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SOUTH PACIFIC [Masterworks Broadway 88697-30457]
Lincoln Center Theater's revival of South Pacific has worked its way into one of Broadway's hottest tickets, and understandably so. The production, directed by Bartlett Sher and starring Kelli O'Hara and Paulo Szot, has all the emotional pull that the original 1949 production had (or at least apparently so). This was not easy to pull off; the Rodgers-Hammerstein-Logan musical has been absent from Broadway since the show closed two weeks into 1954; this, in great part, because Mr. Rodgers (who died in 1979) and the R & H heirs seem especially protective of this particular property. (The King and I, meanwhile, was revived on Broadway three times during its first 45 years.)

The new cast album of South Pacific is — simply put — quite a treat. The original 1949 cast album is a legendary classic, yes, with all those incomparable songs given distinctive performances by not only Mary Martin and Ezio Pinza but Juanita Hall and Bill Tabbert. That album, originally recorded for release on 78 RPM platters, is 60 years old now, and sounds it. It has undergone all sorts of mechanical amplification and remastering over the years, with the most recent reissue [Sony/Columbia/Legacy SK 60722] indispensable. Nevertheless, it is a relic from days long past.

[Correction: When I last discussed the 1949 album, I mentioned that it was recorded onstage at the Colonial Theatre in Boston while the show was trying out around the block at the Shubert. This was based on a first-person anecdote by a friend of Rodgers which turns out to be inaccurate. The fellow did sit with Rodgers while they played the score on the empty stage of the Colonial, but this was apparently the orchestra reading, when the cast sang through the show with the Boston orchestra prior to the first performance. A memorable event, certainly, but misremembered as the recording session, which actually took place ten days after the Broadway opening at Columbia 30th Street Studio. A couple of readers pointed this out and I would like now to thank them, although several years later I don't remember who they were.]

All of this brings us back to last April at Lincoln Center, when the current South Pacific swept into town to a rapturous reception. The cast, under Mr. Sher's direction, has been roundly praised. What's more, the score has been handled with care, respect, and love. Every note, it seems, has been given full musical value; what we get is a modern-day equivalent, sonic-wise, of what they did so well on the original Columbia discs.

That the new South Pacific sounds so good — on stage and on CD player — is due in great part to the musicianship of Ted Sperling. These things don't just play themselves; a conductor doesn't merely wave the stick and tell the band how fast to go. (Or shouldn't; some, alas, seem to do just that.) There is a world of feeling in South Pacific, needless to say, and under Sperling's baton that feeling comes through; not only from the musicians, but from the singers. Full credit is due Sperling, with a nod to his tip-top orchestra at the Beaumont. The musicians get a couple of ovations nightly, thanks to Mr. Sher and designer Michael Yeargan, who find a way to spectacularly incorporate them into the proceedings. Let that make up for all those members of Local 802 who are presently playing Broadway shows hidden away in under-stage basements and cramped dressing rooms.

Let us also salute the work of Russell Bennett, one of the finest of the old school of Broadway orchestrators. This is, perhaps, his finest set of charts. The score is loaded with evocative touches: the harp which weaves the spell of "Bali Ha'i"; the violins that heighten the pull of "Some Enchanted Evening"; those plucked strings (with harp) in the verse of "A Wonderful Guy"; the bass drum which drives "Bloody Mary." (I'm also especially partial to the crispy brass accents in the second section of "Carefully Taught," by Don Walker.) Rodgers composed the music, yes, and deserves full credit for the glories of the score. Russell's job was to translate the notes and fill in the spaces in a manner that completed, and enhanced, what was written on the piano arrangement. It all makes for glorious music, and you can hear it especially clearly on this new cast recording, so let's show a little appreciation for Bennett.

We might as well add a word for the perennially overlooked Trude Rittman as well. Rittman was a constant on Rodgers shows, from Carousel on; her name is hidden in small print, but she played an important part in adapting the songs from the piano rack to the stage. That euphoric orchestra swelling that caps the "Twin Soliloquies" is apparently hers, as is the passionate section leading to "Younger Than Springtime" (which is not included on the new recording). Elsewhere, that whole "Do-Re-Mi" sequence with Mary and the kids in The Sound of Music — the music lesson and the Swiss-bellringing — is Trude, working from the basic song material provided by Dick and Oscar. If Rittman was anonymous, her orchestrators recognized her contributions: on the orchestration for the "Uncle Tom's Cabin" ballet in The King and I, Bennett lists the composer as "Trude Rodgers." (Over on Paint Your Wagon, Hans Spialek credits one of the ballets to "Trude's Frederick Loewe.")

In addition to the official cast album, a so-called special edition with bonus tracks is available exclusively through Barnes & Noble. This includes six items such as the brief reprise of "Bali Ha'i" sung by Billis, the brief reprise of "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right outa My Hair" sung by Emile, and instrumental tracks of "Wonderful Guy" and "Some Enchanted Evening." Completists might prefer this disc, although in truth it does not include all the music of this production (which would spill over onto a second disc).

There have been more than a few discussions over these last months about Mary & Ezio and Kelli & Paulo. It is safe to say that these are different performances, in different styles, for different times. It is impossible to compare them, but a few words are nevertheless in order. The trouble with analyzing performances that took place long ago — and in this case, before the analyzer was born — is that you can't exactly go out and watch Mary Martin in South Pacific. Or can you? Continued...