[Liz]

Nearly all the great musicals had adult themes, even “South Pacific” and “The Sound of Music”. And who can forget “Showboat”?

And after the sturm and drang, they all got married.

Ezio Pinza was an elderly, paunchy, over-the-hill singer when he was cast in South Pacific.

But he was transformed into a matinee idol with women hanging around his stage door by one song, sung when he thinks he's lost Nellie, "This Nearly Was Mine."

[left that other site]

Have you ever heard the “Sam Schwartz, from the Bronx” joke about the adulation of Ezio Pinza? I think it was Myron Cohen. I tried to find it on the Internet, but I think the only place it exists now is in my memory.

BTW, I saw “South Pacific” live on the island of Kauai, where the movie was filmed. Some of the original cast members were in the production. It was small scale, but very nice.