tue 08/10/2024

South Pacific, Barbican Theatre | reviews, news & interviews

South Pacific, Barbican Theatre

South Pacific, Barbican Theatre

Great songs, but Rodgers and Hammerstein sink in this swampy revival

Washing that Frenchman right outta her hair: Samantha Womack's Nellie Forbush takes a shower with her fellow nursesAll photographs by Simon Annand

"Whoring after the public taste" is how Ingmar Bergman described some rather funny hanky-panky in one of his most singular films. It's what showbusiness thrives on, and it's fine if done well. Yet a decade ago Trevor Nunn crowned the National Theatre's trio of keenly observed Rodgers and Hammerstein stagings with South Pacific characters of flesh and blood, as its creators had surely envisaged. Here, despite strong delivery of a string of hits and fluid, evocatively lit designs, Bartlett Sher's Lincoln Center Theater revival too often takes us back to the Broadway whorehouse.

"Whoring after the public taste" is how Ingmar Bergman described some rather funny hanky-panky in one of his most singular films. It's what showbusiness thrives on, and it's fine if done well. Yet a decade ago Trevor Nunn crowned the National Theatre's trio of keenly observed Rodgers and Hammerstein stagings with South Pacific characters of flesh and blood, as its creators had surely envisaged. Here, despite strong delivery of a string of hits and fluid, evocatively lit designs, Bartlett Sher's Lincoln Center Theater revival too often takes us back to the Broadway whorehouse.

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Thank you. Best review and most articulate one I have read. Will definitely sign-up to follow your future ones.

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