Artist:Ezio Pinza f/Mary Martin
Song:Some Enchanted Evening
Album:South Pacific: Original Broadway Cast
Italian opera singer Ezio Pinza was a star in New York's Metropolitan Opera for over twenty years. But he is probably best remembered for starring as Emile de Becque in the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway musical South Pacific. Of course most folks are familiar with the 1958 film of South Pacific and never got see Pinza perform in the show. Well, you will get to see him today as I have found a newly discovered video clip on the Rodgers and Hammerstein YouTube page. Pinza was born May 18, 1892 in Rome, Italy. He grew up in Ravenna on Italy's east coast. He started singing at the Conservatorio Giovanni Battista Martini in Bologna and made his operatic debut in 1914. Pinza served in the military during WWI. He sang at the famed opera house La Scala in Milan in 1922. His career blossomed under La Scala's conductor Arturo Toscanini. Pinza made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1926. Then he moved to the US permanently and sang for them from 1927-48. He also sang at the New York Philharmonic and the NBC Symphony Orchestra. But the Met was his main place until he left in 1948. Pinza was bored and he wanted new challenges. Edwin Lester of the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera signed Pinza for a show that never happened. Lester asked Richard Rodgers to take over Pinza's contract. And Rodgers thought Pinza would be perfect as Emile Le Becque in South Pacific. Mary Martin was hired to play Nellie Forbush and they were perfect together. South Pacific opened on Broadway on Apr. 7, 1949 and the show was a huge success. But Pinza only stayed for a few months as he signed a movie deal with MGM. The problem was the two films he made there bombed. So they cancelled his contract. Sony released South Pacific on CD in 1993 with several bonus tracks. Pinza went into TV and had his own show for a while. He appeared in the 1954 Broadway musical Fanny. Then his health failed. After a series of heart attacks, Pinza suffered a stroke and died on May 9, 1957 at age 64. There were plans for Pinza to star in the 1958 film South Pacific. But he died before production began. Here's Ezio Pinza with Mary Martin performing Some Enchanted Evening on the 1954 TV special General Foods 25th Anniversary Show: A Salute to Rodgers and Hammerstein.
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