Homer Musical, 2016: South Pacific
Reed Cleland
This year, Homer High School’s musical theatre group has chosen to perform a blast-from-the past. South Pacific is a Rodgers and Hammerstein classic, filled with comedy, romance, and drama. It even contains undertones of socio-cultural themes that still affect today’s world.
The musical’s plotline-without any spoilers-is actually two distinct subplots. Set in the Pacific theater during World War Two, it follows the struggle of American sailors to capture a Japanese island. In the first sub-plot, Nellie Forbush (Bailey Kote), an American naval nurse, is in love with a distinguished French plantation owner, Emile de Becque (David Perfetti), who lives on the island. However, she has reservations about marrying de Becque when she learns that his children are half-Polynesian.
Meanwhile, the young Lieutenant Joseph Cable (Rowan Travis) has traveled to the island to serve with American forces. He falls in love with Liat (Jenniellen Withers), a young and innocent Polynesian woman. Social restrictions, however, make Cable second-guess the wisdom of marrying an island native. Several supporting characters, including Liat’s mother Bloody Mary (Kate Halstead) and the comic relief Luther Billis (Kenian Ulrich), help tie the stories together into an epic of social struggle. The rest of the cast does a great job of enriching the setting and playing roles that include Nurses, Sailors, Officers, and Polynesians.
The musical’s legacy is contained in several memorable songs, including “Some Enchanted Evening”, “There is Nothing Like a Dame”, “I’m Gonna Wash that Man Right Outa My Hair”, “Younger than Springtime”, and “You’ve Got to be Carefully Taught”. While there are plenty of elements for a night of light entertainment, the musical’s deeper messages on overcoming bigotry makes us all stop and think, at least for a moment, on how we judge others.
Although the musical was produced more than sixty years ago, director Mrs. Kara K-B McLaughlin believes that these messages for accepting others are applicable to modern society: “The plot’s conflict is really driven forward by those characters who have to overcome their prejudices,” she said. “The show’s really significant for being written in a time when there was a lot of prejudice in America. Cable’s “You’ve Got to be Carefully Taught” can really be taken as a message to watch what we teach our children, because we end up believing a lot of things we’re taught as children.”
This musical is filled with talented singers, actors, dancers, and musicians. Their hard work, which started in October, will culminate on March 4th and 5th, in the Bonné Auditorium. Tickets will run at $6 for students and seniors, $8 for general admission, and $30 for a family rate. The show is one of the many examples of the phenomenal productions created by Homer High’s musical theatre and you will not want to miss it!
