The UTEP Dinner Theatre's production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "South Pacific"
The Rodgers and Hammerstein classic takes place on two islands during World War II and tells the
The two leads, McQueen and Gier, were wonderful. McQueen was excellent as Nellie Forbush and gave a completely three dimensional portrayal of the role. Most of Nellie's character development occurs while she is offstage, but thanks to McQueen's portrayal, you genuinely get the sense that she evolved. As Emile de Becque, Gier's voice was absolutely stunning, while his acting was subtle, yet effective. I love the entire first scene of South Pacific and their rendition of the "Twin Soliloquies" was perfect. Justin Lucero's direction for this number was relatively simple, yet the culmination of the blocking, scenic design, lighting design, and the utter magnificence of the orchestra, made the moment at the end of the song so beautiful. Thanks to the chemistry between McQueen and Gier, you could feel the tension between the two characters and it played flawlessly into the next song, "Some Enchanted Evening." At the end of "Some Enchanted Evening" when Nellie walks to Emile and he puts his arms around her, you can tell that they are in love in every single sense and it is simply divine. To draw a comparison to another Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, the entire opening sequence of South Pacific gives off major "If I Loved You" vibes, which is the 11 minute duet between the two main lovers in Carousel.
Lucero did an outstanding job directing the show. Rather than re-imagining the show, Lucero seemed to be going for the benchmark South Pacific and it went extremely well. At times throughout the show, it felt like I was watching a revival that was being done by the Lincoln Center Theater (who revived South Pacific on Broadway in 2008, directed by Bartlett Sher). There was very minimal choreography in the show, but the stylized blocking of each of the musical numbers was quite commendable and the only time I felt something was missing from the staging was at the end of the song, "A Wonderful Guy, "where I feel a little bit of dancing would have benefited the number.
It also important to note that some of the roles in South Pacific are meant for people who are of Polynesian or Asian descent, due to the major plot points about racism and prejudice. Considering the demographic of El Paso, I was quite curious how they were going to handle this. Luckily, they were able to properly cast the roles of Liat & Emile's children, Ngana and Jerome (played by the adorable Brianna Casas and Landen Ora-a). Bloody Mary (Liat's mother), however, was played by Eurydice Saucedo, who is a Latina actress. While this may raise an eyebrow for some people, Lucero was very careful in making sure that nobody was offended by the portrayal. In doing this, Saucedo did not appear in "yellowface" and did not do anything too ghastly on the dialect side of things. Should they have cast an Asian, Pacific Islander, or Polynesian actress? Probably, but they were very careful in going about how this casting should be done and they succeeded on not offending anyone, it seems. I also want to say that I read Lucero's director notes in the program at intermission, where he addressed the casting and said that they were extra sensitive in portraying the character of Bloody Mary. I was very happy to read this, considering some other directors might just toss an actress onstage and make her do something horrible. At the end of the day, I was mostly fine with the portrayal. I will close out this paragraph by saying that Saucedo was excellent as Bloody Mary, although she missed some notes here and there in one of the show's signature songs, "Bali Ha'i." Other than that, she was charming and delivered her second act number, "Happy Talk" in a delightful fashion.
In the role of the lead Seabee, Luther Billis, John Levick was on fire. You can tell that Levick is enjoying being onstage and is making the absolute most of being the show's comedic relief. Kaelin Li Walker was heartbreaking in the role of Liat, but I did not find there was much chemistry between Walker and Jorge Blakely's bromidic performance of Lieutenant Cable. Standing out in the cast were Greg Thompson and Eric DuMond, who worked very well together and were very strict, yet somehow charismatic in the roles of Captain George Brackett and Commander William Harbinson, respectively.
Michael L. Spence's set was gorgeous, as was his lighting design. All of the show's technical elements were what you would expect from a UTEP Dinner Theatre production, so they were all in top form. However, the chorus members' microphones (The sound design was by Robert Manning) were in and out (in addition to a few of their solo lines being off pitch) during certain numbers at the performance I attended. Patricia Ann Provencio and the orchestra played the score beautifully and brought a great vibrancy to the already gorgeous Rodgers and Hammerstein score. Whilst listening to the orchestra play some of the scene change music, I noticed something in it that I found to be extraordinary. You see, in the 2013 Broadway production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, Douglas Carter Beane rewrote the book of the show and added Rodgers and Hammerstein songs that didn't quite make the cut for some of their musicals. One of these songs is a song called "Now is the Time," which lives on as a part of the extended sequence, "The Prince is Giving a Ball." However, this song also happens to exist in the scene change music towards the end of the second act of South Pacific. As soon as the music started playing, I knew exactly what it was and geeked out appropriately. You can listen to said song here.
The Dinner Theatre's production of South Pacific was a terrific production of a classic musical. It was a high rate production of a show that always rides in first class. The golden age of musical theatre is long gone, but it is somewhat kept alive by this production in an enlightening way. It is not a flawless production, so few shows are, but it is pretty damn wonderful. It is well acted, well sung, and most importantly, is heartily consumed by audiences and critics alike.
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The UTEP Dinner Theatre Production of SOUTH PACIFIC was directed by Justin Lucero and the cast consisted of:
Nellie Forbush- MEGAN McQUEEN
Emile de Beque- JAMES GIER
Ngana- BRIANNA CASAS
Jerome- LANDEN ORA-A
Bloody Mary- EURYDICE SAUCEDO
Liat- KAELIN LI WALKER
Luther Billis- JOHN LEVICK
Stewpot/Ensemble- JEAN-ANDRE MOORE
Professor/Ensemble- CONNOR DICKEY
Lieutenant Joseph Cable- JORGE BLAKELY
Captain George Brackett- GREG THOMPSON
Commander William Harbinson- ERIC DuMOND
Lead Nurse/Dinah- SHARI DuMOND
Connie/Ensemble- ISABELLA CANDELARIA
Bessie/Ensemble- ALYSSA DONNELLY
Janet/Ensemble- LAURA GALINDO
Henri/Ensemble- JOSEPH A. JOHNSON
Rita/Ensemble- ALJANDRA NUÑEZ VARGAS
Cora/Ensemble- SARAH OSTROWIDZKI
Hayes/Ensemble- OCTAVIO RAMIREZ CARDENAS
McCaffrey/Ensemble- ABRAHAM REA
Marcelle/Ensemble- MARISOL TERRAZAS
Quale/Ensemble- ZAID OSWALDO ZAVALA
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