"South Pacific"

My roommate and friend Logan and I discovered that we both LOVE going to shows!  And DC has several venues.  The Kennedy Center, Ford's Theatre (where President Lincoln was shot), National Theatre, and Warner Theatre are the most frequented, but there are other smaller locales that I discover all the time.

Huge statue of JFK's head inside the Kennedy Center 

This week I had the privilege of attending the Broadway tour of "South Pacific" at the Kennedy Center.  Logan and I purchased our tickets for the January 5th show over Christmas vacation.  Well, come January 5, I come home from work, eat a quick dinner, and learn that our friend Jordan also has tickets to the show that night to see it with his family.  Since he was also coming east into the city from working in Virginia, he stopped by our house, and the three of us got to ride together to the show.

Logan, Jordan, and me

"South Pacific" is a classic Rogers and Hammerstein love story that clearly echoed the themes and tones of other R&H plays, such as "The King and I," "Sound of Music," and "Cinderella."  The story is set on an island in the Pacific during WWII.  It hinges upon the back-and-forth between an expatriot frenchman living on the island named Emilie de Becque and a nurse in the U.S. military named Nellie, a fitful girl from Little Rock with a trademark southern drawl.  The lead actors were phenomenal.  De Becque is played by David Pittsinger, a classically-trained vocalist with resounding baritone.  Nellie is played by Carmen Cusack, a British actress who recently has been on Broadway as Elpheba in "Wicked."    

Pittsinger in "South Pacific"

Lovely show.  The quality of the individual performers blew me away and made it well-worth the visit to the theatre.  Plot-wise, "South Pacific" didn't grab me as much as other shows and story lines have.  It was somewhat abrupt at parts, teasing with hints at the broader setting of World War II battle with songs and references yet left those questions unanswered.  It whittled down these pieces of the show at the end and resolved only the question of Emilie and Nellie and their future together.  Hmmm.  

4 out of 5 stars.  I look forward to my next show.