When stage manager Michael Brunner worked on South Pacific in summer stock as a younger man, he had no idea that he would one day be tackling it full force at New York’s Lincoln Center. Now the 30-year theatre veteran is the production stage manager (PSM) for the first revival of the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein show in 53 years at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre. And as he has noted — with a production that includes a large cast, prop plane and two real Navy trucks converted for stage use — the larger scale “makes a difference.” Critics and audiences are agreeing, along with celebrities like Robert Redford, Jane Alexander and David Hasselhoff, all of whom have come to check out the show. An even bigger endorsement comes from Mary Rodgers, the daughter of composer Richard Rodgers. She was 18 when South Pacific originally ran on Broadway. “She’s been very much involved with this process,” reports Brunner. “She’s been so enthusiastic about everything, and she loves this production. She thinks it’s better than the original. She loves the cast and thinks it’s better.”
Those are encouraging words of praise, and the cast and crew of the Lincoln Center revival of South Pacific have been working hard to make the production a top-notch affair. Opera singer Paulo Szot as Emile de Becque and newcomer Kelli O’Hara as Ensign Nellie Forbush, the two island-bound lovers who clash over love and politics during World War II, have been drawing acclaim, while the energetic cast has kept the three-hour show rolling nonstop. The scale of the production is impressive and it required a lot of manpower to achieve.
Brunner says that the load-in process, which began previews on March 1, started right after Cymbeline closed at the Vivian Beaumount on January 6. It was a very tight load-in. “Usually they have about two or three more weeks than what they had for this one,” he says, “and they compressed everything and worked on some days they normally wouldn’t work, like weekends. They knew they needed the time to get in, and everything was ready when we walked in for tech, which is quite amazing. It’s the best crew in New York and they did everything possible to get us ready so that when we were ready to walk onstage with the cast we weren’t wasting any time. It was great.”
Prior to tech rehearsals, the production had been blocked out in a rehearsal room downstairs. During the last week of rehearsal, after the load-in was completed, Brunner went upstairs and dry teched the show. At night, director Bartlett Sher would come in look at everything they had done “in terms of transitions and things like that,” says the stage manager. “For the most part he was pretty happy. There are always changes, so that’s fine. Once you finally see something in scale and in dimension, as opposed to lines that are taped out on the floor, things change, and sometimes you get an idea for something else. It worked out pretty well. South Pacific moves beautifully for such a big show.”
Part of the reason it moves so well is that a 40-foot wide retractable stage floor was installed onstage just for South Pacific, and it allows for a 32-foot extension of the proscenium. Behind the painted backdrop upstage lies a narrow walkway that was built to go around the moving stage part, to allow actors to cross over backstage rather than run up and down stairs. (Actors also make exits and entrances through two vomitories located in front of the stage.) The space behind the backdrop also acts as storage for extra lighting equipment.
The retractable stage floor is used in a few key moments: at the end of Act 1, when Emile is pulled back onstage for dramatic effect; before Act 2, when the trucks are placed on it during intermission and are slid forward when the play restarts; and then for a final retraction at the curtain call. The most dramatic effect occurs at the top of the show during the overture, which is the first time the audience sees the stage move to reveal the orchestra pit. It’s an impressive and essential piece of stage technology.
“As big as this show is, it could have been bigger,” reveals Brunner. “They scaled it back because they realized that they didn’t need certain things.” Originally there were plans for a series of piers to extend into the center of the stage from both sides, and they would have been used during the Bali Ha’i number. “Then they realized that they really didn’t need it because the offstage storage problem was more problematic than what it was worth to have on stage.”
There are a number of backdrops lowered in for the show: two military maps (one small and one large) for scenes in the Navy headquarters; a series of blinds used in Emile’s seaside house; and a series of blinds used in the Bali Ha’i sequence that can also fly individually. “We use them in different configurations and use them coming in at different levels throughout the show.” The hand-painted ocean backdrop has a scrim in front of it, but it is also back-painted with mountain imagery that can be seen when it’s lit from the rear. Some people have reportedly mistaken it for a projected image.
