PHILLIPA SOO sings SOME ENCHANTED EVENING from SOUTH PACIFIC at MISCAST20 

I hope you feel better, and I hope that one day Philippa will smile at you with loads of sympathy! Soo doesn’t know that she’s comforting people all over the world by just opening her mouth, she’s too inspiring. ♪(๑ᴖ◡ᴖ๑)

I know right. Hahaha

+devydu I'm not sure how you got used to hearing a baritone voice singing this song. "Some Enchanted Evening" was written for - and originally sung by - Ezio Pinza, who was a bass, not a baritone, and the reprise was originally sung by Mary Martin, a soprano. That's the traditional version as it was meant to be sung. What exactly have you been listening to?

@@jeffblack8457 I stand corrected. Thanks.

Thanks! I've been thinking about "South Pacific" and I realize I was wrong about why Phillipa Soo chose "Nellie Forbush" as a role she'd never play. Originally, like you, I was thinking in terms of gender-swap, since so many "Miscast" performances go in that direction. Now I realize this was a race-based "miscast." It's a bi-racial actor playing a role that's written for a white actor (playing a character who is racist against bi-racial/ Asian-white people), not a choice to have a woman perform a role written for a man. I'd forgotten that Nellie Forbush is a young white American who is racist against Asian people: at one point in the musical Nellie ends her relationship with the Frenchman Emile De Becque when she learns that Emile has two bi-racial children with a local (now-dead) dark-skinned Polynesian woman. So, Pippa Soo who is herself biracial (Chinese- American dad & European-American mom) would not be cast to play "Nellie Forbush" as the role is written. That said, in "Tales of the South Pacific," the book "South Pacific" is based on, Nellie Forbush is only racist against *dark skinned* Asian/ multi-racial people. In the book, Emile has at least a half-dozen children with local women; Nellie is fine with his light-skinned (half-Japanese/half French) children but she is horribly racist towards Emile's dark-skinned (half-Polynesian/half-French) children (in the book, because they are dark-skinned, she thinks of them as the n-word). Pippa could play a version of Nellie Forbush who is racist against dark-skinned Polynesians but not against light-skinned Asians, but that's not the character as it traditionally appears in the musical.

@@jeffblack8457 Sorry, I was not even thinking about gender-swap when Phillipa Soo sang “Some Enchanted Evening” which was always meant to be sung by French male character Emile. Phillipa could never be cast as Emile, hence the “miscast” singing of this song because it’s simply lovely to hear a female soprano sing this beautiful song, even if traditionally sung by a bass. Here is Wiki link on “Some Enchanted Evening” and it does not mention Mary Martin ever sang this song, only Enzio Pinza - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Some_Enchanted_Evening. Despite her personal heritage, Phillipa can be chosen to play Nellie Forbush if she can pull off the character’s persona, racism and all. Lea Salonga has played several non-Asian character roles due to her magnificent voice and acting. Nowadays, Broadway and film makers try to avoid stereotype-casting and recognize the talent. Pearl Bailey played Dolly Levi in “Hello Dolly”, Brandy played “Cinderella” and Audra McDonald portrayed Carrie in “Carousel” and Mother Abbess in “Sound of Music”. When you are a gifted singer/actor, your personal nationality/race should not matter, especially today. On the other hand, if a role calls for an Asian, Hispanic, African American, etc., then it’s more appropriate to cast an actor of that race for accurate representation. (On the other hand, I do believe I could never pull off playing Maria in “Sound of Music” with my Chinese features, unless I absolutely have an amazing voice and convincing costume/makeup.) Such is the world of stage, film and entertainment!

