Good music, love and racial tensions don't usually go together, but the three mesh beautifully in Countryside Community Theatre's production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "South Pacific."

The musical, while comical overall, contains several serious moments as main characters Ensign Nellie Forbush (Andrea Millea) and Lt. Joseph Cable (Nicholas Nolte) grapple with their preconceived notions of color as they try to make sense of their feelings for the love interests they meet while stationed in the South Pacific during World War II.

Cable's inability to marry Liat (Stacy Phipps), a Tonkinese woman, and Nellie's refusal of Emile de Becque's (Joe Urbaitis) marriage proposal on account of his children by a Malaysian mother, ultimately drive the plot line forward. Unable to be with the women they love, the men decide to undergo a dangerous reconnaissance mission to gather information on Japanese activity. De Becque, a French plantation owner in the South Pacific, serves as Cable's guide on a Japanese-held island. Their bravery helps turn the tide of the war.

During the mission, Nellie changes her mind and decides to marry de Becque after all, but she is left to wonder if it is too late as there is a very real possibility neither man will return from the mission.

The dangerous affair reminds the audience that while "South Pacific" is a play about people and love, the reason they met in the first place is because of war.

Millea shines as Nellie. Her voice is beautiful, full and bright. She especially stands out in "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair," and the reprise of "Some Enchanted Evening." Millea's acting was also suburb, and was completely believable as a naive girl from Little Rock, Ark.

Nolte and Urbaitis also held their own in the vocal and acting departments. Urbaitis especially stands out in his emotional delivery of "This Nearly Was Mine."

Comic relief was provided by Bloody Mary (Cindy Ramos-Parmley) and Seaman Luther Billis (Jonathan Schrader). Ramos-Parmley has a particularly funny exchange as the soldiers "teach" her English, the choice words anyway. Schrader has several comedic moments throughout the play, but none funnier than his performance of "Honey Bun." Just keep an eye out for his tattoo of a ship. The large ensemble cast also made for some very entertaining dance and chorus numbers.

The only sour point of the show was the microphones. Not all of them were of the same quality and some made the characters hard to hear at points in between the crackling and pops. Also the beginning of the play contains profanity and while the words aren't the worst of the four letter variety, they are fairly frequent during exchanges between the sailors and may not be appropriate for young children.