Rodgers & Hammerstein "BSO South Pacific" LP
(RCA - Victor) 1958 made in UK
cat. num. SB-2011
#soundtrack
South Pacific Overture Dites-Moi Cockeyed Optimist Twin Soliloquies; Some Enchanted Evening Bloody Mary My Girl Back Home There Is Nothin' Like A Dame Bali Ha'i I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair I'm In Love With A Wonderful Guy Younger Than Springtime Happy Talk Honey Bun Carefully Taught This Nearly Was Mine Finale
In contrast to the experiences of many Broadway songwriters, the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II had a large say in how their shows came to the big screen. South Pacific did not arrive in movie theaters until nine years after its Broadway opening, and when it did on March 19, 1958, its two-hour, 70-minute running time allowed for the full Rodgers & Hammerstein score, plus one song, "My Girl Back Home," that had been cut from the stage version for time. In addition to preserving their songs, the songwriters saw to it that the songs were sung by people they approved of, most of whom were not the same people seen on the screen. Mitzi Gaynor sang her own songs in the lead female role of nurse Nellie Forbush, and Ray Walston, who had played the supporting part of rowdy marine Luther Billis in the first national tour and in London, also got to sing. But Rossano Brazzi, as male lead Emile de Becque, was dubbed by opera singer Giorgio Tozzi (who was given screen credit), John Kerr as second male lead Lt. Cable was replaced by Bill Lee, and Juanita Hall, who had originated the role of Bloody Mary on Broadway, was voiced by Muriel Smith, who had played the part in London. (Several minor characters were also dubbed.)
While it would have been nice if Lee and Smith were credited in the film and on the soundtrack album, the result is a well-sung version of the score. Gaynor is appropriately frisky in what is really a soubrette's part in songs like "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair" and "I'm in Love With a Wonderful Guy," Tozzi is sonorous and romantic in "Some Enchanted Evening," Lee is passionate in "Younger Than Springtime," Smith is haunting in "Bali Ha'i" and playful in "Happy Talk," and Walston, leading the Ken Darby Male Chorus, makes the most of "Bloody Mary" and "There Is Nothin' Like a Dame." Only Smith and Walston improve upon their counterparts on the original Broadway cast album, however, with stage leads Mary Martin and Ezio Pinza particularly outdistancing their screen and soundtrack rivals. And now that CD reissues of that earlier recording contain Martin's version of "My Girl Back Home," one can't even argue that the soundtrack album is more complete. The original Broadway cast album is preferred.