Musical Monday - South Pacific

This past weekend our family attended the local high school's fall musical. We first attended--somewhat reluctantly, not really knowing any of the kids in the production--two years ago and were delighted with the students' performance of Fiddler on the Roof. For weeks afterward, we walked around the house singing the songs, aided by YouTube and lyrics searches. The next year we went for Little Shop of Horrors and were just as thrilled with that performance.

The quality of each production is incredible for a high school, particularly one with just around 300 students. We are only sorry we didn't start going to the musicals our first year here. Each year the auditorium is packed. It seems the whole community is there to support the students and enjoy an evening of cheap entertainment close to home.

This year's production of South Pacific was by far my favorite for one reason. It was the first year that one of our children participated. Since his freshman year, we have been trying to get Joshua to go out for the musical. He has such a good voice and is always entertaining us with his impersonations and impromptu comedy sketches. Away from home, however, he's a little shy. We could never convince him to try out, but this year his forensics teacher persuaded him to do it. He had two small speaking parts (Yeoman Quale and Radio Operator Bob McCaffrey) in addition to singing along with the other sailors for their numbers, but he did beautifully, and we couldn't be prouder.

Since the songs from South Pacific are still echoing in my ears today, I've pushed back the Musical Monday post I had planned to bring some of them to you. (Come back next Monday to travel "Around the World in 80s Music".) Although I'd never seen South Pacific before, I was surprised to find that I was familiar with several of the songs.

Some Enchanted Evening

I know I had heard this song before. It's a lovely song, and both of the leads sang it very well. The more memorable songs by far, however, were the more light-hearted tunes.

I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair

The tune has long been familiar to me, but I first learned it with different words.

For the record, I'm keeping my grey--at least for now. I want to see how it turns out.

Honey Bun

This was another song I'd heard, although I'm not sure how or where. The kids did such a good job with it, too. One of our neighbors goes to church with the boy who played Luther Billis. During intermission she told me that he's a shy one, too, but you wouldn't have guessed it from his performance--and certainly not from this scene.

Bloody Mary

I had trouble finding this scene from the movie or Broadway production, so this clip is of another high school performance. The kids here did a pretty good job, but I do think ours was better. The girl who played Bloody Mary was one of the best parts of the play. I wish I had some video of the production, but we were given strict warnings against it for fear of the school being fined for copyright violations. There are tons of school videos on YouTube. I wish I hadn't been such a chicken.

There is Nothing Like a Dame

This was my absolute favorite number of the production. Josh did not get to sing the low part that Stew Pot sings, but one of his friends sang the high part in the song. They came home together one afternoon between school and practice singing it together, and Josh can nail those low notes. I've been begging him to let me video him singing the song with or without his friend so I can send it to Caleb (and maybe post it here). It's such a fun song, and all of the boys did a great job with it.

I hope these songs from South Pacific have given you something to whistle at work and have put a little spring in your step for this Monday. I'm sure I'll be singing them for some time to come.