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61 of 64 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sterling-quality SOUTH PACIFIC with some minor demerits, February 1, 2004
This review is from: South Pacific (Original 1949 Broadway Cast) (Audio CD)
This world-premiere recording of South Pacific is justly regarded as one of the best recordings of this classic Rodgers & Hammerstein score. Although it was recorded in 1949, way before today's digital technology, it still sounds magical, seductive and wonderful, until it allows other performances to pale in comparison. The score is wonderfully served by the original Broadway cast, still immersed in the glowing reviews that were given for the show and the score. And, the Sony recording, deapite being a constricted and rough-sounding mono recording, sounds much better than ever before thanks to a sparkling 20-bit remastering of the original source tapes. The highlight of this recording is Mary Martin's full-throated, sassy and spunky portrayal of Nellie Forbush. Every song she sings is a delight from first note to last, and she carries with her an infectuous and winning persona. Her renditions of "A Cockeyed Optimist" and "A Wonderful Guy" are delightful and charming, and she is able to bring out the comic relief in "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair" and also a truncated version of "Honey Bun." Martin's outstanding performance is ably matched by Ezio Pinza's sonorous Emile. He dives into Emile's numbers with a full-throated operatic fervour, and gives us ravishing performances of "Some Enchanted Evening" and a somewhat edited version of "This Nearly Was Mine." He is also magical on his duet with Mary Martin, the "Twin Soliloquies." The rest of the cast is just as superb, with William Tabbert showing the romantic and prejudiced sides of his believable portrayal of Lietunant Cable, when he sings 'Younger than Springtime" and "Carefully Taught." And, Juanita Hall makes a characterful and colloquial Bloody Mary. She is superb in dhe dreamlike quality of "Bali Ha'i" and the lightly frolicsome "Happy Talk." The sailors are full-throated on their numbers, but perhaps there needs to be more comedy in their version of "There is Nothing like a Dame", something like the version in the film soundtrack. This reissue of this recording is graced by some bonus tracks that make it feel more complete. Mary Martin's honeyed alto voice shines on her renditions of the cut songs, "Loneliness of Evening" and "My Girl Back Home". She sings them wonderfully until you wonder why these two songs were cut from the final version of South Pacific. It also makes you yearn for a professional production that restores these two cut songs. Those wto listen to these recordings will undoubtedly feel that Mary Martin's voice has never sounded lovelier on record than on these numbers. Ezio Pinza tries his vocal cords at "Bali Ha'i", even if, for an opera singer, it may not be as dreamlike as Bryn Terfel's cover version, but even then, Pinza sings it wonderfully, even if the song may not be within his range. These three bonus tracks, which had incidentally been included on the previous Sony Broadway reissue of the recording, show up here again and help to make the recording more complete. And, to round off the experience, Andre Kostalanecz leads the Philadelphia Pops Orchestra in a sumptuous and atmospheric "Symphonic Scenario for Concert Orchestra." They do it wonderfully, even if it is slightly truncated. Besides the wonderful and gorgeous remastered sound, the real icing on the cake comes in the deluxe packaging. There is a well-written and insightful essay, and synopsis, by Marc Kirkeby that runs through the booklet pages, and it is jam-packed with rarely-seen photographs from the Broadway premiere. If I had any qualms about this recording, it would be about the cuts that were made at some points in the score. Because this recording was made for 78 rpm discs and for vinyl at the same time, some songs had to be cut to fit the 78 sides. "Honey Bun" has lost its choral refrain, and ends only after Nellie finishes her verse, just as the sailors and Luther Billis are about to join in the fun of the performance. There are also cuts in the middle section of Emile's "This Nearly Was Mine," and in the overture (which can be heard complete on the outstanding Mauceri disc of the complete Rodgers & Hammerstein overtures.) But these cuts were only minor, considering the limitations of the recording media at the time. The other qualm I have is about the comic numbers, "There is Nothing like a Dame", "Honey Bun" and "I'm Gonna Wash That Man." Because of the slow speeds, they come off as staid, stoic and stiff, lacking in an extra degree of humour. Listeners like me can find compensation in the fact that this recording's finale makes use of the "Some Enchanted Evening" ending when Nellie and Emile sing the song together after the children finish "Dites-moi." It makes me wonder why Hammerstein did not write his script for that song to have the last word, and it makes me long for this more ravishing ending to be the standard for all South Pacific productions and recordings. Overall, though, this is a wonderful gem of a Rodgers & Hammerstein cast recording, well-deserving of the acclaim that it has heaped up through the years. This is definitely a magical, essential and (as some might add), compulsory cornerstone of any Rodgers & Hammerstein collection, and can be recommended to any beginner of R&H musicals, or to any newcomer to this glorious musical that is South Pacific.