​@@devydu If you weren't thinking about gender-swap while watching a "Miscast" performance and talking about a soprano singing a standard you thought you'd thought was meant to be sung by a baritone, why did you think this performance was part of this year's MCC "Miscast" benefit? Okay, I'll dig in to your comment. The actresses you mentioned were not playing characters that are written as white. Eponine, Cosette. Cinderella, Carrie Pipperidge, and Dolly Gallagher Levi can be - and famously have been - played by actresses of every ethnicity, though it should be mentioned that Pearl Bailey's "Dolly" was part of an all-black cast, and she never played "Dolly" except in that 1966 production. Also, in "Les Miserables," "Cinderella," "Hello, Dolly!" and "Carousel" the major themes were NOT: the racism of Eponine & Cosette against Asians/Filipinas and the racism of Cinderella, Dolly, and Carrie Pipperidge against black people. I'm too young to have seen Pearl Bailey in anything but I did see Brandy's "Cinderella," on TV (and Keke Palmer's "Cinderella on Broadway), Audra's production of "Carousel", and Lea in everything she's done on Broadway. Fun fact: aside from Cosette & Fantine in Les Miserables (who are, respectively, (A) the illegitimate daughter (father unknown) of a factory worker- turned prostitute and (B) the factory-worker-turned prostitute herself), Lea Salonga has only played one role on Broadway that's not specifically written for an Asian actress. That role is Erzulie, Goddess of Love, which Lea played in the 2017 revival of "Once on this Island"... which is a show that was written to have a 100% black cast ( the original Broadway production, in the early 1990s, was 100% black). As for "South Pacific," you don't know the show so how can you say that Phillipa Soo could be cast in the role? In a traditional production, Nellie really can't be played by an Asian or biracial (Asian/white) actress. I don't doubt that her performance would be fine - though I've seen her in all five of her NYC professional productions ("Great Comet" off-Bway, "Hamilton" off Bway & on Bway, "Amelie" on Bway and "The Parisian Woman" on Bway) and she's really not a Nellie Forbush type - but casting her as a specifically white character who is horrified that a white man she's in love with would ever be in an interracial relationship with an Asian or Polynesian woman would be a very strange choice. Just fyi, the wikipedia page you linked to also links to the South Pacific page, which mentions that in the musical Mary Martin originated the role of "Nellie Forbush." Anyone who has seen South Pacific (the stage musical or the film based on the stage musical) has heard Nellie's Act 2 Reprise, which is what Pippa sang. Last, I can't say how you would do as Maria in The Sound of Music (another role written for Mary Martin, who originated "Maria" on Broadway) but - except for being set in Austria in the 1930s and being very loosely based on a true story - there's no reason a Chinese actress couldn't play that role. In fact, even with it being set in Austria, an actress of any race could play "Maria." Who knows where Maria's family is from? We know nothing about them, how Maria ended up in that Abbey in Saltzburg, or her life before she flamed out and was sent to be a nanny for that widower's large family.

She played a goddess 🙌

What would be the point, exactly? Seriously, what would a gender switched South Pacific be trying to say? The show is based on James Michener's book of short stories about serving in the US military in Vanuatu. So what the point would be to wonder what it would have been like if Michener had been a woman serving in the US military in WWII? If you're interested in the experience of women serving in the military in WWII, maybe write something new... or just perform South Pacific as written, since it's not short on fabulous songs or important roles for women. Having Pippa sing this song, as if she's "miscast" is ridiculous. She's just singing the Some Enchanted Evening reprise (in its original key), which - as you know - is sung by the female lead (Nellie Forbush) shortly before the end of the musical. If Soo was trying to be "miscast" as Emile de Becque (or trying to say that for some reason it's her dream role) she's done nothing at all to signify this.

GrandiaKnight she was in the obc of Hamilton.

​@@tyedyepandas5448 And she starred in the oobc of "Natasha Pierre," which she was cast in straight out of Julliard... Pippa left "Natasha" before its Bway run because she'd been offered the chance to play Eliza in Hamilton before Hamilton's Bway run. She's a Tony nominee, and after Hamilton she starred in the short-lived musical version of "Amelie" on Broadway. But yes, if Broadway weren't going to be dark for the rest of 2020 - and likely much longer than that - someone should definitely get this amazing woman involved in Broadway.

That'd be amazing!!!

Me

I memorized the musical too lol, this song reminds me of A Winter's Ball when Alexander met Eliza

Yes and she went to julliard!

At the highest order.

Ya think? 🙄

@@muscateer Juilliard for drama that is-I had to look that up. I’m curious to see what she’ll sound like in Camelot

you do know she's been on broadway,right...?

​@@mar-ui2sr and? Technical mistakes are technical mistakes.

At least you recognize what you are.

Do you know who Phillipa Soo is??????

@@kapipte yes. Chick who sang into the palace. I dont think you get it. I dont care who she is. Technical mistakes are technical mistakes. And everything I have ever heard her sing has always had pretty much the same mistakes. I dont care where she studied in the USA. The last time a US university produced a true technical perfection it was Milnes. Even Fleming has sloppy technique.