It was some enchanted evening last night (Dec. 10) when our local girl Broadway star Loretta Ables Sayre took part in a Lincoln Center Theater reunion of the cast of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “South Pacific.”
Her original cast colleagues from 2008, directed by Bartlett Sher, didn’t know that Ables Sayre (who was Tony-nominated for her role of Bloody Mary) would turn the celebratory event into a Lei Day of sorts.
Loretta Ables Sayre, center, at Lincoln Center’s “South Pacific” reunion. Photo by Vogue.
She and her husband David Sayre had quietly ordered 110 vanda orchid lei to present to cast, crew, orchestra, creative staff and LCT staffers, in somewhat of a hana hou lei presentation just like during the original run at the Vivian Beaumont Theater.
“We thought that it would be fitting to close this reunion the same way,” said Ables Sayre via email.
“This concert was a dream come true for all of us,” she said. “Having almost our entire cast reunited to share this show, this music, this story for one last time was glorious. We sat on the stage (a concert rendering of the theatrical hit), and we all saw scenes we had never seen before. The bad part of doing a show is that you never get to see the show because you are normally off stage for the scenes you aren’t in. This time we saw and experienced everything, and we wept through the entire concert.”
The all-star cast included Kelli O’Hara (Nellie Forbush), Paulo Szot (Emile de Becque), Matthew Morrison (Luther Billis), Danny Burstein (Lt. Cable) and Ables Sayre (Bloody Mary).
The event marked two milestones: the 40th anniversary of Lincoln Center Theater, and the 75th anniversary of the 1949 musical, whose only revival on Broadway was the 2008-2009 LCC production, which earned seven Tony Awards for Best Revival of a Musical, Best Direction, Best Scenic Design, Best Costumes, Best Lighting, Best Sound and Best Actor in a Musical (Paulo Szot).
“I still cannot believe my great good fortune to have been a part of this cast,” she reflected. “And having and hearing the orchestra on stage behind us was unbelievable. Lincoln Center gave us all a gift of doing this show together one more time and we will never forget it. It was like having your dream come to fruition again. What an enormous blessing.”
Ables Sayre also got an online thrill. “I made it into Vogue (online),” she emailed about the magazine’s coverage of the “South Pacific” reunion event, that included reportage of “the purple lei” plus an image of Ables Sayre…
Broadway grosses, for week ending Dec. 8
The holiday musical comedy, “Elf,” continues to attract Broadway audiences during this time of year, land in fourth place and beating the likes of “MJ the Musical” and “Gypsy.”
The Top 10:
1—”Wicked,” $2.930 million,
2—”The Lion King,” $2.883 million,
3—”Hamilton,” $2.579 million,
4—“Elf,” $1.947 million,
5–“Sunset Blvd.,” $1,821 million,
6—”MJ The Musical,” $1.711 million,
7— “Gypsy,” $1.622 million,
8—”The Outsiders,” $1.840 million,
9—“Aladdin,” $1.823 million,
10—”Hell’s Kitchen,” $1.574 million.
The full list of grosses, courtesy the Broadway League:
And that’s Show Biz…