“Some Enchanted Evening…”

Only last November the UND Theatre Department put it on, and it’s been performed recently by the Crimson Creek Players, Thompson High School, and the Grand Forks Summer Performing Arts program. And now, last weekend Red River High School did “South Pacific,” amazingly the very first time the title has been scheduled as the annual spring musical since the school opened some 40 years ago!

Set at an island navy base during World War II, the plot works in the standard love-at-first-sight romance and plenty of comic farce with its restless young sailors and nurses. However, it quickly develops into a story that probes deeper than typical musical-comedy fare.

The script remains as timely as ever with its exploration of love and racial prejudice, as well as ageism and political issues. Yet despite its wartime setting and many serious undercurrents, “South Pacific” is generously laden with comedy and has become beloved for its popular songs, including “Some Enchanted Evening,” “Younger than Springtime,” “Bali Ha’i,” and “Nothing Like a Dame,” among others.

Co-directed by Grand Forks’ musical theatre dynasty of Brad, Connie, and Ken Sherwood, along with Rich McFarlane, Red River High School, as expected, put on a highly enjoyable production to sold-out attendance. The pit orchestra was very good, though had occasional rough spots in the brass, and Red River’s student singers were uniformly strong.

Callie Berg had a wonderful voice and engaging personality in the starring role of Ensign Nellie Forbush. Tending to steal the show whenever he was on stage was Cody Gerszewski, hilarious as Luther Billis, with some entertaining support from Phil Jensen and Scott Amundson as Stewpot and The Professor. Matt Hippen did a nice job as the troubled marine Joe Cable, who falls in love with native girl Liat, played sensitively by Sasha Yearwood.

Makeup could not disguise the fact that middle-aged characters were played by teenagers, but the students handled themselves quite well. Alex Hovey had a strong bass voice as plantation owner Emile de Becque and gave a good acting performance. Britt Lazur was not only excellent as Bloody Mary, but was about the only person able to upstage Gerszewski’s Luther Billis. Jordan Speare and Luke Snudstad were just fine as the crusty Navy officers Brackett and Harbison.

While there was less dancing in this production than some (including last fall’s UND show), a major factor in helping to put over Red River’s show was the consistently energetic chorus who provided the ensemble of sailors, nurses, and native girls. For a cast of about 65 students (not to mention more than 150 others who were involved in putting on the show), the overall level of enthusiasm was both amazing and contagious.