Let it be known from the outset that, with few exceptions, I dislike musicals. For the most part, I find them to be tedious in the extreme. Topping off my list is The Sound of Music. Acquaintances, years ago, insisted that I see this film, proclaiming it to be the “best movie ever.” I sat through the whole thing, but it was a chore and, at the point in the picture when the Gestapo was hunting the von Trapp family in a cemetery, I wanted to yell out, ?they?re hiding behind the tombstones.?
I like songs from various musicals, It must be Spring from State Farm, for example, but one song is hardly a reason for sitting through an entire musical. And I can?t honestly say that I like any songs from The Sound of Music. In fact one song, Do, a deer… was as painful to sit through as the endless Small World ride at Disney World. Both the song and the ride have the potential to turn even the most comatose individual into a raving maniac.
The list of musicals I can abide is short; 42nd Street; West Side Story; and South Pacific. I like 42nd Street for its Art Deco imagery and for Dick Powell?s rendition of Lullaby of Broadway. West Side Story holds one?s interest for its gritty, fast pace. But South Pacific is my favorite, possibly because it was popular at a time when I was becoming familiar with popular music. Television was new and we had one of the firsts sets in the neighborhood. A friend of the family was an engineer for Magnavox and we were given a set to test the reception in our area. The only channel we could get was Channel 3 out of Kalamazoo, a good 60 miles to the north. Programing was irregular and usually did not begin until late afternoon. The programing at the time was all prerecorded and usually six months behind, so that the Christmas shows ran in June. No one seemed to mind. But I digress.
Various members of the original South Pacific cast appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show (called The Toast of the Town at the time). Ed always interviewed them before they performed and so we learned irrelevant bits of information like how many times Mary Martin washed her hair during the course of the show. Still, if memory serves, almost all of the numbers from the production were performed on the show over the course of a few months.
There is something special about Ezio Pinza singing Some Enchanted Evening and no other singer, in my estimation, has sung it as well or with the same feeling. But my favorite of all of the songs was Juanita Hall singing Bali Hai. I remember being fascinated as she sang ?Some day you?ll see me, floatin? in the sunshine, my head stickin? out from a low flyin? cloud. You?ll hear me call you, singin? through the sunshine, sweet and clear as can be: ?Come to me, here am I, come to me.? If you try you?ll find me, where the sky meets the sea, here am I, your special island, come to me, come to me.? I had just discovered science fiction, you see, and the words spoke to me of the Other. Juanita Hall played Bloody Mary in the musical and, in my naivete? I understood neither her role nor the actual meaning of the lyrics in Bloody Mary. It was much later, when I chanced to read Juanita Hall?s obituary, that I learned that she was a black singer. My ignorance can be excused, I suppose, since she was cast as an Asian in other productions, most notably The Flower Drum Song.
And it was later, when I had met my Mona Lisa in the blue sweater, that I came to understand and appreciate Some Enchanted Evening. Looking back over 45 some years (we recently celebrated our 45th wedding anniversary) my heart sings with Ezio Pinza the closing stanza of the song;
Once you have found her,
never let her go.
Once you have found her,
never let her go.