I trekked into Manhattan tonight to see this season's hit revival of South Pacific. There's not a bad seat in the Vivien Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center--a venue where I had seen Tom Stoppard's Arcadia and Kevin Kline in Henry IV in years past. I was not familiar with this particular Rodgers & Hammerstein show, but left impressed by both the work and the performance. I worried that the 1940s setting would make the piece seem dated, but it has held up quite well over sixty years later. Kelli O'Hara was terrific as Nellie Forbush and Brazilian opera singer Paulo Szot, who won a Tony for this role, was equally formidable as the male lead. The entire company was well cast, for that matter. The production values were strong, with effective sets and lighting, and a 30-piece orchestra did justice to a compelling score.