Enchanted Evening.(The Talk of the Town)

Mary Rodgers Guettel and Alice Hammerstein Mathias, the daughters of the composer and the lyricist, respectively, of "South Pacific," are jointly keeping a sharp eye on the current Broadway production of the show, the first since the 1949 original.

"Mary looks over the music, and I look over the lyric presentation," Alice, wearing black-rimmed eyeglasses and a dark suit, said the other day during an intermission at one of the show's previews.

"You've got a mind like a steel trap for your father's work," said Mary, who had already seen the production four times. She, too, had on glasses, and a suit the color of tomato soup.

Alice scribbled some notes: "Tell the director: One of the actors, downstage, is blocking the naval captain, upstage."

Mary gave Alice an affectionate pat on the shoulder. "Did you see the trumpet in the orchestra pit?" she asked. "The player colored it bright orange! Did you ever see an orange trumpet before? And there are thirty live musicians! No fucking electronic stuff!

"I went to the opening, in 1949, with Hal Prince as my date," Mary said. "I'd known him for three years, since I was fifteen. We ran into Steve Sondheim there, and I introduced Hal to him. Hal was worried about being drafted. They've been friends, and collaborators, ever since." She said that Oscar Hammerstein had been a mentor to Sondheim. "I think Steve's favorite R. and H. show is 'Carousel.' "

"My father gave me a job doing research for 'Carousel'--paid me nineteen dollars a week," Alice said. "Before that, during the war, he gave me a job at 'Oklahoma!,' supervising standing room, with all the rowdy, noisy G.I.s. I couldn't go to the opening of 'South Pacific.' I was in California, getting married." She went on, "My father couldn't come to the wedding, but he gave us a wedding present of a one-per-cent interest in 'South Pacific.' "