Reagle, Bertone deliver again with ‘South Pacific’
By Rich Fahey
WALTHAM – For all of the past 54 summer seasons, the formula for success for the Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston has been a simple one: Presenting classic musicals with large casts, impressive production numbers and a full live orchestra.
For many years, shows also included a headliner, an icon such as Shirley Jones who added some Broadway or Hollywood glitz.
Under current Artistic Director Rachel Bertone, the biggest change has been to use proven locally-based talent to lead the way, and the result has been a series of acclaimed productions of classics such as “West Side Story” and “Oklahoma!”
Add another to the list. Reagle’s current production of “South Pacific” onstage through Sunday, June 23 at the Robinson Theater is another triumph, with a cast of 30 bringing to vivid life the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic about navy life set against the backdrop of a lush tropical island during WWII. The story is based on the James Michener’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book, “Tales of the South Pacific.”
Bertone’s expansive talents as both a director and choreographer make it easier to achieve one coherent theatrical vision.
“South Pacific” was considered radical for depicting cross-cultural marriage when it premiered in 1949. In fact, Rodgers and Hammerstein had to threaten to cancel the show to make sure the song sung by Marine Lt. Joe Cable decrying prejudice and racism – “You Have to be Carefully Taught” — was included in the final version.
In the lead roles of French expatriate planter Emile de Becque and Navy Ensign Nellie Forbush, Bertone could hardly have done better than Christopher Chew and Jennifer Ellis. Chew and Ellis’s resumes include many of the best roles in musical theater. Chew has been Henry Higgins in “My Fair Lady,” Sweeney in “Sweeney Todd” and Don Quixote in “Man of La Mancha” while Ellis was Liza in “My Fair Lady” and has performed in concert with the Boston Pops and the Boston Landmark Orchestra. Both were part of The Huntington’s superb production of “Merrily We Roll Along.”
It takes both a charismatic presence and a big bold voice to put the role of de Beque across and Chew offers both; his renditions of two of the finest romantic ballads ever written — “Some Enchanted Evening” and “This Nearly was Mine” – are sublime.
Ellis not only boasts a strong voice but is equally adept at acting and dancing, whjch comes in handy when she is supported by an energetic, talented ensemble of Navy nurses in the lovely production numbers “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair” in Act I and “Honey Bun” in Act II. The ensemble includes Laura DeGraw, Kaylee Kay, Sammy Janoff, Jessica Nichter, Holly Bourdon, Ally Anna McLean, and Miranda Slingluff.
As “South Pacific” opens. Forbush, a native of Little Rock, Ark. has already been swept off her feet and dazzled by the handsome de Beque at a dance at the officer’ club, but she hesitates when he asks her to make a firmer commitment to their relationship. After she leaves, he greets his two children – Ngana (Penelope Rhoads) and Jerome (Lola Rhoads) – by a Polynesian woman who has since passed away.
Bertone has cast just as adroitly when it comes to supporting roles. Lisa Yuen is pitch-perfect as Bloody Mary, the Tonkinese entrepreneur who can sell you a genuine shrunken head at a very fair price; the Seabees toast her with “Bloody Mary.”
Her main competitor in the shrunken head field is Petty Officer Luther Billis (a wonderful Brendan McGrady), who avoids rules and regulations like the plague. He leads his fellow Seabees in the dated but tuneful and funny ode to what they’re really fighting for: “There is Nothin’ Like A Dame.”
Billis knows there is money to be made if he is able to find a way to get to the nearby island that is off limits to enlisted men , and Bloody Mary describes its pleasures in “Bali H’ai.”
When Marine Lt. Joseph Cable (Blake Du Bois) arrives on the island to perform a dangerous mission, Billis sees a possible opening if he can get Cable to reserve a boat and then go along for the ride.
When Cable and Billis finally make it to Bali H’ai, Bloody Mary introduces Cable to her beautiful daughter, Liat (Calico Velasco). It is Du Bois’s moment to shine in the show-stopping “Younger Than Springtime” and their relationship blossoms, much to the delight of Bloody Mary.
Their relationship and the romance between de Beque and Forbush are at the very heart of the piece, especially when Joe has to consider his family’s reaction if he were to marry Liat, and Nellie must confront her own prejudices when she finally meets de Becque’s mixed-race children.
Cable will eventually break away from Liat before enlisting de Becque in a daring mission that has the potential to turn the tide on the war in the area. The ending will be one of both tragedy and triumph.
Jeffrey Leonard conducts based on David Coleman’s music direction an 18-piece orchestra that gives full voice to one of the finest scores ever written.
Reagle Music Theatre has been around for many years because it knows its audience and delivers for them: Cue the classic titles, stage them to full effect and perform their scores in all their glory. “South Pacific” delivers on all counts.
The Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston production of “South Pacific.” Music by Richard Rodgers Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. Book by Oscar Hammerstein II and Joshua Logan. Directed and choreographed by Rachel Bertone Set design by Janie Howland. Lighting by Franklin Meissner Jr. Sound design by Sebastian Nixon. Music direction by David Coleman. At the Robinson Theater, Waltham, through June 23.