South Pacific
Guthrie Theatre
Star Tribune- Somewhat Recommended
"...Haj can congratulate his technical staff again. However, Daniel Pelzig's choreography - athletic as it is - does not sing and dance like it should. Only "Honey Bun" has some real pop. "There is Nothin' Like a Dame" felt tame until the reprise."
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Graydon Royce
Twin Cities Pioneer Press- Recommended
"..."Some Enchanted Evening" is a memorable love song, of course, but in the Guthrie staging, it also plays effectively as a recap of the whirlwind two-week romance between French plantation owner Emile de Becque and Navy nurse Nellie Forbush. This has much to do with Edward Staudenmayer's vulnerable rendition (eschewing the Big Finish, for instance, for a soft, vulnerable falsetto on the last, aching notes)."
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Dominic Papatola
How Was The Show- Recommended
"...South Pacific has a large cast. Thus I will be unable to wax enthusiastic about everyone. Still I must give major kudoes to Steve Hendrickson who plays the gruff and relentlessly nasty C.O. The moment when he stands to rip Cable another you-know-what for calling a 48 yo "old" is priceless. And Jimmy Kieffer as Luther Billis is a hoot and a half (and his cocoanut tits are perfect - kudoes also to costumist Jennifer Caprio)."
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John Olive
Aisle Say Twin Cities- Recommended
"...Erin Mackey (Ensign Nellie Forbush) and Edward Staudenmayer (Emile de Becque), give beautiful and heartfelt performances that transcend the often corny Rodgers/Hammerstein libretto and material. But, man, those songs-"Some Enchanted Evening", "Twin Soliloquies", "Bali Ha'i", "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair"- have hooked audiences then and since. Placing the orchestra onstage with the actors brilliantly focuses the audience's attention to the iconic music and score."
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Christine Sarkes
Talkin Broadway- Highly Recommended
"...In the Guthrie's sumptuous production, now playing on the Wurtele Thrust Stage, the score is played and sung beautifully. Yet, what is most moving is Oscar Hammerstein and Joshua Logan's book. While musicals often feel like a string of plot devices that exist mainly to lead from one to the next musical number, South Pacific exemplifies perfectly the great thrust that occurred in musical theater with Rodgers and Hammerstein's work, starting with Oklahoma! and Carousel. Their musical numbers are not pauses in the book but places where the book continues, told in song and dance. The emotional richness of the songs in this show are part of the fabric of its narrative, and the book is all the stronger for that."
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Arthur Dorman
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