South Pacific (2001 Television Soundtrack) [Soundtrack]

Richard Rodgers (Artist), Oscar Hammerstein II (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 20, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00005ARDV
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #86,902 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Overture

2. There Is Nothin' Like A Dame

3. A Cock-Eyed Optimist

4. Bloody Mary

5. Bali Ha'i

6. Twin Soliloquies

7. Some Enchanted Evening

8. Dites-Moi

9. Younger Than Springtime

10. I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair

11. Some Enchanted Evening (Reprise)

12. A Wonderful Guy

13. This Nearly Was Mine

14. You've Got To Be Carefully Taught

15. Honey Bun

16. Finale Ultimo

17. My Girl Back Home (bonus track)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Awful, just awful..., May 8, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: South Pacific (2001 Television Soundtrack) (Audio CD)

I can understand Glenn Close wanting to do the part of Nellie. It's a great part and fun to play, with great songs. After seeing her effort though I think she could get away with it onstage, but NOT in a film. She's a good actor and a decent singer but on film she looks too old for the part, especially in closeup. Since this was her project, why didn't she choose to do this show as a limited run on Broadway? There she could have done the part handsomely, and gotten away with playing a younger woman.

The rest of the cast was a real disappointment too. The actor playing Emile looked just right...but when he opened his mouth to sing "Some Enchanted Evening" I walked out of the room. This part was written for an operatic baritone, not a small character tenor. Harry Connick is a great musician whom I deeply admire but though he looks right for the part he does not sound or act like someone from a mainline Philadelphia family, which is what the character of Cable is. He made no effort to hide his working class New Orleans accent, and his singing...well, these songs were written for a legitimate Broadway low tenor, not a baritone jazz singer with a limited vocal line. The actor playing Billis had a good idea for a new interpretation of the character but was just too annoying to listen to. The actress playing Mary looked just right, more like the way Mary should look than Juanita Hall did, but she got caught up in the mannerisms of the character and lost all believability. And why, oh why cut the character's best songs?

I was under the impression that the Rodgers and Hammerstein organization had very strict control over the way the material they own is used. How they could give permission for this travesty is beyond me!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars South Pathetic, April 13, 2001

By 

Marc Ginsburg (Bensalem, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: South Pacific (2001 Television Soundtrack) (Audio CD)

I am curious as to what some people are thinking sometimes. I was already apprehensive when I heard they were going to make a new TV movie out of "South Pacific" because, having played de Becque in the past, I know that the show is dated and that they would try to do something drastic to change that. Did they ever!

First, hearing that Glenn Close was playing the young, lovesick nurse, Nellie I began to wonder if they were going to put de Becque in a wheelchair hooked up to an IV. With all due respect to Ms. Close (and I do think she is a wonderful performer) there is no excuse for casting a 55 year old woman in a 25 year old character. I thought she did the best she could but it just wasn't right at all.

Rade Sherbedgia looked almost exactly how I picture de Becque to look like, but it ended right there. His acting was bland and uninteresting and his singing was unmotivated and boring. Anyone can make a song sound pretty, but when you are singing the song for that reason alone, you lose the whole meaning of why you are singing the song.

Oh, boy. Where to start on Harry Connick, Jr.? I thought he started out very well. His acting was genuine and focused, but he seemed to weaken very quickly. After he met Liat I feel that he just became very lackluster and contrived. I also know that he is a jazzy/bluesy singer, but "Younger Than Springtime" should not be a crooning song and "You've Got To Be Carefully Taught" CANNOT be spoken and general. "Springtime" is possibly the most popular love song in musical theatre history and it needs to have a purpose and be sung with all your heart and soul. "Carefully Taught" is incredibly controversial and deep and CANNOT be spoken and done in such a matter-of-fact manner. It is angry and determined.

Robert Pastorelli gave a new spin to Billis and I think it worked in many aspects but didn't in quite a few as well. Lori Tan Chinn was a very funny Bloody Mary, but she began to play a character instead of a real person.

I am also very upset that many song orders were changed, a WHOLE LOT of added and subtracted dialogue, the first meeting between Nellie and de Becque should not be shown, the omission of "Happy Talk" and many others. I just think it is a shame to blatantly tamper with a Pulitzer Prize winning work. Yes, some aspects don't work on screen, but then drop one or two things but don't butcher and rework the entire piece to fit your vision because that was not the playwright's intentions. Why mess with a classic?

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The Feeling was totally lost..., April 22, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: South Pacific (2001 Television Soundtrack) (Audio CD)

First of all, I would like to expess that South Pacific is one of the greatest musicals, in my humble opinion. And Also my school is doing a production of South Pacific this year as well. After seeing the original movie, I thought it'd be great to see a modernized version of it; unfortunately, i was rather dissapointed. Singing in this version, is not really singing at all, but rather just talking in tones. Glenn Close, who is a magnificent actress, just simply cannot act and/or sing like a ditzy nurse when she's nearing her sixites or somewhere close. and the gentleman who played Emile, his voice is the opposite of what Emile DeBecque really should have been... a rich and strong baritone. He barely sang above mezzoforte and he sang high most of the time with no richness. Personally, I am much younger than he, and I can sing that part tenfold times better than he did. Perhaps the only song that was not massacred was Harry Connick Jr.'s "Younger Than Springtime", which was my personal favorite. Though acting was great, the music is way sub-par levels and does an injustice to Rodgers and Hammerstein. If it was the actual movie, the rating would be higher, but since this is just music...(not really exceptional music at that)... it can't get a high rating. The music form the earlier renditions are MUCH MUCH better.