Mary Martin, Ezio Pinza, Richard Rodgers / Oscar Hammerstein II ‎– South Pacific With Original Broadway Cast

Mary Martin, Ezio Pinza, Richard Rodgers / Oscar Hammerstein II ‎– South Pacific With Original Broadway Cast

Альбом: 1 пластинка (альбомный формат)
Размер: 12" (гигант)
Запись: г.
Тип записи: стерео
Оборотов в мин.: 33
Состояние (диск/конверт): хорошее/очень хорошее
Производство: США
Фирма: Columbia Masterworks

A1 – Orchestra Overture 3:41
A2 –Barbara Luna Dites Moi 1:29
A3 – Mary Martin A Cock-Eyed Optimist 1:48
A4 – Mary Martin, Ezio Pinza Twin Soliloquies (Wonder How It Feels) 2:31
A5 – Ezio Pinza Some Enchanted Evening 3:05
A6 – Men's Chorus Bloody Mary 2:21
A7 – Men's Chorus There Is Nothin' Like A Dame 3:43
A8 – Juanita Hall Bali Ha'i 3:30
B1 – Mary Martin And Girls' Chorus* I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair 3:32
B2 – Mary Martin And Girls' Chorus* A Wonderful Guy 3:38
B3 – William Tabbert Younger Than Springtime 3:32
B4 – Juanita Hall Happy Talk 3:38
B5 – Mary Martin Honey Bun 2:07
B6 – William Tabbert Carefully Taught 1:21
B7 – Ezio Pinza This Nearly Was Mine 3:34
B8 – Mary Martin, Ezio Pinza , With Barbara Luna Finale

JOSHUA LOGAN PRESENT MARY EZIO MARTIN PINZA IN SOUTH PACIFIC
MUSIC BY RICHARD RODGERS LYRICS BY OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
BOOK BY OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II AND JOSHUA LOGAN • ADAPTED FROM JAMES A. MICHENER'S PULITZER PRIZE WINNING "TALES OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC"
BOOK AND MUSICAL NUMBERS STAGED BY JOSHUA LOGAN •ORCHESTRATIONS BY ROBERT RUSSELL BENNETT • SCENERY AND LIGHTING BY JO MIELZINER WITH MEMBERS OF THE ORIGINAL BROADWAY CAST • MUSICAL DIRECTOR: SALVATORE DELL'ISOLA

