Review: A lush, sensory ‘South Pacific' at the Paramount Theatre
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1949 golden age masterpiece “South Pacific” sits beautifully inside Aurora’s historic Paramount Theatre, built in 1931 and with a vaguely Venetian but thoroughly escapist interior that melds strikingly well with set designer Jeffrey D. Kmiec’s lush and romantic encapsulation of fictional Bali Ha’i and the neighboring island swarming with nurses and horny Seabees.
I’ve seen “South Pacific” many times, but never with quite so many flowers, vines, palm trees and waterfalls. It’s like a hothouse up on that stage, sometimes in more ways than one.
Kmiec and the projection designer Mike Tutaj have created an expansive and exotic mis en scene, bigger than most Broadway shows can manage these days, fully embracing of the source musical’s original intent not only to transport its audiences to the exotic South Seas but to explore the paradox of being young, sexually curious and in one of the world’s most beautiful locations while simultaneously teetering on the periphery of a global war.
Basing their book on a novel by James A. Michener, Joshua Logan and Hammerstein used the musical form to look at out-of-context Americans, homing in on a young Arkansas nurse named Nellie Forbush, carefully taught in the ways of racial prejudice until a handsome Frenchman with half-Polynesian kids upends her, as well as on a young lieutenant named Joseph Cable whose repressed desires explode in a kind of fever dream, analogous perhaps to America itself.
Add in the lush melodies of Richard Rogers - “Some Enchanted Evening,” “This is How it Feels” (one of his lesser sung masterpieces and a personal favorite), “This Nearly Was Mine” and the supremely joyous “I’m in Love With a Wonderful Guy” - and you have a show with the ability to transport almost anyone to a very different time and place. I kept marveling anew all night long of the simplicity of Hammerstein’s lyrics, whenceforth cometh their brilliance.
Paramount has had some financial cutbacks of late but you certainly would not know that from what you can see on its stage here, given the 36 cast members gorgeously dressed by designer Izumi Inaba and the muscular macho action underpinning Morgan DiFonzo’s robust choreography. Only the orchestra is somewhat smaller than usual. I was hoping (unrealistically, perhaps) for the original orchestrations, but that would have meant around 30 players. This production has around 15 in its pit, more than enough to do the job but not quite enough to let one fully luxuriate in the overture, as was the case a few years back at the Lincoln Center revival of this title. From a sensory point of view, the only thing missing here was the full integration of those musicians and their music, always an asset with a Golden Age show.
Most of the principals, veterans of many national tours, haven’t worked at Paramount before and they’re all excellent singers, especially Allsun O’Malley, whose Nellie has all of the requisite charm and optimism. O’Malley also is a strong enough actress not to demand her character be liked and to let her Nellie be who she was written to be and learn what she has to learn. Devin Archer richly interprets Emile’s romantic ballads, French accent and all, while Cindy Chang brings some honest dignity to Bloody Mary and Anthony Maggio’s Cabel goes far beyond the standard-issue tenor. All of these characters come off as fighting powerful impulses within themselves, which is a credit to the directing team of Devon Hayakawa and Trent Stork.
I could have lived without a bloodied head visible on a stretcher and the excessive phallic references in the choreography (it’s a family show and we get the point without diagrams). This certainly in an ensemble dominated by the eroticized Seabees, very few of whom bother much with shirts, while the nurses and other female characters such as Louisa Darr’s Liat seem a tad muted, even in the famous “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair” sequence. I suspect some folks here got a bit too worried about the various ways in which the piece could be seen as objectifying or otherwise offending contemporary thinking and there certainly are moments in this show when the material wasn’t fully trusted. It should be, “South Pacific” was way ahead of its time when it comes to fermenting liberal values in middle America.
But those, truly, are minor issues when it comes to what matters most with this iconic title. This really is a lush and vibrant “South Pacific,” a big night out on a scale you can’t still see many places in America, especially when it does such vocal justice to this great score.
Chris Jones is a Tribune critic
cjones5@chicagotribune.com
Review: "South Pacific" (3.5 stars)
When: Through June 14
Where: Paramount Theatre, 29 E. Galena Blvd., Aurora
Running time: 2 hours, 55 minutes
Tickets: $31-$106 at 630-896-6666 or www.paramountaurora.com
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This story was originally published May 11, 2026 at 3:32 PM.