Reader Reviews
South Pacific (Olivier (National Theatre), West End)
Back to Show Details| Score | Comment | Date |
 | As good as any musical I have seen in the capital and better than many over hyped so-called big productions. Judgement of audiance reaction is sufficient to endorse this well performed show. - USER: Whatsonstage.com | 27 Apr 02 |
| What a stunning show! This was as slick as it gets on any stage in the West-End. Some problems with the sound were more than compensated for by a great cast and an amazing set.The centre revolve with the track outside were used imaginatively and coherently for the scene changes and how all those bits of furniture and props were consistently placed on the right place at the right time leaves just one conclusion...This team was drilled to perfection (as any good Military unit should be). Special mention should also be made of the fabulous lighting design which flowed with the action and kept the pace up. All round top quality makes this a must-see. Catch it while (if?) you still can. - USER: Whatsonstage.com | 02 Apr 02 |
| Wonderful, simply wonderful. Philip Quast is a star. The best thing the National has done sine Guy's and Dolls. - USER: Whatsonstage.com | 26 Feb 02 |
| Mark Shenton's WOS review is wrong. This is a knockout five-star evening. I couldn't fault it. Who knows, maybe it's run itself in since he saw it? At any rate, I cannot understand why Lauren Kennedy was so coolly receved when it first opened: for my money her performance was magnificent: streets ahead of MM in Nunn's previous blockbuster. The staging is deceptively good: fluent, deft scene changes; no spectacle for the sake of it, yet a wholly satisfying production that makes full use of the vast Olivier space. No one can direct ensemble companies like Nunn. Bravo to everyone. - USER: Whatsonstage.com | 18 Feb 02 |
| Another knock-out musical on the South Bank! Philip Quast and Lauren Kennedy are superb as the leads and there is tremendous support from Edward Baker-Duly, Sheila Francisco and Nick Holder as Lt.Joe Cable, Bloody Mary and Luther Billis. The songs are wonderful, especially 'There is Nothing Like a Dame', 'I'm Gonna Wash That Man..' and in particular, Emile's reprise of 'Some Enchanted Evening' at the end of Act One. A brilliant show, hugely appreciated by a packed Olivier Theatre. I, for one, was up on my feet at the end. Great stuff - go and see it! Andrew B - USER: Whatsonstage.com | 11 Feb 02 |
| This show is great. Philip Quast and Lauren Kennedy are fantasic and I think that critisms seen about Philip Quast are very wrong. Maybe he has been attacked over his appearance as this is the only way to critisise him. The whole cast was fantasic and I only have a couple of 'problems' with the show. Trevor Nunn was intent on showing the racist feelings of Nellie but she is openly hugging black sailors within the company! This takes away alot of the sincerity of the racial feeling. The other issue is with the sound dept. During and immediatley following 'Gonna wash that man', the sound from Nellie was very muffled and in parts virtually inaudilbe. I was lucky being in the front row in that I could hear the words directly from the actress. Overall a wonderful production and Philip Quast's Emile has left me 'In love with a wonderful guy'!!! Sam - USER: Whatsonstage.com | 07 Feb 02 |
| I disagree completely with the critics comments on this show. It was one of the best light musicals I have seen, the cast were brilliant, the music fantastic. You only had to listen to the people leaving the theatre to know that everyone had enjoyed the show. Perhaps your critic should get out a bit more and take notice of the public, but then LesMis had bad reports and they said it would not run for long, need I say more. Linda Martin - USER: Whatsonstage.com | 30 Jan 02 |
| Excellent. Beautiful music as well as a difficult love-stories involving people of different culture and race makes this a very good musical. The musical is clearly not politically correct in its message, which makes it very interesting. I think it is much better to deal with difficult issues head-on, than to gloss them over. Nunn has managed to combine beautiful music with a troublesome message. - USER: Whatsonstage.com | 20 Dec 01 |
| I've never seen South Pacific before, but I enjoyed it very much. The sound design had me pinned in my seat (admittedly in the 2nd row) for the first few numbers, but settled from then on. Perhaps because of problems with My Fair Lady Trevor Nunn wants the cast to save their voices and thus it all sounds amplified. I don't remember thinking about that once during Oklahoma. Anyway, despite that I thought the leads were very watchable, the dancing exciting and I never felt there was a dull moment. Could one ask for more ? There's no doubting Oklahoma was simply a better show, but that's as much due to it being a better-constructed musical plot-wise I think. South Pacific is still definitely worth seeing - it's a much more entertaining evening than you'll have at any of the other musicals currently running in London, including My Fair Lady & The Lion King IMO. - USER: Whatsonstage.com | 17 Dec 01 |
