SOUTH PACIFIC London 2001 Alterations Quast/Baker-Duly

The 2001 Royal National Theatre revival of "South Pacific" made some significant alterations to the standard text. Instead of beginning at Emile's home, it held off on that scene and the first three songs and instead began directly on the beach, with "Bloody Mary." (This is similar to the 1958 film version's timeline.) Instead of following "You've Got to Be Taught" with "This Nearly Was Mine," "Carefully Taught" (5:38) was followed by Emile (Philip Quast) and Joe (Edward Baker-Duly) in "Now Is the Time" (7:58), a song cut from the '49 original. And "This Nearly Was Mine" (10:00) was moved to a later and new scene on Marie Louise Island. Trevor Nunn directed and presumably made the alterations, and Matthew Bourne did musical staging. Quast was Ben in the recent National Theater "Follies." Baker-Duly has been recently playing the lead in Trevor Nunn's London premiere production of "The Bridges of Madison County."