SOUNDING OFF:

I fell in love with “South Pacific” at the age of 10.

The iconic 1949 Richard Rodgers/Oscar Hammerstein musical, which offers a coming-out-of-World War II observation on racism, profoundly influenced my life.

Based on James Michener’s 1946 novel, “Tales of the South Pacific” (which I read in college), the musical’s libretto makes a poignant case for tolerance. Contrasted against the monochromatic backdrop of my Orange County upbringing — the 1950s and ’60s — “South Pacific” provided me with a powerful new paradigm.

The show renders a pair of love stories that take place in a war-torn island paradise. Nurse Nellie Forbush of Little Rock, Ark., struggles to accept island planter Emile de Becque’s “half-caste” children from an earlier marriage. In a parallel story, Lt. Joe Cable falls in love with Liat, the lovely Tonkinese daughter of an eccentric island souvenir dealer, Bloody Mary.

The original Broadway production ran for five years, 1,925 performances. The first New York City revival of the show is on Broadway now, and as I write this I’ll travel east in a few days to see it.

I was introduced to “South Pacific” in 1955 when my father purchased the original cast recording on 78-rpm records. The production starred opera virtuoso Ezio Pinza, and stage, film and screen actress Mary Martin.

I listened to the records countless times and soon had every note and lyric memorized, from “There is Nothing Like a Dame” to “Bali Hai” to “Younger than Springtime.” In 1958 I went to the Lido Theatre to view a motion picture version of the musical, starring Rossano Brazzi and Mitzi Gaynor. I’ve viewed it many times since. At 13, I fell hopelessly in love with island girl, Liat, played in the film by the beautiful France Nuyen. (As an aside: 17 years later I married my own “island girl,” Hedy, a Dutch-Indonesian beauty from Java. We’re still married and have six grandchildren.)

I saw my first stage production of “South Pacific” in 1968 at Orange Coast College. In 1975, Hedy and I spent our honeymoon on the island of Kauai, where the ’58 film was shot. In 1993, OCC reopened its Robert B. Moore Theatre, following a major renovation, with a production of “South Pacific.” I appeared in the show as base commander Capt. Brackett.

Now, six decades after discovering the show, I’m preparing to attend its Broadway revival. I can’t wait! The show’s Polynesian atmosphere, music, lyrics, wartime setting, message, and sappy love stories combine to whip me into an emotional lather. Now, however — unlike my early exposures to the show — I’m unable to get through a single performance without soaking several hankies. “South Pacific” elicits from me raging torrents of nostalgia.

In anticipation of this mawkish behavior, I’ll have my “Island Girl” beside me in the NYC theater…keeping me well supplied with tissues.

For us, it will be some enchanted evening!

JIM CARNETT is a Costa Mesa resident.