Opera baritone Paulo Szot returns to the role of Emile de Becque in Lincoln Center Theater's Tony Award winning production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's SOUTH PACIFIC, at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, this Wednesday (March 31) fresh from his triumphant Metropolitan Opera debut in their new production of Shostakovich's The Nose.
Paulo Szot won the Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Theatre World Awards for his performance in South Pacific. In addition to the Met he has appeared in New York with the New York City Opera in L'Elisir d'Amore, Le Nozze di Figaro, Carmen. Other U.S. and international operatic credits include Le Nozze di Figaro, Boston Lyric Opera; Count Des Grieux in Le Portrait de Manon, Teatro Liceu, Barcelona; Marcello in La Boheme, Theatre National de Bordeaux, his European debut as Onegin in Eugene Onegin, Opera Marseille and The Merry Widow, also at Opera Marseille. Upcoming engagements include: Carmen, Opera Toulouse, Cosi Fan Tutte, Opera Paris - Garnier. A native of Brazil, Mr. Szot is the winner of that country's 2000 Premio Carlos Gomes Award for Best Vocal Performance.
For two upcoming periods - the week of April 13 and the five weeks from June 1st through July 4 while Mr. Szot is away fulfilling other commitments - Emile de Becque will be played by William Michals, who has been understudying the role since the show opened.
Directed by Barlett Sher, Rodgers & Hammerstein's SOUTH PACIFIC, which also stars Laura Osnes as Ensign Nellie Forbush, is the winner of 7 2008 Tony Awards including Best Musical Revival.. The musical also stars Laura Osnes as Ensign Nellie Forbush, with Danny Burstein as Luther Billis, Loretta Ables Sayre as Bloody Mary, Andrew Samonsky as Lt. Joe Cable, Eric Anderson, Sean Cullen, Christian Delcroix, Murphy Guyer, Luka Kain, Li Jun Li, Laurissa Romain and Michael Arnold, Becca Ayers, Craig Bennett, Charlie Brady, Christian Carter, Todd Cerveris, Helmar Augustus Cooper, Margot de la Barre, Laura Marie Duncan, Julie Foldesi, Rob Gallagher, MaryAnn Hu, Robert Lenzi, Deborah Lew, Peter Lockyer, Garrett Long, Nick Mayo, Liz McCartney, George Merrick, Marla Mindelle, Kimber Monroe, Alfie Parker Jr., George Psomas, Greg Roderick, Jason Michael Snow, Jerold E. Solomon and Correy West.
The performance schedule is Tuesday at 7pm, Wednesday through Saturday at 8 pm with matinees on Wednesday and Saturday at 2pm and Sunday at 3 pm. Tickets priced from $75 to $125 are available at the Vivian Beaumont Theater box office (150 W. 65 Street), at telecharge.com, or, by visiting www.lct.org.
South Pacific will end its record breaking run at Lincoln Center Theater on Sunday, August 22, 2010. By the time it ends its long run SOUTH PACIFIC will have played 1000 performances and 37 previews, making it the longest-running Broadway revival of any of the Rodgers & Hammerstein musicals. A national tour of LCT's production of South Pacific, which opened in September 2009, will continue into the 2010-2011 season and plans are currently underway for mountings of the production in London and Australia.