This South Pacific production utilizes approximately 750 lighting instruments. “All of the light towers on the sides fly in and out so we can open those up for entrances and exits,” says Brunner. “It gives you a different lighting position if it’s up or if it’s down. All of the blinds on the sides fly in and out so that they act as masking throughout the show. We can fly them out, bring pieces on, then fly them back in to cover up so that you’re not looking into the wings throughout the show. Part of what’s so great about this audience here is that they’re wrapped around, but it also causes a problem as some parts of the audience are looking directly off into the wings.” And considering that the crowded wing space on stage right houses the large prop plane and one of the two Navy trucks that emerge in Act 2, it’s important to hide them and maintain the surprise.
To keep things moving smoothly, Brunner has two ASMs working with him. The rest of the crew consists of five people in props, four in carpentry, two on flys, seven in electrics, six in wardrobe and three in hair. “My assistants are obviously on wireless handsets so that I can talk to them,” he explains. “Three of the crew backstage are on wireless, so when I’m cueing they can hear what I’m talking about, like when we turn the truck. There are also 16 cue lights that I use for cueing the show. The good thing about it is that it’s busy. It makes the three hours go by quickly, but it’s not so busy that you go frantic.” Even so, there are approximately 350 light cues and 150 automation cues in total.
When asked about the hairiest moments he has had to deal with on this production, Brunner says there haven’t been any major snags. “To be perfectly honest with you, as big as this one has been, it’s been like a dream,” he remarks. “Sometimes you get a show where everything just goes so right and there really is no major problem. Often times with a show like this, during the rehearsal process you wonder whether or not you’re going to get through it all, and we managed to get through it all with time to spare and to be able to work on what we needed to work on. Everybody had a clear idea of what they wanted, so we got our way through it as easily as any show I’ve ever done.”
According to Brunner, the whole preview period and the changes that entailed went at a “leisurely pace.” “Nobody was frantic about anything,” he clarifies. “Nobody was overwrought about anything. It’s been a good process. It’s not one of those shows that I go home and fret about. It’s a great bunch of actors. They love coming to work. As I said, the crew is the best in all of New York City, so you know that you’re going to get a consistent show every night. And they stay on top of problems, if there are problems along the way. Management’s great. I’ve worked with them many times now, and I’m always happy to be working with Lincoln Center.”
Just prior to South Pacific, Brunner worked on Inherit the Wind with Christopher Plummer, and he has also recently worked on Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Henry IV and Vincent in Brixton. He has been stage managing — and only ever once as an assistant — for the three decades since he received his B.F.A. from Jacksonville University, where he learned about and engaged in lighting design, set construction and directing. He graduated with a major in theatre and a minor in dance.
“That has helped immensely, because oftentimes if you’re doing a musical and a choreographer is doing something, you know exactly what he’s talking about,” remarks Brunner. “It’s very helpful when you’re doing musicals. With the B.F.A. you also have to have a certain amount of music background as well, so that’s also helpful in doing musicals. But it’s also helpful with plays. A play or a musical is about rhythms, and if there’s an internal rhythm within both of those, it’s extremely helpful to be able to hear that.”
Despite the scenic razzle-dazzle of the new South Pacific, it maintains an exuberant, old school Broadway feeling that was very much the intention of director Bartlett Sher. He felt that if the show wasn’t broken, why fix it, and he urged everyone involved to stay within the framework of the original production “because what they constructed was very, very good,” says Brunner. “We had actually gone back and done a workshop prior to the rehearsal process. We looked at the original script and some things that were never used and were cut out of town. We wanted to see if any of that was valid for today, and after that process we added “My Girl Back Home,” which was the one song that was cut out of town, and added a word here and a word there. Other than that, Rodgers and Hammerstein knew what they were doing with the construction of the show, and it worked so well that there was really nothing else that we could add to it, or subtract from it, for that matter. It’s a well-constructed musical that’s well written. The music is beautiful and propels the action of the play forward. I think it’s one of the perfect musicals.”
