When it closes, the acclaimed production will have played 37 previews and 1,000 regular performances. The current South Pacific national tour will continue through the 2010-2011 season, and plans are underway for mountings of the production in London and Australia.
As previously reported, Lincoln Center Theater will present the musical Women on the Verge Of a Nervous Breakdown (beginning Oct. 2 at the Belasco), John Guare's A Free Man of Color (beginning Oct. 21 at the Beaumont) and London's National Theatre's production of War Horse (beginning March 17, 2011, at the Beaumont).
The current cast of South Pacific includes Laura Osnes as Ensign Nellie Forbush, David Pittsinger as Emile de Becque, Danny Burstein as Luther Billis, Loretta Ables Sayre as Bloody Mary and Andrew Samonsky as Lt. Joe Cable.
Based on James Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning collection of short stories "Tales of the South Pacific," the musical focuses on a French plantation owner Emile de Becque and his love interest, Nellie Forbush, a naïve young nurse from Arkansas. Set against the backdrop of the Second World War, South Pacific offers a lushly romantic score while challenging audiences with themes of racial intolerance and bigotry.
South Pacific earned seven 2009 Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical, Best Direction, Best Scenic Design, Best Costumes, Best Lighting, Best Sound and Best Actor for Szot. The Lincoln Center Theater production has musical staging by Christopher Gattelli, sets by Michael Yeargan, costumes by Catherine Zuber, lighting by Donald Holder and sound by Scott Lehrer. South Pacific boasts a 30-piece orchestra performing the musical's original orchestrations by Robert Russell Bennett and dance and incidental music arrangements by Trude Rittmann.
The Rodgers and Hammerstein score includes numerous American songbook classics, including "Some Enchanted Evening," "Wonderful Guy," "Younger Than Springtime," "Happy Talk," "Bali H'ai" and "There Is Nothing Like a Dame." South Pacific, starring Mary Martin and Ezio Pinza, won nine Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize for its Broadway debut in 1949.
Tickets for the Lincoln Center Theater revival of South Pacific are available at the Vivian Beaumont box office (150 West 65th Street), at Telecharge or by visiting LCT.
