"South Pacific", Stratford Festival, Stratford, ON

A new spirit of love and tolerance rises from the ashes of warNellie Forbush, a U.S. Navy nurse from Little Rock, Arkansas, is stationed on a remote island in the South Pacific during World War II. There she meets and falls in love with Emile de Becque, a wealthy French plantation owner. Meanwhile, U.S. Marine Corps Lieutenant Joseph Cable, on a secret mission for the U.S. government, finds his way to the mystical Polynesian isle of Bali Ha’i. There he meets and falls in love with Liat, the beautiful daughter of local character Bloody Mary. Sadly, racial prejudice creates obstacles for both romances. Nellie discovers Emile has two half-caste children from a previous marriage and breaks her engagement. Similarly, Cable can’t bring himself to marry his lover, Liat, because she is Tonkinese. Before any of this can be resolved, Cable joins forces with Emile and sets out on a dangerous spy mission. Cable is ultimately killed; his death brings Nellie to her senses, and she puts aside her prejudice for true love.

Gord and I took the train to Stratford (a two hour ride) and saw South Pacific today. The whole Stratford experience is such a lovely one. We both enjoy the train ride and it's nice not having to worry about the hassle of traffic.

We got to Stratford just before 1:00 and had a drink at the Falstaff Pub.

Then we headed to the play, which was good. It was surprising how many songs we recognized (I"m Gonna Wash that Man Right Out of My Hair, Some Enchanted Evening, etc.).

After the play, we took a walk along Avon River ...

There are lots of benches with dedications along the River. Here's Gord's favorite:

Dedicated to the dream of sitting here with you,
hand in hand, one more time.

There were some baby swans and ducks.

We had supper at the Boar's Head Pub. We stopped off at the Dominion House for a drink to wait for our train back to Toronto.