of Fernandez, whose Liat hardly makes a sound, but whose face and body speak volumes as she falls in love and suffers unbearable loss.

Rick Kistner's cigar-chomping Capt. George Brackett and Bob Bowker's Cmdr. William Harbison are appropriately gruff officers with hearts of gold. Little Samantha Gee and Matthew Romero are scene-stealers as de Becque's adorable children, Ngana and Jerome.

A bonus is the South Sea-themed buffet, with pineapple, coconut, fish and pork dishes worthy of a island chief's celebration.

If you go: Catch the wave
South Pacific, through Nov. 17 at the Show Palace Dinner Theatre, 16128 U.S. 19, Hudson. Dinner and show, $44; show only, $32.95; ages 12 and younger, $26.45 and $21.45, all plus tax and tip. Call (727) 863-7949 in west Pasco; toll-free elsewhere at 1-888-655-7469.

[Last modified October 6, 2007, 22:36:42]