Desert Theatricals tackles love, war and prejudice in 'South Pacific'

In 1949, with Americans optimistic about a new era of peace and prosperity in the aftermath of World War II, "South Pacific" premiered on Broadway.

Based on short stories by James Michener published as "Tales of the South Pacific," the musical by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II was enormously popular, running for 1,925 performances. It received critical acclaim, earning 10 Tony Awards — including Best Musical — and the 1950 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

It was also highly controversial, featuring two love stories set against the brutality of war and an environment of racial prejudice.

Nearly 75 years later, the landmark musical is coming to life at Desert Theatricals with messages that resonate as deeply as when "South Pacific" premiered.

New loves challenge old beliefs

"South Pacific" follows parallel love stories. Desert Theatre League award winner Lizzie Schmelling portrays Ensign Nellie Forbush, an Arkansas native serving as a U.S. Navy nurse. She falls in love with widowed French plantation owner Emile de Becque, played by Broadway veteran Joe Savant, but struggles to accept his two children by his late Polynesian wife.

The other love story is the romance between Lt. Joe Cable, an Ivy League-educated officer, played by Christian Fonte, and Liat, a Tonkinese native portrayed by Shelby Victoria. (Tonkin is now the northernmost region in Vietnam.)

Struggling with his love for Liat, the values of his life growing up outside of Philadelphia, and the world that awaits him after the war, Joe Cable angrily declares that prejudice is "not something you’re born with.”

In "You've Got To Be Carefully Taught," he sings: "You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late. Before you are six or seven or eight. To hate all the people your relatives hate — you’ve got to be carefully taught!"

Actress Catrina Teruel Clark portrayed Liat's mother, Bloody Mary, in the 2022 national tour of "South Pacific." She is recreating the role in the Desert Theatricals production.

She describes Bloody Mary as a survivor who is "selling grass skirts, she's selling bootleg liquor, she's selling anything she can to provide money to help her daughter."

She added: "They didn't know if there was going to be a tomorrow. It was during World War II. And there were bombs going off. And people being deployed who were being sent off and not coming back. She just wanted to provide a safe place for her daughter and the funds and the means necessary to make sure that her daughter survives and is taken care of."

Clark feels especially connected to what she called "the basic humanity behind each of these characters," people who didn't know what would happen but "wanted to deal with the cultural conflicts."

Thinking about the connections between the story of "South Pacific" and the world today, she observed, "We're faced with things that we didn't know we'd be faced with. We don't know what tomorrow is going to look like."

But, just as in "South Pacific," she believes there is hope.

"There's love and there's compassion and humanity," she said. "Finding happiness through these things, I think, is very powerful."

An enchanted evening of 'true musical theater'

Joshua Carr, who is serving as director and musical director for the production, believes that the music of "South Pacific" is one of the best scores created by the legendary team of Rodgers and Hammerstein. The musical features classic Broadway songs including "Some Enchanted Evening, "A Wonderful Guy," "A Cockeyed Optimist," "Younger Than Springtime" and "This Nearly Was Mine."

"They wrote this in true musical theater fashion, where dialogue goes into song and the song becomes an extension of the dialogue," he said.

Noting that the production will feature a cast of 22 and a 10-piece orchestra, Carr added, "Rodgers and Hammerstein have given us that gift of true old-fashioned theater where it's not just a production number for the sake of a production number. There's a reason and a segue in and out of every musical number in the show."

For choreographer Ray Limon, this production marks a return to "South Pacific." Early in his career, he choreographed an Orange County production starring Broadway veteran John Raitt. Noting that there have been many revivals and productions of "South Pacific" over the years, Limon considered fresh concepts for this production, then decided on a more traditional approach.

"The more I tried to modernize it, it just didn't quite work as well," he said. "So I found myself going back to what the original intentions were."

A funny thing happened on the way to Rancho Mirage

With more than 450 Broadway-style professional musicals and events between them, Joshua Carr and Ray Limon established Desert Theatricals in 1994, presenting shows in San Diego and Orange Counties. One day, they unexpectedly received a request to visit the Rancho Mirage Amphitheatre.

"We were invited to come look at the theater," said Limon. "Both Josh and I thought it was to come and check it out and tell them why it's not being rented, what updates do they need and things like that."

The visit went well. So well that, as Limon remembers it, "They turned to us and said, 'What do you think of it?' I said, 'We think it's great.' And they said, 'Great. Do you want it?'"

He added: "We had no plans of moving out here and opening a theater. But two weeks later, we were in front of the city council pitching a season that, of course, we didn't have because it all popped out of nowhere."

For their first show, Limon said they chose Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Pirates of Penzance" because "there were no royalties and it would be easy to produce."

Because things happened so quickly, the city wasn't yet in a position to support the theater financially. Limon said he and Carr "went home and pulled out all our credit cards and produced it ourselves."

"The Pirates of Penzance" opened in May 2019.

Limon said, "We got nominated for all kinds of awards and swept the awards that year. And the reviews were great. The city stepped in and said, 'Wow, this is wonderful. We'll support this.' And we became partners with the city."

Successful shows and seasons have followed. Their production of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" was named Best Musical in the 2022 BroadwayWorld Palm Springs Awards. "Annie Get Your Gun" received the 2022 Desert Theatre League Award for Outstanding Production of a Musical (Professional).

A partnership with the Rancho Mirage Library & Observatory Foundation supports the Desert Theatricals Junior Theater program, which is free to all participants. Desert Theatricals has also added a cabaret series.

The next stage. Literally.

"As we started doing more and more work with the city, we kept saying there's so many limitations to this space," said Limon. "It wasn't really built as a theater. It was more of a concert hall. It wasn't built for large set pieces to be wielded on and off. So, little by little, we kept saying it would be nice if we had this — or we can't do this show because the theater is not allowing us to do this. And they've been listening and have been extremely generous."

To better support theatrical events, including dinner shows, Rancho Mirage and Desert Theatricals are collaborating on upgrades to the amphitheater after the current season ends.

And Limon and Carr will soon be taking their shows on the road.

Two productions that originated in Rancho Mirage are scheduled to be produced at the historic, art deco Saban Theatre, a state-of the art facility in Beverly Hills with a seating capacity of 1,900.

"South Pacific" will be the first show that Desert Theatricals presents at the Saban. The second will be "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat," which is the final show of the 2023 Desert Theatricals season.

Limon said, "Hopefully, if it's successful, it'll be an ongoing thing where we'll produce the shows here in the desert, and then move the shows to Beverly Hills."

The success of Desert Theatricals is a reminder that, as Bloody Mary sings in "South Pacific," "You gotta have a dream; If you don’t have a dream, How you gonna have a dream come true?"

If you go

What: Desert Theatricals presents "South Pacific"

When: Gates open at 5:30 p.m. and show starts at 7:30 p.m. Friday through Sunday, Feb. 17-19

Where: Rancho Mirage Amphitheater, 71-560 San Jacinto Drive, Rancho Mirage

Cost: General Admission is $50. Dinner theater catered by Lulu Catering and Events is $560 (for a side table of four); $620 (for a center table of four); $840 (for a side table of six); or $930 (for a center table of six)

More info: desert-theatricals.com

Barbara Kerr is a freelance communication specialist with a passion for writing about people, the arts and special events. Inducted into the Dayton (Ohio) Area Broadcasters Hall of Fame, she is a past chair of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) College of Fellows.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Desert Theatricals tackles love, war and prejudice in 'South Pacific'