In 1949, the country was four years removed from world war and in the throes of the red scare. Baseball had just crossed the color line, but it would be another 15 years before the Civil Rights Act and another 39 before legislation that would finally call the internment of Japanese-Americans an act of “race prejudice and war hysteria.”
And yet on Broadway, in “South Pacific,” the character of American Navy lieutenant Joe Cable was singing to war-torn audiences that racism is a learned behavior:
“You’ve got to be taught to be afraid of people whose eyes are oddly made. And people whose skin is a different shade.”
The musical won 10 Tony Awards and a Pulitzer Prize. But until its Broadway revival in 2008, it had been 50 years since anyone revisited this classic Rodgers and Hammerstein script long relegated to the sanitary environs of dinner theater. For most, the title recalls gooey ballads like “Some Enchanted Evening” and a plucky gal determined to wash that man right out of her hair.
They have no idea that, in 1949, dusty, delightful “South Pacific” was received as overt political theater.
“Oh, absolutely,” said Ted Chapin, president and executive director of the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization. “And at a time when musical theater had a much higher profile in the cultural world of America than it does today.”
“South Pacific,” which will be presented in Denver starting Tuesday at the scale its creators first envisioned, features two couples threatened by racial differences. And in what may have been a musical-theater first, it’s the heroine who is flawed and must confront her own racism.
“What really had people talking in 1949 was that song, ‘You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught,’ ” said Chapin. “A lot of people then were not at all interested in hearing what that song had to say.”
Cable’s lyrical suggestion that children as young as 6 already have been trained to “to hate all the people your relatives hate,” prompted a bill put before the Georgia legislature to outlaw the song as communist propaganda.
“By the clock, it’s about a minute and 15 seconds,” Chapin said, “but a pretty powerful minute and 15 seconds.”
Belated revival
So why did it take revival-crazy Broadway 50 years to take another look?
“I think they were afraid it was a war piece that had become very dated,” said Shirley Jones, who made her Broadway debut replacing Mary Martin as Nellie Forbush in 1950. “Maybe they had to wait that long for people to realize what an incredible story it was, and how magnificent the music is.”
In 1949, “South Pacific” was a world made up of people caught up in the military — on stage and off. “Probably every member of the audience either had been in the war, or knew people who had been killed,” said Chapin. “So there was an emotional level that people started at that, as the years go on and on, becomes lower and lower and lower.”
Many potential investors in the 2008 revival openly wondered whether the racist part of it would stand up. Enter director Bartlett Sher, who not only embraced the racism of the story — he went back and restored parts of the original script that had been lost.
“For example, in the draft of the script they went into rehearsals with in 1949, when Nellie discovers that the mother of Emile’s kids was Polynesian, she utters the word ‘colored,’ ” Chapin said. “But for whatever reason, the collaborators made the decision not to use that word when it opened on Broadway. We don’t know why. But Bart put it back. So audiences have never heard Nellie use that word until now — and let me tell you, it makes for a powerful end of the first act.”
Groundbreaking move
The subject of racism was a lifelong passion of Hammerstein’s, the wordsmith of the R&H duo. It’s evident all the way back to “Showboat” in 1927 (with Jerome Kern), and it comes up time and time again in musicals like “The King and I” and “The Sound of Music.”
But while we are used to seeing emotionally stunted men like King Mongkut and Col. Von Trapp, it was groundbreaking to make Nellie have to confront her own racism.
“I think it’s fair to say that Oscar Hammerstein liked leading women, and he liked writing for them,” said Chapin, who in the early 1970s directed three straight summers for our own Creede Repertory Theatre. (“They were scalping tickets to my ‘Charley’s Aunt’ in Del Norte and Buena Vista!” he says with humor.)
From Maria in “The Sound of Music” to Laurie in “Oklahoma” to Anna in “The King and I,” he added, “his leading women are all strong, they have depth, and they take risks.”
And sometimes, they are flawed. “Yes, and I think that makes for more interesting stories,” he said.
Chapin believes the great accomplishment of Rodgers and Hammerstein is that they “legitimized the proper telling of a theatrical story with full depth all across the board,” he said, which opened the door to the next generation of stories, such as “West Side Story” and “A Chorus Line.”
And nowhere, he said, is that genius more evident than in that introspective little musical epiphany about racism that so threatened the old guard in 1949.
