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Liam Fisher and Annie Olive Cahill play two people who fall in love against the background of World War II in Wagon Wheel Center for the Art’s production of “South Pacific,” but the couple never have a duet together in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical.
The reasoning goes back to the original Broadway production.
Talking about the songs in the show during an interview Tuesday afternoon, Fisher, who plays Emile de Becque, said, “Something that I actually learned when I was talking to (Director) David (Schlumpf) about the original cast, there was a bit of drama, actually, and ... we had talked about this on the first day of how the two leads of the show barely sing together. We don’t sing together at all. There was a bit of drama way back in the ’40s about how the male lead has this very big voice, very present sound to him, and the female lead didn’t want him to drown her out. It was a bit of drama back then, so they literally wrote the show so that they don’t have to sing together and I find that very interesting because the two leads of the show have no duets together.”
Cahill, who plays Nellie Forbush, said they have a couple moments together.
“We did alter a couple songs, and, obviously, we have a bunch of scenes together, but, vocally, we don’t really interact vocally in the show,” Fisher said.
“Which is unfortunate,” Cahill stated.
On his character Emile de Becque, a Frenchman with a darker history, Fisher said, “He’s very romantically driven and I think that’s one of the most powerful aspects of the show. It’s a very romantically driven show, and our characters interact very romantically. ... The romantic turmoil is very apparent in our relationship, as opposed to some of the relationships you see throughout the show.”
Cahill said of her character, Nellie Forbush, a nurse in the Navy, “She is a very positive, optimistic bright light in this show. She meets Emile de Becque at an officer’s dinner and they fall immediately in love. This is her journey of learning about the world and people who come from different backgrounds and have different viewpoints in the world and (she) learns to accept and love and embrace the changes.”
The show takes place near the end of the Pacific Theatre of WWII.
“At the time, in the world, especially the United States, she’s from Little Rock, Arkansas, so very a conservative area at the time, and she had never seen people of this race and of this ethnicity before, coming to the South Pacific, and she learns that not everybody comes from the background that she does and people all have value,” Cahill said. “You can love who you want to love, you can be who you want to be with and I think she learns that where she grew up is not how everybody feels. She doesn’t have to feel that way either because of where she grew up or what she was taught.”
She and Fisher agreed that there are people today who are still learning those lessons so the show is as relevant today as it was back in the 1940s.
“I feel that the show is more relevant today than it has been in a very long time,” Cahill said.
Fisher said, “I think we expand on those aspects a lot in this production, and David, our director, does a very good job of making those moments very prominent and making sure that we do hit this message pretty hard. And especially for the people in Warsaw, they’re not just coming to see a piece of theater, they’re coming to learn a lesson as well. And I hope that’s what they leave the theater thinking about.”
Another theme that can be found in “South Pacific” is the turmoil of war, he continued.
“All of these soldiers and the nurses are going through living hell. It’s World War II. We’re lucky enough to not really know what that feels like, so it’s kind of hard to dive into that as an actor, but it’s also exciting because, like I said, it’s something we haven’t experienced and our parents haven’t experienced that before, so it’s something new for me. I’ve never had to dive into a character like this before,” Fisher said.
The cast did a lot of work together on the characters. Fisher said Schlumpf does a very good job of making sure the actors understand the circumstances and the stakes.
Cahill said this production is her first time being in a production of “South Pacific,” though she’s very familiar with it and has seen the show many times.
“I love the music and I love the story. I think it’s beautiful,” she said.
On the other hand, Fisher said he had “zero” relationship with the show coming into it.
“It’s a brand new piece of work for me,” he stated.
What makes a Oscar Hammerstein II and Richard Rodgers musical a great piece of work, according to Cahill, is, “There’s definitely like a blueprint. I think that a lot of times what people love about the shows is that they are so familiar. A lot of their work has the similar arc, has similar character archetypes. Covers very specific themes throughout their shows, especially like love and romance. I think there’s always like comedic relief, there’s comedic relief relationships. You’ll find those familiarities in the show. I think that the community will love it because it’s so familiar, because there’s just so much to love and find in the show.”
She thinks everyone will find something in the show that they can relate to or identify with.
“I think that, like she said, there is a blueprint for Rodgers & Hammerstein. I think that this show specifically really hits home on the themes of racism and the idea that not everyone has to think the same way, but that can affect relationships in a very powerful way,” Fisher agreed.
This is Fisher’s second season at the Wagon Wheel. Audiences may remember him as the Beast in “Disney’s Beauty & The Beast” and detective Hercule Poirot in “Murder on the Orient Express” during the 2024 summer season.
“It’s definitely a change of pace going from those characters into this Frenchman Emile de Becque. It’s kind of, strangely enough, a combination of the two characters - a madly-in-love creature and a Frenchman. You blur them together and you have this character that I’m playing right now, which is kind of cool,” Fisher said.
He has one more year of college and will be at the Wagon Wheel for the rest of this season.
This is Cahill’s first season at the Wagon Wheel. She’s originally from Redding, Calif. She’s a graduate of Texas Christian University, where she earned her BFA in Musical Theatre, and now lives in Manhattan, New York City, as an aspiring performer and actress.
“I’ve heard about (Wagon Wheel) for many years. I’ve always wanted to work here and this was the first year that I really got an opportunity to audition and get in front of the artistic team,” she said. “I had a very good friend, a childhood best friend of many, many years, since I was 3 years old, who had worked here and spoke just the highest of this place, of the people, of the process of putting on a show here, of everyone involved, and it always made me prioritize trying to get here some day. And this was my year, and she was absolutely right. It’s the most amazing experience and so fulfilling, and I feel so lucky to be here and do this.”
As for why he came back a second season, Fisher remarked, “Why would I not want to come back? Seriously, I couldn’t agree more. It’s a magical place. The rehearsal process is very fast-paced and that’s how I like to work. Everything is very specific and we’re in the round. It’s a unique atmosphere to work in. Not many theaters are in the round. Not many theaters produce good shows in the round. Seriously, why would I not want to come back? It’s awesome.”
“South Pacific” is at the Wagon Wheel starting Thursday through June 27. Tickets can be purchased at the box office, 2515 E. Center St., Warsaw; by phone at 574-267-8041; or online at wagonwheelcenter.org.
