The spectacular Lincoln Center Theatre production of Rodger’s & Hammerstein’s South Pacific begins performances on our stage tomorrow night and here are 11 reasons why you will not want to miss it. (I tried to keep it to 10 but it just wasn’t possible!)
11 Reasons Not To Miss South Pacific
1. This production received 7 2008 Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Musical and has been sold out in New York for most of the last two years.
2. The show was directed by Bartlet Sher, who for the last 9 years has served as Artistic Director of Seattle's Intiman Theatre. Bart received the 2008 Tony Award for Best Director of a Musical for this production.
3. It features one of the most glorious Rodgers & Hammerstein scores ever created -- almost every song in the show become a hit including SOME ENCHANTED EVENING, NOTHIN' LIKE A DAME, YOUNGER THAN SPRINGTIME, I'M GONNA WASH THAT MAN RIGHT OUT OF MY HAIR, WONDERFUL GUY, HAPPY TALK, COCKEYED OPTIMIST, THIS NEARLY WAS MINE, and BALI HA'I and we will use a full 26 piece orchestra performing the original Robert Russell Bennett orchestrations.
4. Adapted from James Michener’s collection of short stories based on his personal experiences during WWII, the book by Joshua Logan and Oscar Hammerstein is as dramatic, funny, moving and engaging as when the show was first opened on Broadway in 1949.
5. This production was choreographed by Christopher Gattelli who also choreographed our production of Sunday In The Park With George last season.
6. Rod Gilfrey stars as the mysterious French planter Emile de Beque. Rod is one of the most acclaimed Opera stars of his generation whose credits include creating the role of Stanly Kowalski in the world première of Andre Previn’s opera A Streetcar Named Desire at the San Francisco Opera.
7. Carmen Cusack stars as Ensign Nellie Forbush. Carmen toured the US and Australia as Elphaba in WICKED, played Fantine in Les Miserable in the US, the UK, and Shanghai, and starred as Christine in The Phantom of the Opera in the UK.
8. Anderson Davis stars as Lt. Joseph Cable. Anderson appeared on Broadway in Les Miserable and Damn Yankees and is featured on the cover of our new 5th Avenue magazine Take 5.
9. Keala Settle returns to Seattle to play Bloody Mary. Keala stared as Tracy Turnbald when Hairspray came back to The 5th on its National Tour in 2002 and she quickly became an audience favorite.
10. Mathew Saldivar returns to Seattle to play Luther Billis. Mathew was one of the stars of The Wedding Singer when it had its world premier production here at The 5th in 2006.
11. Our own Chad Jennings plays Radio Operator Bob McCaffrey. This Yakima native has appeared in many 5th Avenue productions including Wonderful Town, Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story and Sunday In The Park With George.
Now both are winning plaudits on Broadway: Puyallup native Louis Hobson, in the Tony-honored musical Next to Normal; and West Seattle's Chad Kimball, a likely 2010 Tony Award nominee for his dynamic star turn in the new tuner Memphis.
Before showtime one recent evening, at the fabled Times Square eatery Sardi's, Kimball and Hobson (both 33) reflected on how they became the latest Seattle talent exports to succeed on the Great White Way.
Hobson was the more circumspect no surprise, given he and talent-agent wife Noreen Hobson were awaiting the birth of their second child. (Last week, the Hobsons welcomed a son, Thomas.)
The amiable Kimball swears he's kind of a goofball, but a big talent, says award-winning Roosevelt High School drama teacher Ruben Van Kempen, with "an inner sparkle" and vigorous work ethic.
Hobson and Kimball, both blessed with strong acting and vocal chops, reached Broadway via different routes.
A Rogers High School and Pacific Lutheran University grad, Hobson stayed in Seattle through his 20s and won raves for his lead portrayals in such shows as Miss Saigon and West Side Story at The 5th Avenue Theatre and Village Theatre's Evita.
"I was artistically satisfied," he says, "but I came to New York to be challenged, and make more money to support my family."
When Hobson hit the Big Apple with his wife and young daughter, Gwen, two years ago, his thick and great contacts quickly won him an agent and Broadway auditions.
But his break came in Next to Normal an offbeat musical penned by Eastside native Brian Yorkey, for which Hobson did a reading at the Village back in 2002. In the Tony-honored show, a bearded Hobson doubles as two psychiatrists treating a woman afflicted with bipolar disease.
"I love the material, and couldn't ask for a better role in my life right now," Hobson declares. And if being a matinee idol isn't high among his priorities, there's already a "Louis Hobson Fans" Facebook page. (One fan wrote on it, "He can be my psychopharmacologist any day.")
Kimball hit Broadway earlier. In childhood, he reports, "I was a very shy kid." But he stood out in Roosevelt High shows and aced a role at Civic Light Opera in his teens.
Kimball's fine tenor voice got him into Boston Conservatory, and after completing his undergrad degree there he became another scuffling New York actor among many.
"He'd call me, discouraged about losing out on a role," recalls Van Kempen, "and I'd tell him, that's just the business, keep going."
Good advice: Kimball gradually racked up Broadway credits in such shows as Into the Woods and two big jukebox musicals: Imagine (as John Lennon) and Good Vibrations.
The latter were bombs. But Kimball, unscathed, hit his stride in Memphis, as a quirky 1960s Southern deejay who surmounts racial barriers to play black R&B music on a white radio station. When the show tried out at The 5th Avenue last year, Kimball's Seattle family, friends and mentor Van Kempen cheered him on.
Starring on Broadway, he admits, is a huge buzz. "The lights really are brighter. And it's magical the way audiences respond to you."
In the future, though, both actors hope also to work in TV and film. But Hobson declares, "If the right [dramatic] role came up, at Seattle Rep or Intiman, I'd like to go do it."
"I'd really love to work at the Rep," chimes in Kimball. "The shows I saw there as a kid had a profound effect on me. I'm always bragging about Seattle theater."
Lauren Carlos (Age 10) and Drea Gorden (Age 12), who shared the role of Susan Waverly in Irving Berlin’s White Christmas here at The 5th, began selling homemade cookies out of their dressing room at 50 cents per cookie to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids. The girls raised $600 during the 3-week run and their donation was matched by myself, Bill Berry (Producing Director) and Bernie Griffin (Managing Director).
Have you ever been to a film musical and had the uncontrollable urge to burst into song? Sing-a-long Sound of Music is your chance to test your vocal range with several hundred other assorted nuns, Von Trapp family members and Julie Andrews look-a-likes.
The 5th Avenue’s enormously popular Spotlight Night series, a free event that continues to attract record crowds, continues on Tuesday, January 5th with a look at two of our upcoming shows, South Pacific and Legally Blonde: The Musical.
—as he discusses how he and his team made a classic come alive for a new generation.
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