South Pacific At Lincoln Center

The movie South Pacific was a great adaptation of this Rodgers and Hammerstein's stage musical. This does not mean that everyone going out to the Lincoln Center to see the show knows about the movie. Most patrons on the night we squeezed into a performance had not seen the movie and did not know what to expect from this controversial story. How could something so fun be controversial? Well the underlying themes in this are war and racism. Don't let that take away from how extremely entertaining the song and dances are. Laura Osnes a breath of fresh air as Miss. Forbush, playing a southern country girl very convincingly. What a voice on her and did you check out those stems. Emile De Becque was played by understudy William Michals, who did a good job with the difficult baritone song patterns. One of the best parts to play is the comical Luther Billis. Danny Burstein steels some scenes as this funny black sheep of the Navy. Other standouts are Loretta Ables Sayre and Li Jun Li as bloody Mary and her daughter Liat. Then when Lt. Joseph Cable walks on stage everyone takes notice. Dashingly handsome Andrew Samonsky plays this troubled young man, not sure if he should choose love or social expectations. South Pacific has been running at the Vivian Beaumont Theater for almost a year and is still filling seats. Get out to see this one because even if you don't know the material, as soon as the orchestra plays its first cord, you will love it.