South Pacific

There are so many wonderful songs in South Pacific that it's almost impossible to experience a revival of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein's 1949 musical set on an exotic island during World War II without humming along and tapping your feet. The national tour of the 2008 Lincoln Center Theater production directed by Bartlett Sher in some ways provides the perfect setting for maximum enjoyment of hits like "Bali Ha'i," "Some Enchanted Evening," "Happy Talk," "Younger than Springtime," and "I'm in Love with a Wonderful Guy." Set designer Michael Yeargen's simple, almost dowdy-looking island backdrops, Catherine Zuber's period costumes, and Donald Holder's warm, sunset-tinted lighting design are all calibrated to create a balmy, old-fashioned atmosphere without upstaging the music and performers. There are no complicated or flashy scenic effects. Unfortunately, the audience's enjoyment of the singing is hampered by two major details: fussy, extraneous movement by background characters during the production numbers and a lack of any really strong voices on stage.