Among the many pleasures of the South Pacific revival that recently played the Straz Center was the performance of Carmen Cusack as Ensign Nellie Forbush, her forthright charm making all-too-familiar songs like “A Cockeyed Optimist” sound fresh again. Cusack’s Nellie registered more clear-eyed than cockeyed; yes, she was “stuck like a dope with a thing called hope,” but she was not about to apologize for it.
So this week I’m taking a cue from Nellie. “Hope” and “Change” may no longer be in vogue, now that the spectacle of political sausage-making has sapped our inaugural optimism. But for Tampa Bay, particularly its cultural landscape, there are suddenly all kinds of reasons to feel optimistic.
This article appears in Jan 27 – Feb 2, 2010.