Some Enchanted Evening-South Pacific by Ezio Pinza video
South Pacific is an interesting play. It was conceived as an adaptation from James Michener’s Tales of the South Pacific. In Michener’s stories, many of the characters reappear a number of times. The key was to pick out the most interesting characters and provide them with a new persona. In Act One, Scene 1, in 10 short pages of dialogue, we know that it is lunchtime, that we are on a large and beautiful plantation, that the owner’s name is Emile, that he has come to the Island from France, that he met a nurse named Nellie two weeks ago and that they are very different in age and culture. Nellie describes herself as a hick from Little Rock but has a wonderfully optimistic sense that this war will be won, despite the setbacks initially experienced by the Americans. Emile is smitten by this young, beautiful nurse from America and craves the energy that youth brings with it. In twin soliloquies they both express their hopes and doubts to the audience but not to one another. It is at that moment that Emile sets out the conflict of the musical play: that we don’t often get a chance for true happiness and when that opportunity comes our way, we should seize the moment and never let it go. In a sense, as he sings “Some Enchanted Evening” he stops philosophizing and starts proposing to her. Nellie, who is very unsure of herself or her feelings, is scared at the prospect of having to make a sudden decision and runs off.
After using Scene 2 to introduce Bloody Mary to the audience, we move into Scene 3, where we quickly establish the second love interest of the show between the new arrival, Lt. Cable, and someone we will meet on the Island of Bali Ha’i named Liat. At the same time, we learn of Cable’s reason for coming; his mission is to set up a communication link on the nearby Marie Louise Island and send back information of Japanese ship movements through a bottleneck, called “The Slot.” Two men are needed to make the plan work– Cable and Emile de Becque.
Within minutes, two more facts are revealed. We find out that, before Capt Brackett will approach Emile to volunteer on the mission, he wants Nellie to get more information about Emile; and we learn that Nellie gets a letter from her Mother, telling her not to get mixed up with strangers outside of Little Rock. Nellie vows to “wash that man right out of her hair.”
We have already heard both of these songs. What we get next is what I am going to call a dramatic “right hand turn,” an abrupt change from one attitude to another. Emile arrives and interrupts Nellie, just as she has finished throwing Emile over. She remembers her instructions to find out more about Emile and asks him to explain why he left France. He explains and quotes the Declaration of Independence; Nellie is elated and forgets that she has just decided not to see Emile again.
And so, they turn “Some Enchanted Evening” into a duet, where they explain away their differences and vow to love one another, for ever. We have a clip from a television recreation of the scene, and we would like you to watch the end of the scene, as Ezio Pinza puts Mary Martin’s head in his right hand. They then kiss. The way Pinza holds her tells us a great deal about the actors and their real life romance. There is no pretense here; no stage kiss. It is apparent that they were in love. We don’t often see real life model itself after a fictional tale, but sometimes it does happen.