Tales of a Time Long Past, Still Familiar

South Pacific at the Paper Mill Playhouse

 

The Seabees of South Pacific with Loretta Ables Sayre as Bloody Mary.

 

            The well-acted if not exceptionally imaginative production of South Pacific, at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn through May 4th, boasts a number of similarities to the recent revival of that show at Lincoln Center.  (That esteemed production ran from 2008-2010 and won seven Tony Awards.)  Most obviously is the presence of Loretta Ables Sayre, who played Bloody Mary in both that production and this one, and who, once again, delivers a hugely entertaining performance, especially during one of the score’s simplest yet cleverest numbers, “Happy Talk.”  There is also a magnificent turn by the actress portraying Nellie Forbush, the energetic, bigoted Navy nurse.  The counterpart to 2008’s Kelli O’Hara (in her greatest performance) is Erin Mackey, who brings a new take to the role, enhancing Nellie’s Southern twang while cranking up the slightly nervous energy during some of the better dance numbers (see: “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair,” “I’m In Love with a Wonderful Guy”).  Less impressively, the production also retains the scenic and costume designers of 2008’s production (Michael Yeargan and Catherine Zuber, respectively), whose work I didn’t especially enjoy even on Lincoln Center’s expansive stage and enjoy even less on the Paper Mill’s.  But, most importantly, this South Pacific retains the beautiful, lilting, thoughtful score that became the touchstone of musical theater in the 1950s, and it holds up just as well in 2014 as it did in 2008.

            Along with Ms. Mackey, who nearly steals the show, the greatest performances are those of Doug Carpenter, whose clear, beautiful, matinee-idol voice as Lt. Joseph Cable is a memorable highlight, and Tally Sessions, who wrings humor out of every line as Luther Billis, the Minderbinder-esque baths magnate of his navy base.  As such, the greatest number in this version of the show by a long shot is the vastly underrated “Honey Bun,” which Ms. Mackey and Mr. Sessions sing together in drag.  Since “Honey Bun” takes place in a musical within a musical, so to speak, it is during this number that the extravagant, exciting musicals the Paper Mill is more used to producing are allowed to shine through.

            South Pacific has a serious side, too, though.  Mr. Carpenter’s version of “You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught,” the first song in a popular musical to address racism head-on, is filled with bitterness and self-hatred, a tour-de-force.  But the show’s most classically beautiful songs, “Some Enchanted Evening” and “This Nearly Was Mine,” though still affecting, are encumbered by the delivery of Mike McGowan as Emile de Becque, the French planter who falls for Nellie.  Mr. McGowan is a relatively boring actor and an even less interesting singer, and often the minutes he spends on stage can feel like eternities.  This is a liability a show like South Pacific, which can get awfully slow about mid-way through the second act, cannot afford.  Still, Ms. Mackey and the supporting cast keep the show afloat even still.

            The elements of a classic musical imprint themselves in our collective consciousness, and no matter the production, the syncopated lustfulness of the sailors of the South Pacific in the immortal “There is Nothin’ Like a Dame” will inspire the same joy.  (Interestingly, the drive for copulation and the perception of the opposite sex as meat are crimes both genders are guilty of in this show--the ladies in “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair” and “Honey Bun” and the gentlemen in… everything else.  The South Pacific, it seems, is a lonely place.)  There is nothing like South Pacific, in any form, at any time.  Regardless of its faults, it is a unique musical, and to see even this production, so clearly derivative of Lincoln Center’s, is to witness singularity.

Two Paths, Neither Very Interesting

If/Then at the Richard Rodgers Theatre

 

 Idina Menzel and Anthony Rapp in If/Then.

                I wish so badly to have liked If/Then.  Filled with beautiful voices and scenery (by Mark Wendland), the new musical from Next to Normal scribes Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey provides the facade of that intense, realistic rock musical of 2009 starring the electric Alice Ripley.  This time, they have chosen for their leading woman Idina Menzel, who has a magnificent voice and is on something of a hot streak right now.  Her supporting cast, including the clear-voiced James Snyder, the sporadically entertaining LaChanze, and Rent co-star Anthony Rapp, is very talented.  Yet this musical has two fatal weak points--its book and its score.

              The book, by Mr. Yorkey, is excruciatingly boring.  It concerns Elizabeth (Menzel), an aimless urban studies major who has ended her twelve-year marriage at 39 and moved back to New York.  One meaningless decision--whether to spend an afternoon with her former boyfriend, the bisexual housing activist Lucas (Rapp) or her new friend and neighbor, Kate (LaChanze)--lays out two parallel universes.  In one, the newly christened Liz meets a dreamy army doctor (Snyder), has two children, and pursues a teaching career.  In the other, nicknamed Beth, our heroine devotes herself to a career in city planning and starts an on-and-off relationship with Lucas.  It pains me to have to explain these storylines in such detail (though the confusion of the storyline necessitates it), since they are totally uninteresting.  Though the audience at the performance I attended seemed riveted (Menzel fans, no doubt), it barely held my attention.  Unlike Next to Normal, in which the tribulations of a single suburban family became Earth-shattering before our eyes, there is no point in telling this story.  Though at face value the production, admirably, doesn’t seem to be trying too hard, this is because it actually has nothing to say.

               The score, by  Mr. Kitt, is, shockingly, not great.  Next to Normal’s was a pitch-perfect labor of love, each number more creative and telling than the last.  If/Then has perhaps two memorable numbers.  One, “Starting Over,” is momentous only because of Ms. Menzel’s soaring performance--this is her “Defying Gravity” moment of the production.  The other, “Love While You Can,” is legitimately good, a tantalizing taste of what this musical could have been.  The rest of the numbers all sound the same--cool-kid rock, with lots of acoustic instruments and piano, classic Kitt but without the effort.  Backed by meaningless choreography by Larry Keigwin, the numbers ooze by without fanfare, tracking the unimportant story almost uncaringly.  A great score can save a bad story.  Unfortunately, we get no such salvation here.

              The long and the short of it is that If/Then is too clever by half.  The concept of the Butterfly Effect was not meant to be applied to such unimportant decisions as those that Liz and Beth make in the show.  The fact is that both of their storylines end practically the same way, and could have done the same had about 40% of each plot been removed entirely.  It’s a lot of fluff, and not fun fluff, either.  Applying the same angst to 40s shiftlessness as they did to mental illness, Yorkey and Kitt have showed their hand.  They can only tell important stories--really important stories, and if they start off with a premise that won’t lead anywhere, neither will their work.  All the Idina Menzels in the world won’t save the aesthetic value of this show.  It’s a shame that, in this new theater landscape, the commercial value is what counts.