SOUTH PACIFIC at BARRINGTON STAGE COMPANY

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Pittsfield Gazette, by Jonathan Levine
The testosterone oozes (and the estrogen is represented by quality if not quantity) throughout this production.   The not-so-secret weapon in Boyd's arsenal is the return to the Berkshires of talented Christianne Tisdale. She brings naturalness and honesty to Nellie, a role that often lacks dimension.
Tisdale is sexy as a real woman, not a starlet, as evinced by her playful rendition of �I'm Gonna Wash that Man Out-a My Hair��Her delivery of the awkward act one finale, when Nellie's racism is bluntly revealed, is exceptionally well-handled. Rapidly mixing emotions with a pained, almost convulsive physical reaction, Tisdale defines the flawed character's boundaries and sets the stage for what follows.
Tisdale's singing is beautiful, perhaps most notably in the often forgotten �Wonderful Guy,�  a musical and thematic knockout.
 
Berkshire Eagle by Jeffrey Borak
Boyd's production begins on a note of high promise -- an opening scene that is remarkable not only for the craftsmanship of its structure but also for its playing by Christianne Tisdale as the irrepressible World War II Navy nurse, Ensign Nellie Forbush, and Peter Samuel as the reclusive French planter Emile de Becque, a beacon of moral clarity in a less than morally clear world. As Boyd's production makes its way over the next 2 1/2 hours, it moves to a distinctly different level whenever Samuel and Tisdale are together on stage.  There is an extraordinary, palpable chemistry between these two unlikely lovers. To be sure, he has never met anyone like Nellie, who is played by Tisdale with ingenuousness and a feisty brashness that borders, in one scene with de Becque, on abrasiveness.
 
Boston Globe by Ed Siegel
And any doubts about Christianne Tisdale as Nellie Forbush or Peter Samuel as Emile de Beque disappear during their opening numbers - ''A Cockeyed Optimist,'' ''Twin Soliloquies,'' and ''Some Enchanted Evening.'' The power and beauty of their singing makes the romance real, not manufactured or sentimental.
 
Metroland by James Yeara

�winsomely played by Christianne Tisdale.

 
The Record by Bob Gopefert
Christianne Tisdale captures the all-American spirit of the young woman. She has a gorgeous singing voice and knows how to generate a laugh with either a line or a gesture.
 
Times-Union by Michael Eck
Christianne Tisdale and Peter Samuel are well cast as Forbush and de Beque. She has Mary Martin's cheery charm . Tisdale sings the heck out of the score. She struts her way through "Wash'' with a big smile, and her turn during "Honey Bun'' is delicious and funny. 
 
Curtainup.Com by Elyse Sommers
Of course, "South Pacific" can't be an "enchanted evening" without a Nellie Forbush who brings the required pep, charm and voice to the role of the nurse who joined the Navy to learn about a world outside Little Rock, Arkansas. Fortunately, Christianne Tisdale has all these qualities. 
 
Lakeville Journal by Marsden Epworth
this production is as good as "South Pacific" gets. Christianne Tisdale's Ensign Nellie Forbush is sunny and compassionate.
 
The Independent by J. Peter Bergman
She has cast the role for real, not for fantasy.  Christianne Tisdale is Nellie Forbush, the nurse from Little Rock�she is not a beauty inside.  She lives with the prejudices she was brought up to believe in�Both do a wonderful job convincing us they are their characters.  Tisdale clowns persuasively and if her transitions into shame, fear or disgust are a shade abrupt they are also very real.
 
Berkshire Record by Harriet F. Bergman
The singing is terrific in this production.  Christianne Tisdale is a properly peppy Nellie Forbush, straightforwardly Midwestern yet open to the world that her navy service is showing her�.their earnestness and determination match�and their love is well-earned.
 
WAMC by Karen Shreefter
The entire cast�s singing and dancing is vibrant and enthralling, and the passion between Christianne Tisdale�s Nellie Forbush and Peter Samuel�s Demile De Becque is exquisite, and had the audience laughing, crying and almost cheering.
  
Berkshire Eagle by Richard Houdek, Richard Rodgers Cabaret Review
Christianne Tisdale, the ebullient ensign Nellie Forbush in "Sough Pacific," opened the cabaret with a persuasive delivery of "Baby's Best Friend," a song about motherhood with more than the usual civilities, employing the authentic accent and the same panache Beatrice Lillie must have invested in the original 1928 production of Rodgers and Hart's "She's My Baby."  Tisdale has a superbly-produced voice that can go in many directions.

 

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