Few musical shows in the history of the American theatre have aroused the highhearted expectations that South Pacific did from the very first heralding of its conception. And small wonder; for here, if ever, was the bright promise of a tasty plum pudding of a production. Accustomed as it was to lavishness in its musicals, the public still goggled at the treasures anticipated in South Pacific —an adaptation of James A. Michener's highly popular and Pulitzer Prize winning Tales of the South Pacific: music by Richard Rodgers and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, a top-ranking team responsible for such delights as Oklahoma!, Carousel and Allegro; assistance as director and co-author from Joshua Logan, who a season or so before had helped to make Mister Roberts so irresistible a success; the leading feminine role to be played by the vivacious and incomparable Mary Martin, who had been absent from the Broadway stage for three seasons; the leading male role to be played by the great Metropolitan Opera basso, Ezio Pinza, who on this occasion was bringing his superb voice and handsome presence to the legitimate theatre for the first time. As time went on, public excitement mounted, stimulated by glowing reports from New Haven and Boston where South Pacific played prior to its New York opening. By the time the musical play reached Broadway for its debut there April 7, 1949, the box office had taken in the then record-shattering sum of half a million dollars in advance sales.
The important thing of course is that South Pacific not only lived up to its expectations, but surpassed them. "Rodgers and Hammerstein have done it again!" shouted the critics in one joyous chorus. "One of the greatest musical plays in the history of the American theatre," declared Richard Watts, Jr. in the New York Post. "Rhapsodically enjoyable," rhapsodized Brooks Atkinson in the New York Times. "Mary Martin, at her peak as singer, dancer and actress, becomes in South Pacific one of the stage's really great ladies," said Life. Said John Chapman in the New York Daily News of Ezio Pinza's magnificent performance, "The authority of a superb musician is at once apparent—and so is the authority of a big and handsome actor." Less than a week after the Broadway opening South Pacific was voted the best musical of the 1948-49 season by The New York Drama Critics Circle.
South Pacific is based primarily on two of the stories in Michener's book— Our Heroine and Fo' Dolla. Characters and incidents from the other tales art also worked into the story of the musical play which is a unified whole and neo episodic, as Michener's book is.
The action takes place on two islands of the South Pacific and the time is a lull during the fighting in the war with Japan. The colorful characters are chiefly marines, seabees, nurses, sailors and islanders.
The plot is formed of two romantic themes. Most important is the love affair . of Ensign Nellie Forbush (Mary Martin), the charming and high-spirited young nurse from Little Rock, Arkansas, and the gallant middle-aged French planter, Emile de Becque (Ezio Pinza). The secondary romantic theme is that of the likeable American marine, Lt. Joseph Cable (William Tabbert) and the lovely Tonkinese girl, Liat. Surrounding them are such fascinating characters as Bloody Mary, Liat's shrewd and avaricious mother (Juanita Hall); Luther Billis (Myron McCormick), a knowing and earthy Seabee who plays a wonderfully comic role in the amateur entertainment provided by the temporary residents of the island.
The principal romantic theme may be outlined as follows. Nellie Forbush and de Becque fall in love, and the varying moods of their affection are represented in such songs as the ebullient "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair" (which Nellie sings while taking a shower on the stage) and "A Wonderful Guy," and the exquisite "Some Enchanted Evening." Nellie's love for the planter cools on learning that de Becque had married a Polynesian woman on first coming to the island and that he had by her several children (one of whom is played by Barbara Luna) now under his care, for their mother has been dead for some time. Seeing that Nellie is avoiding him and realizing the reason, de Becque volunteers to go on a dangerous spy mission with Lt. Cable. The latter is killed on this expedition, but de Becque returns. Nellie, meanwhile has grown deeply fond of de Becque's young native children; and, more important, she now fully appreciates the high quality of the planter; and so their romance achieves a happy conclusion.
The tragic subplot of South Pacific is the story of the touching romance between Cable and Liat. Exquisite though the Tonkinese girl is and sincerely though they love one another, Cable fears that the difference in their races would work against a happy marriage for them. Their few moments of happiness are represented in such songs as "Younger than Springtime" and "Happy Talk."
Notes by MORRIS HASTINGS

MARY MARTIN assumed the role of Ensign Nellie Forbush immediately after a triumphant ten months transcontinental tour as the gun-toting heroine of the famous musical, Annie Get Your Gun. A native of Weatherford, Texas, where she educated the young set in the art of Terpsichore, Mary Martin sprang to Broadway fame overnight by shedding ermine at a wayside Siberian railroad station and warbling "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" in Leave It to Me. She later was seen as the wonderfully decorative animated statue of One Touch of Venus, and as the touching heroine of the Chinese fantasy, Lute Song. Miss Martin also has starred in a highly successful revival of Peter Pan, and she has made a number of brilliant television appearances.

EZIO PINZA was one of the great singing artists of his generation, a master portrayer of such varying roles as Don Giovanni, Figaro, Boris Godounov and Golaud in Pelleas et Melisande. His colorful career embraced a number of other professions, including that of professional bicycle racer. A native of Rome, Italy, Mr. Pinza studied voice in Bologna and sang at leading opera houses in Rome and Milan before making his sensational debut at the Metropolitan in New York City in 1926. Following his long and triumphant run in South Pacific, Mr. Pinza starred in Fanny on Broadway. He died, after a long illness, in May of 1957.

JUANITA HALL, the Bloody Mary of South Pacific, formerly was associated with the Hall Johnson Choir as soloist and as associate director. She later founded the Juanita Hall Choir.

WILLIAM TABBERT, who sings the role of the engaging marine (Lt. Joseph Cable) with special distinction, followed a distinguished career in the U. S. Army by assuming, in rapid succession, the leading role in five Broadway productions.