The University of Santo Tomas Conservatory of Music celebrated it’s 80th Founding Anniversary in a wonderful manner the other weekend. Founded in 1946, right after World War II, the Conservatory’s current Dean, Professor Maria Alexandra Iñigo-Chua, PhD., was proud to open the evening with a few words on the first night of its staging of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific at the Proscenium Theater, Rockwell Center. My most important takeaway from her speech was about the transformative and healing power of music - and that just as it was so important in 1946, as our country was in rehabilitation mode from the war, so it was important to have music in our lives today, during these troubled times that we face.

Directed by Paolo O’Hara, with musical direction by Daniel Bartolome; the cast was led by a vivacious Ciara Sotto as US Navy nurse Nellie Forbush. Jose Vera Perez took on the role of middle-aged French expatriate plantation owner Emile de Becque. The story takes place on an unidentified Polynesian island occupied by US forces during World War II. Besides the love story that develops between Forbush and widower de Becque, who has two children from a previous marriage to a Polynesian woman; there’s the other love angle between US Lieutenant Cable, and Liat, a native islander.

The reason I give that brief synopsis is quite simple. While most people of a certain generation, and those into musical comedy and Broadway shows will be very familiar with the songs of South Pacific; they may have forgotten how in 1949, when it opened on Broadway, it was considered highly controversial for directly confronting racism. The songs we all know include Some Enchanted Evening, Happy Talk, I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair, Bali Hai, and Younger Than Springtime. Besides the two romantic narrative strands I mentioned, it was a lesser known song, Carefully Taught, that caught the ire of the conservatives and Southern states. That song’s lyrics basically said one wasn’t born ‘racist’, but it’s hard-wired into Americans as they grow up.

The Southern states voiced their opposition to the musical as Nellie Forbush proudly states that she is from Little Rock, Arkansas; and by the end of the musical, is ready to assume the role of stepmother to two Polynesian-French children. Their objections had to do with children of a interracial marriage now being mothered by a Southern belle. And of course, there was the issue of Liat becoming pregnant with Lt. Cable’s child.

And don’t laugh saying this is all ancient history, and merely reflects poorly in 1949. What’s happening in Trump America today with ICE, and even the social media furor over Bad Bunny performing at this year’s Super Bowl half time, shows us that today isn’t so far from 1949. That’s as sad an indictment of attitudes on race that prevail up to today.

Based on a James Michener book, South Pacific won 10 Tony Awards the following year of it’s debut on Broadway. So it’s definitely a wise choice by the Conservatory to stage it, as there is a relevance that’s hard to deny or ignore. While I’m certain the choice was made way before Bad Bunny performed on Super Bowl Sunday, it just goes to show how choices made can often be serendipitous, and end up looking like fate.

While this was my first time to watch Jose Vera Perez perform, I’ve watched Ciara Sotto in productions of Rent and Grease. To say she was a revelation here would be an understatement. I’m guessing she had a diction coach, as a Southern accent sprung out of nowhere; and I was not ready for a singing voice that would charm you out of your seat. More a member of an ensemble cast in the likes of Rent, it was great to watch her dedicated attack to this centel role of Nellie. Perez sounded to me like he specializes in light opera and Broadway songs, so he was a wonderful fit as well.

Thanks to the UST Office of Public Affairs, and to Micha Lagniton. She helped me secure seats for the performance, and was the first to greet me at the Proscenium Theater that Saturday evening. UST holds a very special place in my heart, as it’s been the site of two of our MB Sustainability Forum events. We began the Forum series four years ago, and thanks to the great work that the UST Office of Public Affairs does in terms of coordination and securing attendance for the Forum sessions, UST is one of the academic partner institutions that we at the Manila Bulletin are happy to call ‘home to the Forum’.

In fact, this April 30, our first Sustainability-related event for the year will be happening at the UST. Exploring and educating the youth on Sustainable Development has been so fulfilling with partners such as UST by our side.