Bartlett Sher’s 2008 staging of the Rodgers & Hammerstein classic South Pacific belongs to a rare theatrical pantheon: despite having occurred less than two decades ago, the production is spoken of in the vaunted terms of an instant legend. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of its home, Lincoln Center Theater, and the 1949 musical’s 75th own, the company hosted a lavish concert on Monday night to benefit LCT’s production and education programs. Reuniting most of its beloved stars and original 30-piece orchestra, the performance was the crown jewel of an evening-length fête culminating at the Metropolitan Opera.
Before the golden-voiced Kelli O’Hara was doing cartwheels across the Vivian Beaumont Theater’s stage and inciting involuntary smiles from co-stars Matthew Morrison, Paulo Szot, and Danny Burstein, attendees were treated to Hugo spritzes in the lobby’s atrium and eagerly reminisced about when they’d originally caught the show. (Its run of over one thousand Broadway performances spawned a subsequent national tour and replica stagings in the United Kingdom and Australia.)
Expectations were immediately exceeded as the concert paid homage to the production’s iconic orchestra pit reveal, with the theater’s upstage wall opening to expose its musicians. With only four days of rehearsal, the cast proved why their work remained a gold standard on Broadway. Backstage, Loretta Ables Sayre, whose entrance the audience rapturously welcomed during the performance, also reignited a delightful memory, gifting purple leis (freshly delivered from Hawaii by her husband) to the concert’s cast, crew, and staff, continuing a tradition she began during the production’s original run.
Following the 6:30 p.m. concert, the cast joined select guests on the Met’s Grand Tier for a Polynesian dînatoire, where a special food program was curated by Angie Mar. With bao bun stations and bars slinging spicy margaritas stationed throughout the space, passed plates included coconut prawns with vadouvan and cassis-bedded duck royale, with generous portions of osetra caviar dotting oysters and pommes roti. Actors Ruthie Ann Miles and Alysha Umphress mingled with the evening co-chairs–Sandra and Howard I. Hoffen and Stellene Volandes–alongside playwright J.T. Rogers and NY1 host Frank DiLella until the crowd thinned out around 11 p.m., save for the company members who were not yet done reminiscing.
Prior to the formal celebrations, LCT board members and donors gathered at the Claire Tow Theater – the complex’s most intimate space, high above the main campus – to honor the three women whose names grace the company’s stages: Vivian Beaumont Allen, Mitzi E. Newhouse, and Claire Tow. A video presentation commemorated their charitable efforts, continued through their families, and a champagne toast preceded remarks by board chair Kewsong Lee, board chair emerita Linda LeRoy Janklow, and Lileana Blain-Cruz, who relished in her memories of directing shows there by Dominique Morisseau and Katori Hall (“Can you feel the theme of powerful women?”).
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