Honey Bun-South Pacific by Mary Martin

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In South Pacific
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Let’s now complete the circle back to Broadway. In 1949 a new Rodgers and Hammerstein musical hit Broadway, called South Pacific; and Robert Russell Bennett, the show’s orchestrator, gave the score plenty of swing. After all, the GI’s who came home from WWII listened to the music on the V-Discs sent overseas; and the women who remained behind, including Rosy the Riveter, had been feasting on swing music during the lonely war years (1941-1945). What was more natural than to spice up the score from South Pacific with swinging orchestral and vocal arrangements.

We should enjoy the 1949 original cast recording, because the swing era was short-lived; and by 1951, when The King and I opened on Broadway, the music returned to a stately form.

So, roll back the rug, put on your dancing shoes, and enjoy Mary Martin singing “Honey Bun.”