“In retrospect, what I think is so fascinating is that the whole racist part of ‘South Pacific’ is in some ways saying to the audience, ‘All right, guys, now welcome to the 1950s. We’re looking forward, because this is what the next decade is going to be about.’ “
John Moore: 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com
“South Pacific”
Musical. National touring production at the Buell Theatre, Denver Performing Arts Complex. Written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. Starring Carmen Cusack and David Pittsinger. Through Aug. 1. 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays and July 28; 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. July 25; 2 p.m. Aug. 1. $25-$125. 303-893-4100 (800-641-1222 outside Denver), at all King Soopers or
This weekend’s best bet: Paragon’s “The Real Thing”
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Opening Saturday, July 17, through Aug. 14: Paragon Theater struck lightning three years ago when it landed Denver Center Theatre Company stalwart Sam Gregory to spend his summer vacation starring in its award-winning “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf”? Gregory and Paragon are reuniting to stage Tom Stoppard’s comedy “The Real Thing,” opening Saturday and running through Aug. 14. In his relationship comedy, Stoppard explores love and honesty in a world where nothing is as it seems – even when it seems like the real thing. Gregory is joined by Emily Paton Davies, Warren Sherrill and Barbra Andrews. Directed by Wendy Franz.
1385 S. Santa Fe Dr., 303-300-2210 or
This week’s other theater openings
“All Shook Up” More than 20 all-time Elvis hits are used to tells the story of a small town girl with big dreams and the leather-jacketed, guitar-playing stranger who steals her heart. A “Grease”-like story of romance, dance and rock ‘n roll. Through Aug. 8. 6901 Wadsworth Blvd., Arvada, 720-898-7200 or and here’s
“Beauty and the Beast” It’s the tale as old as time, only this time told through the eyes of the nation’s foremost handicapped theater company. Through Aug. 15. Presented by PHAMALy at the Space Theatre, Denver Performing Arts Complex, 303-575-0005 or
“Glengarry Glen Ross” David Mamet’s darkly comic and profane 1984 Pulitzer winner about four corrupt real-estate salesmen fighting to win a cutthroat sales contest. For mature audiences. Through July 31. Presented by Springs Ensemble Theatre at Watch This Space, 218 W. Colorado Ave., Colorado Springs, 719-447-1646 or
“Measure for Measure” In Shakespeare’s nastiest comedy, a young man is sentenced to death for sexual relations outside of marriage. Will his pious sister sacrifice her virginity to save her brother? Through Aug. 6. Presented by the Colorado Shakespeare Festival indoors at University of Colorado-Boulder mainstage theater, 303-492-0554 or
“The Menopause Monologues” Three actresses present a range of characters who debunk myths and bring to light issues concerning the life-changing journey all women take. Alternating weekends through Aug. 15. Backstage Theatre, 121 S. Ridge St., Breckenridge, 970-453-0199 or
“Our Town” Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer-winning tragicomedy of human existence looks at the ordinary lives in the small 1900s town of Grover’s Corners, N.H. Through Aug. 4. Presented by the Colorado Shakespeare Festival at the Mary Rippon Outdoor Amphitheatre on the University of Colorado-Boulder campus, 303-492-0554 or
“Our Town” Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer-winning tragicomedy of human existence looks at the ordinary lives in the small 1900s town of Grover’s Corners, N.H. Through July 25. Presented by the Platte Valley Players at the Brighton Cultural Center, 300 Strong St., 303-481-8432 or
“Same Time, Next Year” This romantic comedy follows the affair between two people who rendezvous once a year for a romatic tryst. Stars Broadway’s Joan Hess, a veteran of several local theaters. Through Aug. 20. Theatre Aspen, 400 Rio Grande Place, 970-925-9313 or
“Smokey Joe’s Cafe” A musical revue of the 1950s and ’60s chart-toppers penned by Leiber and Stoller, including “There Goes My Baby” and “Jailhouse Rock.” Thursdays only through Aug. 26. Presented by the Lake Dillon Theatre at the New Pavilion in Keystone, 970-453-0199 or
“Sylvia” The marriage of restless empty-nesters Greg and Kate is threatened when he brings home a stray dog from the park. Through July 25. E-Project, 9797 W. Colfax Ave., Lakewood, 303-232-0363 or
“Urinetown” This clever musical satire puts us in a drought-ravaged land where the government is conspiring with big business to create a desperate class of poor on the brink of revolution. If that sounds dour, it’s not — even if it argues that our current way of life is unsustainable. Through Aug. 8. Evergreen Players, 27608 Fireweed Drive, 303-674-4934 or
Complete theater listings
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