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Interview With International Opera Star David Pittsinger About “South Pacific” at the Fox Theatre

I think it’s a question of timing. I think that this piece was written for real legitimate voices, and it requires that. Although I may have been the first to do it, I certainly won’t be the last. The sort of separation of opera and musical theater is hard for me to understand. Opera is musical theater. There are many styles in theater that are written for the stage. Opera happens to be one of those styles. Broadway, and certainly the legitimate and iconic stuff written for the American musical theater is as operatic as it gets. Therefore, I don’t feel that the divide is that wide. It’s not as big as people thing. The big difference of course is just the more rigorous schedule of performing 8 times a week. That’s really all-in-all the only difference, and maybe that the characters are more accessible. You’re not always playing a god, or a ghost, or a Mephistophelian villain. You are playing real people, and therefore sometimes the characters are much easier to inhabit.

K: It certainly sounds like the perfect opportunity for you, a role written for an opera singer. If you were going to make the move to Broadway, what better chance to make the jump than this?

D: Exactly. And for me, there is no transition. It’s sort of a co-existence. One is sort of helping the other. My operatic career and 20 plus years of experience that I have in that only helps me in this role – in addition to the director saying “don’t play at this. Just be.” I have a wife of ethnicity, and my director Bart Sher said “You ARE Emile De Becque. “You have a wife of ethnicity. You have two children – Richard and Maria, who are the same age as my children in the play – of ethnic decent.” I’m a Francophile – French is my second language. I’ve lived in Paris for much of my professional career. And I have a temper. And I’m the right age.

It’s all based on the Michener novel, “Tales of the South Pacific,” the Pulitzer Prize winning novel. It’s a real May / December romance, where there are two sort of parallel love stories going on. This one between Nellie Forbush and Emile de Becque is sort of a real last chance for Emile de Becque to find ‘the one.’ And Nellie Forbush, he falls madly in love with her, after being a bit of a roué and having gotten around the island. Taking a Polynesian wife, and having had children by her. And when she dies, and he met Miss Forbush, it was his last chance. So the stakes were very, very high.

Next: Read Part 4

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Kevin Brackett

Kevin Brackett is a professional film and theatre critic. He is also a member of the St. Louis Film Critics Association (SLFCA). Since founding Review St. Louis in 2008, he remains editor and operator of the online publication. Kevin is also a co-host of the Reel Spoilers podcast, and former National Vice President of the Technology Student Association (TSA), comprised of over 200,000 members worldwide. E-mail: kevin [at] reviewstl.com.

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vf says:

November 13, 2010 at 12:53 am

This reads as if David Pittsinger had transitioned from starring in this role on Broadway to touring in the part, but Paulo Szot originated the role in the revival, won a Tony and a bunch of other awards for the role, starred in the wonderful televised version that just aired on PBS and sang on the original cast CD (great CD). I've read that David Pittsinger was one of a couple of replacements for Szot when he was off and IBDb.com describes him that way: http://ibdb.com/production.php?id=463981
http://ibdb.com/person.php?id=481768 Apparently Szot mainly played the role on Broadway from its opening in April 2008 until it closed in August 2010 but when he took time off for other commitments, Pittsinger replaced him. And per the tour site, Rod Gilfrey toured in it first. Maybe this is a PR thing, I'm sure David Pittsinger is great in the role, but people seeing the tour will not be seeing the performer known for playing the role on Broadway.

And gee, a lot of typos in this article.