Saturday Matinee

Very few musicals start in the middle of a love story. A meet-cute is customary with a predictable plot that follows. I loved South Pacific not because it was about another schmaltzy love story, but it was more about a woman’s journey in finding true love.

The song “Bali Hai” is sung to a soldier lonely for a woman’s company, but it’s a calling that stirs in anyone with a dream.

Bali Ha’i may call you,
Any night, any day,
In your heart, you’ll hear it call you:
“Come away…Come away.”

Your own special hopes,
Your own special dreams,
Bloom on the hillside
And shine in the streams.
If you try, you’ll find me

And who doesn’t dream of true love?

The main character, a self-proclaimed “cockeyed-optimist” Nellie Forbush, turns out to be a little less sunny than she says she is. Falling in love with the dashing Emile de Becque, she hardly flinches when he tells her that he’s killed a man when he was young, yet she can’t get over the fact that he has dark-skinned children. It’s an uncomfortable situation where it’s difficult to criticize her brutal honesty, and an audible gasp falls over the audience when she uses the word “colored”. (It’s hard to believe that there’s something that shocks modern audiences.) The story unfolds as she sees that she herself is the obstacle to achieving her own dreams. The story ends when she chooses love perhaps too late, and it’s a love that changes her into a better person.

In my first time ever seeing the show, I saw the wonderful national touring production that breezed through San Francisco last month at the Golden Gate Theater. Director Bartlett Sher presented a production with intelligence and a welcome layer of darkness contrasting the lush over-the-top romanticism inherent in the plot and music. Bari-hunk Rod Gilfry’s ”One Enchanted Evening” was a shining highlight, infusing the familiar song with a fresh and thrilling grandeur and a hefty dose of sex appeal. Carmen Cusack is a pleasant and spunky Nellie Forbush, and Keala Settle is a hilarious Bloody Mary in a portrayal of a gritty survivor in spite of her caricatured role.