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23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
AN ALL TIME GREAT!, November 26, 2001
This review is from: South Pacific (Original 1949 Broadway Cast) (Audio CD)
Certainly one of the few all time great scores for the musical theatre, SOUTH PACIFIC is very much alive and very, very well in this recording made over fifty years ago. Beginning with those first three majestic chords from "Bali Ha'i" through to all of the justly famous songs: "Some Enchanted Evening," "There Is Nothin' Like A Dame," "A Wonderful Guy," and "Younger Than Springtime" to the less famous but no less superb "Twin Soliloquies," "You've Got To Be Carefully Taught," and my personal favorite, "This Nearly Was Mine," everyone is a gem. The cast is flawless: Mary Martin and Ezio Pinza lead a cast with no weak links. Interestingly enough, except for the opening song sung by two children and three songs in which the chorus sings, every one of the songs in this classic show is sung by the four principal players. The sound is remarkable for being so "historic" and there are even four bonus tracks: Martin sings two songs cut from the show in tryouts, Pinza sings "Bali Ha'i" and there's even a ten minute "Symphonic Scenario for Concert Orchestra" taken from the themes of the score. The accompanying booklet has interesting essays, a plot synopsis and several terrific photographs from the original Broadway production. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The original is still the greatest, September 2, 2003
This review is from: South Pacific (Original 1949 Broadway Cast) (Audio CD)
Growing up in the musical wasteland of the 1980s, I often raided my parents' record collection out of sheer desperation for songs with meaningful lyrics and real instruments. Among the many wonderful discoveries I made that way was an exotically titled soundtrack album with a pretty yellow and green cover, which my grandfather had apparently bought new in 1949. Perhaps intrigued by the record's vintage, or maybe by the vague familiarity of some of the song titles, I brought it back to my room...and it hasn't left my collection since. It's hard to pinpoint just what makes this album so majestic from start to finish, because every song is a gem in its own way. This is perhaps the only soundtrack on which the overture holds my attention just as much as the vocal numbers do (on most other soundtracks I skip through the overture), and it provides the perfect segue into the childish innocence of "Dites-Moi," still a favorite of mine years after I finally became proficient enough in French to decipher its pidgin pronunciations. While the songs fit together flawlessly and tell the play's story, most of them also stand well on their own. Perhaps "There is Nothin' Like a Dame" and "Honey Bun" are less than politically correct (though still harmless) by today's standards, but they're still a lot of fun all the same. "You've Got To Be Carefully Taught," on the other hand, was decades ahead of its time and is still all too relevant, as Americans are once again at war with "people whose skin is a different shade." On the lighter side, "Bali Ha'i" can always be counted on to take you to Your Own Special Island - just close your eyes and see! Then there's that Broadway staple, the spine-tingling, move-you-to-tears love song. Not all musicals have given us even one of these. This one offers three, and after more than half a century, "Some Enchanted Evening," "Younger Than Springtime," and especially "This Nearly Was Mine" are just as touching as ever. The bonus tracks, while they naturally sound somewhat out of place alongside the original songs, are surprisingly enjoyable. "My Girl Back Home" sounds rather dated (in contrast to the rest of the album), but it is a fascinating piece of circa-1950 Americana in any case. Overall, though, there's nothing "old" about this album. It's timeless!
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