{"id":240158,"date":"2018-05-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-05-04T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/a-trip-to-the-pacific\/"},"modified":"2018-05-04T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-05-04T07:00:00","slug":"a-trip-to-the-pacific","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/a-trip-to-the-pacific\/","title":{"rendered":"A trip to the Pacific"},"content":{"rendered":"

Por Jean Lowerison | Revisi\u00f3n de teatro<\/p>\n

The idea of going to Bali Ha\u2019i sounds pretty good to me right now. Alas, I\u2019m a little short of cash and time.<\/p>\n

So I did the next best thing: I saw San Diego Musical Theatre\u2019s smashing production of Rodgers and Hammerstein\u2019s classic 1949 musical \u201cSouth Pacific,\u201d on the boards through May 27 at the Horton Grand Theatre.<\/p>\n

\"A
Carolyn Agan (Nellie Forbush) dances with the nurses (Photos by Ken Jacques)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Based on James Michener\u2019s \u201cTales of the South Pacific,\u201d the musical won 10 Tony awards and a Pulitzer Prize. The show boasts one excellent song after another and a cast of fine singing actors bring to life the vibrant stories of the sailors and nurses working for the U.S. war effort.<\/p>\n

The sailors, Seabees and Marines are all stuck on a small Pacific island, trying to win the war and moaning about the lack of available women in the tune \u201cThere is Nothing Like a Dame.\u201d The song may not be politically correct these days, but it\u2019s a heck of a great tune.<\/p>\n

\"A
The Seabees, who are stuck on a Pacific island, sings their frustrations<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The major character among the sailors is Luther Billis, a wheeler-dealer who is making pretty good bucks creating grass skirts. Now he\u2019s looking for a willing officer to get him over to Bali Ha\u2019i, where he thinks he can make serious money buying and selling trinkets such as boar\u2019s tooth bracelets to other sailors.<\/p>\n

Agustine Welles plays Billis to the hilt, though a bit over the top. Watch for his hoot of a grass-skirted duet with nurse Nellie Forbush in their \u201cHoney Bun\u201d number.<\/p>\n

To some extent, Billis is in competition with local Tonkinese entrepreneur Bloody Mary (Gigi Coddington), who has the trinket market to herself right now. Mary also has a lovely young daughter named Liat (Catrina Teruel), who performs a breathtaking, delicate and graceful \u201cHappy Talk\u201d number.<\/p>\n

\"A
(l to r) Robert J. Townsend (Emile de Becque)<\/em> and Carolyn Agan (Nellie Forbush)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The nurses are there to do what nurses do. Carolyn Agan is a dynamo as Nellie Forbush, who describes herself as a \u201chick\u201d from Arkansas when she meets the much older French planter Emile de Becque, brilliantly played by Robert J. Townsend. There is instant chemistry on both sides, and they fall hard for each other. De Becque performs \u201cSome Enchanted Evening,\u201d Nellie sings \u201cI\u2019m In Love with a Wonderful Guy,\u201d and everything looks like it will turn out all right.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Marine Lt. Joseph Cable (Casey Johnson) arrives from Guadalcanal and reports to Capt. George Brackett (John George Campbell). Cable has been sent to take part in a dangerous spy mission that could change the course of the war. The captain wants to get de Becque in on the mission since he knows the area. However, first the captain wants Nellie to find out about the planter\u2019s politics and why he left France.<\/p>\n

\"A
Agustine Welles (Luther Billis) performs a grass-skirted duet<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At this point Nellie gets cold feet and sings her decision to \u201cWash That Man Right Out of My Hair.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Emile introduces Nellie to his two young children with a Polynesian woman, Nellie is so shocked that she breaks up with him. However, none of her fellow nurses believe this.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Cable meets \u2014 and falls for \u2014 Mary\u2019s daughter Liat. Will prejudice rear its ugly head again? And will his spy mission end successfully?<\/p>\n

\u201cSouth Pacific\u201d has it all: engaging characters, great music, a good plot and even a message. San Diego Musical Theatre\u2019s production does it proud.<\/p>\n

Mike Buckley rose to the challenge of multiple locations with simple, movable set pieces and backdrops that indicate where the action is taking place. Michelle Miles\u2019 lighting helps considerably, as does Kevin Anthenill\u2019s sound design.<\/p>\n

\"ARandy Slovacek\u2019s often jaunty and sometimes muscular choreography adds to the atmosphere. Janet Pitcher\u2019s costumes and Peter Herman\u2019s hair designs are period appropriate.<\/p>\n

Don LeMaster\u2019s mighty 15-member orchestra sounds wonderful from its upstairs perch.<\/p>\n

Director Kirsten Chandler stays out of the way, keeping the wheels turning and the show moving, while also allowing time where it\u2019s necessary.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a good reason \u201cSouth Pacific\u201d has been a staple in the musical comedy canon for decades. You won\u2019t actually go to Bali Ha\u2019i, but you\u2019ll have a whale of a good time.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Jean Lowerison es miembro desde hace mucho tiempo del C\u00edrculo de Cr\u00edticos de Teatro de San Diego y puede ser contactada en infodame@cox.net<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Jean Lowerison | Theater Review The idea of going to Bali Ha\u2019i sounds pretty good to me right now. Alas, I\u2019m a little short of cash and time.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":919,"featured_media":240159,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"A trip to the Pacific","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11547,11600],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-240158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-features","category-sdnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/919"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240158\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}