The reasons to see the performance of South Pacific at the Royal Theatre go beyond the highly curated cast and classic musical numbers beloved by generations.
Ian Rye, director of artistic administration at Pacific Opera Victoria, who are co-producing the show with the Victoria Symphony, says there has been a resurgence of classic Broadway shows lately.
“A lot of cities are celebrating this kind of repertoire from the ’50s,” says Rye. “Victoria is really riding this wave; there’s a great appetite for this here.”
What’s different about this show is the musical accompaniment, explains Rye.
“For the first time ever on the island we are doing the full musical treatment: we’ve got 40 voices and 40 musicians on stage as never seen before in Victoria.”
Rye explains how lucky we are to live in a community that can afford that kind of orchestral treatment of this repertoire.
“Most cities our size don’t have an opera company or an orchestra; we’re fortunate that this community is so musically literate. It’s unprecedented,” he says. “What’s unique about this production of South Pacific is you’re bringing professional voices together with professional symphony as it was written, as Rodgers and Hammerstein originally intended. That’s a big deal.”
Rye says the first time he saw South Pacific was as a child on PBS.
“My favourite moment is the song ‘Some Enchanted Evening,’ but what makes me laugh is that one big ensemble entrance for ‘Wash That Man Right out of My Hair.’ As a married man, one has to laugh about being subject to this kind of treatment by a group of women. It’s a fun, sexy scene!”
He claims that this performance of South Pacific is for everyone because it “rings true for us or parents and grandparents who celebrate this music.”
“We all have a connection to this piece,” says Rye. “Ironically, we all have a connection to the war in which it is set. There’s nobody who can’t find a home in South Pacific.”
Female lead Lara Ciekiewicz, who stars as Nellie Forbush, says that the goal of the performer is to communicate and get involved in the story.
“That’s what is so special about this show,” she says. “Everything that happens to the characters is so visceral for the audience, as well; it’s a very direct show.”
With a jovial spirit and the distinct laugh of an opera singer, Ciekiewicz admits that she saw South Pacific for the first time only when she was preparing for her role.
“It was about a month ago on YouTube,” she says. “I have never seen a live version of South Pacific ever. So I’m coming to it as free and clear of any kind of assumptions as anybody else is.”
A self-proclaimed prairie girl at heart, Ciekiewicz studied in Montreal, where she got a master’s degree in opera.
“That experience shaped my vision of what a career [in opera] would be like and how hard I would have to work to be in the career,” she says.
It’s this training that allows her to explore the operatic tendencies of South Pacific.
“But if I could be any other character in the show,” she says, “it would be Billis, just so I could sing ‘There Is Nothing Like a Dame’!”
Even without that, this performance promises indeed to be some enchanted evening.
South Pacific
November 23-24
Royal Theatre
rmts.bc.ca