As I remember when it first came out, the movie of "South Pacific" seemed like pretty bland stuff – especially in comparison to the original stage musical, and especially when you compared the much smaller range of Mitzi Gaynor's performance with that of Mary Martin. Ezio Pinza's voice was pretty compelling too. Made for a great original cast album.
Great to hear that, James. I think there must have been some kind of halo effect from the stage version. In Britain people went crazy for the movie, perhaps because they couldn't quite so easily see it in a theatre. Also, of course, the original cast recording was in the charts for a long time. Great example of an integrated, multi-platform release, I guess, like Barbie!
As I remember when it first came out, the movie of "South Pacific" seemed like pretty bland stuff – especially in comparison to the original stage musical, and especially when you compared the much smaller range of Mitzi Gaynor's performance with that of Mary Martin. Ezio Pinza's voice was pretty compelling too. Made for a great original cast album.
Great to hear that, James. I think there must have been some kind of halo effect from the stage version. In Britain people went crazy for the movie, perhaps because they couldn't quite so easily see it in a theatre. Also, of course, the original cast recording was in the charts for a long time. Great example of an integrated, multi-platform release, I guess, like Barbie!
Fun fact: I dated John Kerr's son, the year after I lived with you.
Splendid fact! Was he a Hollywood brat?
Yes, I guess you could call him that. He is a screenwriter. Good guy. We are still friends.