| South Pacific is an entertaining, if over long, evening at the theatre. As a revival I didn't find it particularly different or refreshing. The three main leads - Phillip Quast as Emile, Lauren Kennedy as Nellie and Edward Baker Duly as Lt Cable gave good if not outstanding perforamnces - I felt that none of them made the parts their own but they were all more than adequate and had brilliant voices. Sheila Francisco as Bloody Mary and Nick Holder as Luther Billis therefore stole the show. The set was impressive but what makes the show is the wonderful Rodgers and Hammerstein songs which are so familiar to so many people - all deleivered perfectly in this production. every song is a classic. I left the the theatre feeling satisfied, if not buzzing with what I'd just seen. - USER: Whatsonstage.com | 14 Dec 01 |
| Your reviewer seems to be rather aggressively and unnecessarily negative about this show. It is not, as stated, as good as Carousel or Oklahoma, but given the National's high standards this still places it head and shoulders above the average (and I use that word advisedly) West End production. The show is definitely over-miked and the orchestra's sound levels are far too high, but Bloody Mary and Emile de Becq are brilliantly played. Nellie Forbush isn't - she seems to have strayed in from an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical and can't seem to handle the concept of an actual plot. Nunn seemed to me to pay proper attention to the racist undertones which are a key theme within the story but that did not make it "monochromatic". Neither did it detract from the fact that the production provides an evening of great entertainment and, a key point that your reviewer like so many others doesn't seem to consider relevant, was hugely enjoyed by the audience present at the performance I attended. Perhaps British theatre would stand a better chance of being supported by the public if non-performers like your reviewer stopped whinging and stayed at home. - USER: Whatsonstage.com | 14 Dec 01 |
| A real disappointment. The actors just don't bring out the drama which the director is trying to push. This could be down to the poor casting of Nellie. Lauren Kennedy doesn't do justice to the songs (she's all exaggeratied mugging and looks more like a Valley girl that a 40's sweetheart), and dramatically you can't see why Emile would fall for her. Therefore the reunion at the end doesn't pack the punch it should have. Also it's surprising that the choreography doesn't make an impression since Matthew Bourne was responsible for this. Some of the military scenes were just tedious. The score is South Pacific is a classic but this cast was just not up to it. This production is nowhere nears as good as the National's other recent Rodgers and Hammerstein revivals, which were as good as they get. LK. - USER: Whatsonstage.com | 13 Dec 01 |
| South Pacific - Olivier Theatre. Both loved the show and ended up a trifle disappointed by it by the end. It is beautifully done with a great cast and wonderful designs but it is not quite the radical new version that had been hyped. Still it is the best SP that I have seen - better than the last London production at the Prince of Wales which itself was not bad. Struck a high early on with "Nothing Like a Dame" which was never quite matched through the remainder. A trifle overlong. ~ Ian. - USER: Whatsonstage.com | 13 Dec 01 |
| I am quite new to the show having seen bits of the film a million years ago and just knowing the better known songs. The show is stunning and this production does it full justice. This was the first preview but it was very tight already - there were no pacing problems or major flubs that I had expected. You honestly felt like the cast had been doing the show for months. Let me start with the two leads. Philip Quast gives a very natural and immensly likeable performance as Emile. You believe he loves his children and has suddenly come to love Nellie. I have to say straight away that his performance is much better than Jonathan Prce in that other NT revival. Philip's voice was excellent and he put a ton of emotion into every word and action. Lauren Kennedy is extremly loveable and funny as Nellie but also great during the emotionally moving parts of the story. Lauren's voice is very fine but her acting is even better - she really throws herself into the many aspects of her character. The whole cast fit their characters very well with Nick Holder being a particular highlight in perhaps the main comedy role of Luthor Billis - he gives a very funny performance that like many of the cast is completely convincing as a real human being rather than being a stock character. Sheila Francisco gives rather a touching portraly of Bloody Mary - desperate and yet resourceful. Edward Baker-Duly is a fine Joe Cable - very handsome with a nice voice but he didn't touch me emotionally - but it was the first preview - what do I expect everyone to be stunning !!!! The design is very nice - not ground breaking like some other John Napier work but functional - Nice to look at and deals very well with the plethora of locations. Of course Matthew Bourne has produced stunning dance set pieces - you wouldn't expect anything else and he does not fail here. It is not the over the top (but wonderful) pieces of dance in My Fair Lady.. Here it is more natural movement.. like these people might actually do these actions.. I was extermely impressed that it didn't shy away from the difficult elements of the story such as the inbred racism of the 1940s Amercians. The story is very very interesting and gripping. Tonight it ran three hours twenty something minutes - just over three hours stage time - at the end I thought "It CAN'T be over already".... What more can I say. - USER: Whatsonstage.com | 05 Dec 01 |
