Editing South Pacific (musical) (section)

=== Recordings ===
{{further|South Pacific (original Broadway cast recording)|South Pacific (soundtrack)}}
[[File:South pacific bway 1949.jpg|thumb|Cover of original cast album]]
[[Columbia Records]] recorded the overture and most of the songs from the original production in 1949, using members of the cast including [[Ezio Pinza]] and [[Mary Martin]]. Drawing from the original [[Acetate disc|lacquer disc]] masters, Columbia released the album both on [[78-rpm]] discs and the new [[LP record]] format in 1949. According to critic [[John Kenrick (theatre writer)|John Kenrick]], the original cast recording "is the rare stuff that lasting legends are made of", an essential classic.<ref name=KenrickRecordings>Kenrick, John. [http://www.musicals101.com/cdcomps5.htm#South "Comparative CD Reviews, Part V], 2003, accessed May 26, 2003</ref> The album was number one from mid-1949 and throughout most of 1950 for a record 63 weeks, selling more than one million copies.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/SouthPacific.pdf|title="South Pacific" (Original Cast Recording) (1949)|website=[[Library of Congress]]|last=Maslon|first=Laurence|author-link=Laurence Maslon|access-date=October 2, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|title=LP's 54% of Pop Sales – Lieberson|date=March 12, 1958|page=1|url=https://archive.org/details/variety210-1958-03/page/n79/mode/1up|access-date=October 1, 2021|via=[[Archive.org]]}}</ref> A CD was released by Sony in 1988 from the previously unused magnetic tape recording from the same 1949 sessions in New York City. The CD includes the bonus tracks "Loneliness of Evening" (recorded in 1949 by Mary Martin), "My Girl Back Home" (Martin), "Bali Ha'i" (Pinza) and Symphonic Scenario for Concert Orchestra (original orchestrations by Robert Russell Bennett). The original cast album was added to the [[National Recording Registry]] in the [[Library of Congress]] on March 21, 2013, for long-term preservation.<ref>Zongker, Brett. [https://web.archive.org/web/20130324014021/http://music.yahoo.com/news/simon-garfunkel-song-among-those-preserved-095353585.html "Simon & Garfunkel song among those to be preserved"], AP via Yahoo! Music, March 21, 2013, accessed June 11, 2013</ref> The film soundtrack was released on the [[RCA Records|RCA Victor]] label in March 1958.<ref>[http://www.allmusic.com/album/south-pacific-original-soundtrack-mw0000721870 "''South Pacific'' (Original Soundtrack")], Allmusic.com, accessed May 26, 2013</ref> Kenrick calls the recording "mixed up" and does not recommend it.<ref name=KenrickRecordings/>

Masterworks Broadway released a recording of the 1967 Lincoln Center production starring [[Florence Henderson]] as Nellie, [[Giorgio Tozzi]] as Emile, Justin McDonough as Cable and Irene Byatt as Bloody Mary.  The recording includes a version of "Bali Ha'i", sung in French by [[Eleanor Calbes]], the Liat.  According to Kenrick, "Every track of this 1967 Lincoln Center cast recording is such a winner that you can't help wondering why it took so long for this winner to make its way to CD."<ref name = "Ken2006">Kenrick, John. [http://www.musicals101.com/cd2006.htm#South "CD Reviews&nbsp;–2006]. Musicals101.com, accessed March 15, 2013</ref> Kenrick notes that the album is a more complete alternative to the original cast album.<ref name=florence/><ref name=KenrickRecordings/>

In 1986 [[José Carreras]] and [[Kiri Te Kanawa]] made a studio recording of ''South Pacific'', the sessions of which were filmed as a documentary, similar in style to [[Leonard Bernstein]]'s successful ''[[West Side Story (musical)|West Side Story]]'' documentary a year earlier that featured the same stars. Emile's music was transposed to fit Carreras's tenor voice.  The recording also featured [[Sarah Vaughan]] as Bloody Mary and [[Mandy Patinkin]] as Cable. Stephen Holden reviewed the album in ''The New York Times'', "the star of this ''South Pacific'' isn't any individual, but rather the score itself".<ref name = "M181">Maslon, p. 181</ref> Kenrick calls the recording badly miscast "pretentious trash".<ref name=KenrickRecordings/> Kenrick gives mixed praise to the 1988 London revival cast album.<ref name=KenrickRecordings/>

The 2001 Royal National Theatre's revival cast album was recorded in 2002 on First Night Records with [[Philip Quast]] as Emile, [[Lauren Kennedy]] as Nellie, [[Edward Baker-Duly]] as Cable, Sheila Francisco as Bloody Mary and [[Nick Holder]] as Billis. The album includes the cut song, "Now Is the Time".  While Kenrick allows that most critics like the recording, he finds it a waste of money.<ref name=KenrickRecordings/> The 2005 [[Carnegie Hall]] concert version was released on April 18, 2006, by [[Decca Records|Decca]] Broadway with [[Reba McEntire]] as Nellie, [[Brian Stokes Mitchell]] as Emile, [[Lillias White]] as Bloody Mary, [[Jason Danieley]] as Cable and [[Alec Baldwin]] as Billis.  Kenrick describes this recording as "one of the most ravishing that this glorious Rodgers & Hammerstein classic has ever received"<ref name = "Ken2006" /> and "a show tune lover's dream come true."<ref name=KenrickRecordings/> The 2008 Broadway revival cast album was released on May 27, 2008, by Masterworks Broadway.<ref>
Gans, Andrew and Hetrick, Adam. [http://www.playbill.com/news/article/116718.html "'South Pacific' Company Records CD April 14; Recording Due in May"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201153457/http://www.playbill.com/news/article/116718.html |date=2008-12-01 }} , playbill.com, April 14, 2008, accessed March 15, 2013
</ref> Kenrick finds it "very satisfying".<ref name=KenrickRecordings/>