All Gloss, No Heart

I wish I could cheer ABC for putting this classic & excellent musical back on prime-time, but unfortunately this remake fails to capture the heart and romance of the original. South Pacific has one of Richard Roger's most beautiful and evocative scores, and features the best of Hammerstein's meaningful and pointed lyrics. In addition, the plot centers on important questions of racism, patriotism, duty, romance, and life-decisions. While the music is pretty well-done in this version, the spirit of the plot and characters seems to have been traded in for scenic vistas, sex, and action.

One of the problems I had with this version was the casting of Glenn Close as Nellie Forbush. Try as I might to accept her as a naive girl who sings, "I'm just a cock-eyed optimist," I could not get past her ultra-self-possessed manner, rigid bearing, and far-from-youthful features. In addition, chemistry was lacking between her and Emile, and I was left wondering, "What does he see in her?" The result was that the lyrics (which show Nellie as self-doubting, warm & openhearted, and disarmingly frank) continually seemed to contradict Close's performance (which shows Nellie as smug, cold, and closed-minded), making the plot seem strained and unbelieveable. The original Nellie can be understood and forgiven for her racist reaction to the discovery that Emile was previously married to a native woman, because you can see that she's confused, hurt, and frightened of the Frenchman's unusual and liberal ways. This Nellie just seems mean.

The relationship between Joe and Lia is also oddly cold. In the original movie, as well as in stage versions I've seen, their relationship seems to be a strong emotional link between two young people who desire beauty and happiness - and can share their feelings despite the inability to communicate (they mostly speak different languages). In this version, they don't need to communicate, because their primary interest isn't in sharing feelings, it's getting each other's clothes off as quickly as possible. Joe's song, "Younger Than Springtime" seems to be sung more at Lia's body than to her young spirit. Sex and romance don't necessarily come in one package, and you can tell which part doesn't make it into this scene!

In addition to sex, this movie throws in a nice share of violence... well, action, I guess you could call it. Away from the limitations of the stage, the movie could expand on the scenes in which Joe & Emile conduct their spy work in the islands. Accordingly, a long sequence focuses on their running, hiding, getting shot at, and running and hiding and getting shot at again. In the stage version, we just hear the radio reports of their troubles - somehow, all that was really necessary, and much more stark and touching.

On the up side, the music is superb, and the singing voices of all the cast are good. I was disappointed that the song "My Girl Back Home" was cut, but it wasn't an earth-shaking loss (I think it was also cut from the first movie, if I remember right - but you can hear it in the original B'way recording). The interpretations are different from the first movie, and I thought some of the songs, especially "There is Nothing Like a Dame," sounded a little weird at first, but they aren't bad - especially if you're not coming into the movie with preconceived notions of what things should sound like.

The scenic vistas are great, and the landscape of course is beautiful. Some of it looks a little like it was shot at the old "Mirage" hotel in Las Vegas (the one with the tropical water park), but overall it's lovely. Actually, it's a highly beautiful movie - it's what's inside that's missing.