North Atlantic is a comic valentine to the genre of Rodgers and Hammerstein, set in Eskimo Land. With South Pacific its closest touchstone, this family musical features elements reminiscent of the R & H classics, as well as the Golden Age of the Broadway musical. Every ridiculous cliché has been thrown in in for good musical measure.
Yet North Atlantic is more than a takeoff that demonstrates the craziness of its genre. It also works, uniquely, as a madcap Eskimo story. Just as The Flintstones evolved from The Honeymooners, North Atlantic — akin to Family Guy spoofs—takes its origins and springboards into its own idiomatic lunacy.
The show tells how Honey Snodgrass and Melanie Fong, members of the Iowa branch of the Teaching Corps, visit this exotic region, finding romance, bigotry, and the dream ballet to end all dream ballets.
North Atlantic guide sections
