SOME ENCHANTED EVENING [South Pacific; 1949; music by Richard Rodgers; lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein] Perhaps the finest pure love song on the list. In the show, set in World war 2, South Pacific plantation owner Emile de Becque sings this to the American, Nellie Forbush. (It’s such a lush song, and when you get a proper Emile to croon it–like opera star Ezio Pinza in the original Broadway version–then it puts you in an almost hypnotic state to fall in love, whether you want to or not.) Outside of the theater, so many non-opera types have taken a stab at this classic love tune, from Jay and the Americans to Bob Dylan, from Harrison Ford in 1973’s American Graffiti to Bert swooning over Connie Stevens in a 1977 episode of The Muppet Show. Talk about a diverse array of talent tackling musical theater’s loveliest love anthem!
Songs with Banjo from Harold Hagler
