"What I perhaps should have said is that if South Pacific were written nowadays, we'd probably get a show in which Nellie sang more explicitly and directly about her change of feelings. And that's why it may seem odd to us that she doesn't. But as I said (and you clearly agree), sometimes less is more. (And at three hours, including intermission, in performance, there's already plenty of more in South Pacific.)"
Right. And specifically, of course, in addition to the sections of the script that are concerned with Nellie's racism, there are also the scenes involving other characters that deal with that, not to mention the brief but extremely powerful song "You've Got to Be Taught." I think that, all told, there's enough content in the show directly addressing racism that, if there were more, it really might have seemed heavy-handed. |
