An enchanted evening in Sunderland?
November 5, 2007
The Rodgers and Hammerstein score of South Pacific will fill the Sunderland Empire from tomorrow (Nov 6th ) until Saturday. Not only will this score be remembered though, as leading lady Helena Blackman was runner up in the TV show “How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria”, which was won by Connie Fisher , the prize being to appear as Maria, in the London Palladium revival of The Sound of Music (of course another Rodgers and Hammerstein score).
In the show we have songs such as I’m Going To Wash That Man Right Out Of My Hair, Some Enchanted Evening and There’s Nothing Like A Dame to keep us tapping our feet and transporting the audience on a dark cold night in Wearside to the sunnier climate of South Pacific.
While this is really a love story between Nellie Forbush (Blackman) and Emie de Becque (Dave Willets) the book does not shy away from covering the horrors of World War 2. It is not a totally sugar coated affair, which if you think of Carousel, which contained murder and wife beating as part of its story. This shows Roders and Hammerstein, while being thought of as producing sachrine sweet musicals, were not afraid of addressing harsher issues.
We have spies, Bloody Mary trying to marry off her daughter, death and of course, two children without a mother to contend with during the course of the show.
But best of all we have the fantatic score by the mucial masters themsleves
Comments
-
Recent Posts
Advertisement
Other Regional Sites