Word: knucklehead
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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Loosely spun out of James Michener's Pulitzer-Prizewinning war yarns, South Pacific is not a musicomedy; it is a "musical play" in which story moves on equal terms with song, while dancing is shunned and spectacle virtually banished. Story means, for the most part, a romance between "Knucklehead Nellie" (Mary Martin), an appealing Navy nurse from Little Rock, Ark., and a middle-aged Pacific-island French planter (Ezio Pinza). The nurse loves the planter but almost loses him, first to her Southern prejudices when she finds he has lived openly with a native woman and sired two children...
South Pacific gets a magnificently effective production. Joshua Logan has staged and stepped up the proceedings with nimble skill, while the Jo Mielziner sets never jam the flow. As the little knucklehead, Mary Martin gives the performance of her career. She merges a gift for comedy with a delightful personality; she sings well, and turns out ballads even better. As the planter, Metropolitan Opera Basso Pinza proves himself an excellent Broadway performer. He has, beyond that, the kind of voice that show business is lucky enough to acquire once or twice in a generation. The whole supporting cast is good...