The Screening Room: Happy Anniversary, South Pacific | Playbill

News The Screening Room: Happy Anniversary, South Pacific South Pacific, the first musical to win both the Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize, opened on Broadway April 7, 1949, 66 years ago today.

The musical told parallel stories about romance blooming on war-beset tropical islands during World War II. It achieved a run of 1,925 performances, the second-longest run of any Rodgers and Hammerstein show.

To many, "Some Enchanted Evening" remains the most iconic of all Broadway show tunes. Stephen Sondheim quoted it in Merrily We Roll Along as an example of a "hummable melody." Here are the original Broadway stars, Mary Martin and Ezio Pinza, performing the number.

 

 
Today’s Most Popular News:
 X

Blocking belongs
on the stage,
not on websites.

Our website is made possible by
displaying online advertisements to our visitors.

Please consider supporting us by
whitelisting playbill.com with your ad blocker.
Thank you!