Marcelo Guzzo and Katie Reid

Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific's national tour performs a one-week engagement at the Boston Opera House, its official opening having been this past Tuesday night. Based on the LCT production which ran for two and a half years, Sher's direction is recreated by Sarna Lapine; Christopher Gattelli's musical staging is recreated by Joe Langworth; and sets, costumes, lighting and sound are all adapted from the original award-winning designs. When the curtain goes up, the scenery looks like a pretty good knock off, although somewhat diminished because the Opera House proscenium is considerably smaller than the thrust stage of the Vivian Beaumont Theatre at Lincoln Center.

The scaled-down nature of the touring company extends to the number of musicians in the pit (ten, as compared to thirty in New York) and to the expectations I held going in. The evening got off to a ragged start when the "Overture" was tantamount to background music for those still arriving (late) and patrons continuing to converse in their seats. I place responsibility on the facility staff for only partially dimming the house lights prior to the opening notes and for failing to make any pre-show announcement to alert the audience that it was time for the show to begin. (This latter failing may have also been to blame for the cell phone that rang early in both acts.) The unfortunate consequence of this combination of inattention to detail and a paucity of musicians is to rob the audience of the impact of Richard Rodgers' inspiring instrumental introduction.

Adapted from James A. Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "Tales of the South Pacific," the action takes place on two tropical South Seas islands during World War II. The parallel romantic stories of two couples are set against the background of the boredom and dangerousness of war in a lush paradise. U.S. Navy nurse Nellie Forbush (Katie Reid) is a self-described hick from Arkansas who is swept off her feet by older, suave French plantation owner Emile de Becque (Marcelo Guzzo). Marine pilot, Princeton graduate and scion of a Philadelphia upper class family Lt. Joe Cable (Shane Donovan) is smitten with Liat (Hsin-Yu Liao), a young native girl and daughter of the savvy Bloody Mary (Cathy Foy-Mahi). As they seek happiness and meaning in a strange place far from home, the Americans are forced to confront their prejudices and examine what matters most in their lives.

Oscar Hammerstein II wrote the lyrics and collaborated with Joshua Logan on the book which was groundbreaking in its day. Its exploration of themes of racial prejudice, tolerance and transformation were not the routine stuff of Broadway musicals in 1949 and give South Pacific a timeless quality that can be appreciated by today's audiences. The score by Rodgers contains numerous classics, such as "Some Enchanted Evening," "There is Nothin' Like a Dame," "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair," "A Wonderful Guy" and "Younger Than Springtime."

In this production, it is the novelty songs and ensemble numbers that are, in turn, endearing and full of vitality. Emile's children, Ngana (Judae'a Brown) and Jerome (Cole Bullock), are refreshingly unselfconscious when they sing "Dites-Moi" to open the first act, while the Seabees are animated and crisply punch out the lyrics of "Nothin' Like a Dame," letting us know just how lonely and frustrated they feel. The pièce de résistance is performed during the so-called "Thanksgiving Follies" on the naval base when Nellie and Luther Billis (Christian Marriner) in drag, complete with grass skirt and coconut breasts, clown around in "Honey Bun."

In contrast, the character songs lack the necessary passion to convey that Nellie and Emile are falling in love with each other, and the blocking is stunningly dull. In "Some Enchanted Evening," Emile stands still upstage, singing to Nellie's back as she looks off into the distance from downstage right. When he sings "This Nearly Was Mine," arguably the most moving song in the score, he is relegated to a corner of the stage where he alternately stands or drops leadenly onto a crate, unfairly destroying any chance that Guzzo could move us with the rich, operatic tone of his voice. Reid is also glued to a crate during the first couple of verses of "A Wonderful Guy" when she ought to be bursting with exuberance.

Unfortunately, Guzzo and Reid share little chemistry despite their love being the heart of the story. The director keeps too much distance between them and they approach each other more with politeness than ardor. His demeanor is stiff, loosening up fleetingly when Emile puts a napkin over his head to imitate Nellie's rendition of "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair." Reid's lilting southern accent conveys warmth and charm, but she seems more natural with Billis and the other nurses than with Guzzo until they finally connect in the closing scene.

Donovan receives high marks for swagger and offers a sweet vocal on "My Girl Back Home," but his performance lacks nuance. He charges ahead when it might be better to hold something back. Cable is angry and disenchanted, perhaps suffering from "shell shock" (what we now refer to as PTSD), but he is also confused by his feelings about Liat, and Donovan resides primarily in the anger. Hsin-Yu Liao brings quiet charm to the role of the Tonkinese girl whose mother is desperate to marry her off to an American GI. Foy-Mahi captures Bloody Mary's cunning, but her delivery of "Bali Ha'i" misses some of the magic and mystery that song should impart. Robert John Biedermann and James Bould as Captain Brackett and his aide Commander Harbison are a solid pair, both appearing very comfortable in their roles and providing a good blend of gravitas with esprit de corps. Erik Cheski (Stewpot) and Jake Bridges (Professor) have fun mixing it up with Billis and the rest of the Seabees and nurses in the ensemble.

The chief problem facing this production is that it feels lethargic due to slow motion pacing. Other than the aforementioned ensemble numbers and a few dramatic scenes where tension builds to a higher level of notice, there needs to be more crispness, more of a feeling of attacking the material with gusto. The brilliance of the score cannot be fully appreciated with the downsizing of the orchestra, and the sound quality is uneven, coming across as tinny when the volume is turned up. Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific is one of the great Broadway musicals that should be seen by theater lovers, music lovers and lovers of any kind. Sad to say, this is not your grandparents' South Pacific.

Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific through October 2 at the Boston Opera House, 539 Washington Street, Boston, MA; Box Office (M-F, 10 am to 5 pm), Ticketmaster 1-800-982-2787 or www.BroadwayInBoston.com. Music by Richard Rodgers, Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, Book by Oscar Hammerstein II and Joshua Logan, Adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Tales of the South Pacific by James A. Michener; Direction Recreated by Sarna Lapine, Musical Staging Recreated by Joe Langworth; Music Supervisor, Ted Sperling; Music Director, Richard Dunn II; Original Sets by Michael Yeargan, Additional Sets & Adaptation by Mikiko Suzuki Macadams, Costumes by Catherine Zuber (assisted by David Newell), Lighting by Donald Holder (adapted by Karen Spahn), Sound by Scott Lehrer (adapted by Drew Levy); Production Stage Manager, Stacy N. Taylor

Cast: Marcelo Guzzo, Katie Reid, Robert John Biedermann, James Bould Jake Bridges, Judae'a Brown, Cole Bullock, Erik Cheski, Shane Donovan, Cathy Foy-Mahi, Hsin-Yu Liao, Christian Marriner and Hannah Bautista, Samantha Berman, James Erickson, Jay Frisby,Tripp Hampton, Sheldon Henry, Andrew Mauney, Ben Mayne, Royce McIntosh, Jessica Naimy, Ariel Padilla, Matt Patrick, Laura Pavles, Alex Pepper, Jenny Piersol, Rachel Rhodes-Devey, Angela Travino, Michael Walker

Photo: Peter Coombs