Maybe, it will take something like MOULIN ROUGE to revive the American musical genre. What we see implied, once again, in this new "South Pacific" is that no youngish actors can either play or want to be in the classic ones anymore. Furthermore, the characterizations have changed, the singing is anything but innovative.
Fifty to fifty-five year old women in roles written for young women in their twenties or thirties; an aging Yugoslav playing a not-so old Frenchmen; Ethnic Chinese replace Polynesian islanders; More "natural" singing replaces the operatic or "pop" voices of old....
All these are typical of the new 2001 Version of 'South Pacific,' last shown on a screen in 1958 starring a young, musical starlet (Mitzi Gaynor), a dashing Italian as the Frenchmen, and a Polynesian looking woman.
OK. A different style. But, I believe "creative casting" is only possible in staged musicals or operas, not in a new "modern" version. Still, the version, new or old, should be historically correct, and avoid rewriting American military history. Though politically correct, unsegregated groups of multi ethnic servicemen, the African American ones singing and dancing in arms with their white counterparts in particular, are just unacceptable, even offensive to previously disadvantaged races, whose past is mocked by being sanitized like this.
The times have certainly changed, and this production's only obvious achievement is the obvious, almost archival comparison that contrast 1958 and 2001 sensitivities, and realities. It is now confirmed that great singing is strictly the reduct of the filmed sung opera; ethnic Chinese and Indians have taken over the South Pacific islands; and mid 50s is the undisputed prime of life, the age to fall in love, an acting "like a schoolboy" or a "schoolgirl."
As for those last lines, maybe they should be rewritten as in "West Side Story" where Maria no longer "feels pretty, and witty and gay," but rather "pretty and witty and bright."
It will be interesting to see if in another 43 years or so, 30 year old navy seals will be in their sixties; a Frenchman will be played by anyone remotely European, and whether there will be any attempt at all at singing the songs as originally written-that is, for singers!
This production is a Geritol-set, rapper-like version of SOUTH PACIFIC, in a rewritten historical context.
Really, as much as I admire them, how much longer can the ageless Glenn Close and Bernadette Peters, both now well into their 50s, remain ageless and the only female musical stars of Anglo-Saxon culture worldwide? The only ones who appear in TV or video musicals. Can the American musical ever come back as something close to the original? Other than as dubbed Disney cartoons, of course.
This SOUTH PACIFIC suggests the art form is forever gone. Well, maybe Madonna, Whitney Houston, and John Travolta are its future, if they ever come out of their eternal adolescence. Or is its future a totally revamped Hollywood musical, like one hitting the screens now in 2001?
Fifty to fifty-five year old women in roles written for young women in their twenties or thirties; an aging Yugoslav playing a not-so old Frenchmen; Ethnic Chinese replace Polynesian islanders; More "natural" singing replaces the operatic or "pop" voices of old....
All these are typical of the new 2001 Version of 'South Pacific,' last shown on a screen in 1958 starring a young, musical starlet (Mitzi Gaynor), a dashing Italian as the Frenchmen, and a Polynesian looking woman.
OK. A different style. But, I believe "creative casting" is only possible in staged musicals or operas, not in a new "modern" version. Still, the version, new or old, should be historically correct, and avoid rewriting American military history. Though politically correct, unsegregated groups of multi ethnic servicemen, the African American ones singing and dancing in arms with their white counterparts in particular, are just unacceptable, even offensive to previously disadvantaged races, whose past is mocked by being sanitized like this.
The times have certainly changed, and this production's only obvious achievement is the obvious, almost archival comparison that contrast 1958 and 2001 sensitivities, and realities. It is now confirmed that great singing is strictly the reduct of the filmed sung opera; ethnic Chinese and Indians have taken over the South Pacific islands; and mid 50s is the undisputed prime of life, the age to fall in love, an acting "like a schoolboy" or a "schoolgirl."
As for those last lines, maybe they should be rewritten as in "West Side Story" where Maria no longer "feels pretty, and witty and gay," but rather "pretty and witty and bright."
It will be interesting to see if in another 43 years or so, 30 year old navy seals will be in their sixties; a Frenchman will be played by anyone remotely European, and whether there will be any attempt at all at singing the songs as originally written-that is, for singers!
This production is a Geritol-set, rapper-like version of SOUTH PACIFIC, in a rewritten historical context.
Really, as much as I admire them, how much longer can the ageless Glenn Close and Bernadette Peters, both now well into their 50s, remain ageless and the only female musical stars of Anglo-Saxon culture worldwide? The only ones who appear in TV or video musicals. Can the American musical ever come back as something close to the original? Other than as dubbed Disney cartoons, of course.
This SOUTH PACIFIC suggests the art form is forever gone. Well, maybe Madonna, Whitney Houston, and John Travolta are its future, if they ever come out of their eternal adolescence. Or is its future a totally revamped Hollywood musical, like one hitting the screens now in 2001?