'South Pacific' Begins March 1 at Lincoln Center

Lincoln Center Theater's new production of Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein's prize-winning musical classic South Pacific, directed by Bartlett Sher, begins performances Saturday, March 1 at 8PM at the Vivian Beaumont Theater.   Opening night is Thursday, April 3 at 6:30PM.

Based on James Michener's Pulitzer Prize winning book Tales of the South Pacific, Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific has music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and a book by Oscar Hammerstein II and Joshua Logan.

Lincoln Center Theater's production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific  features a cast of 40 headed by Kelli O'Hara as Nellie Forbush, Paulo Szot as Emile de Becque with Matthew Morrison (Lt. Joe Cable), Danny Burstein (Luther Billis), Loretta Ables Sayre (Bloody Mary), Sean Cullen, Victor Hawks, Luka Kain, Lu Jun Li (Liat), Laurissa Romain, Skipp Sudduth,  and Noah Weisberg.

The production will have musical staging by Christopher Gattelli, sets by Michael Yeargan, costumes by Catherine Zuber, lighting by Donald Holder, sound by Scott Lehrer and music direction by Ted Sperling, conducting a 30 piece orchestra performing the original orchestrations by Robert Russell Bennett and dance and incidental music arranged by Trude Rittmann.

"Set on a tropical island during World War II, the musical tells the sweeping romantic story of two couples -- US Navy nurse Nellie Forbush & French plantation owner Emile de Becque and Navy Airman Joe Cable & a young local native girl Liat – and how their happiness is threatened by the realities of the war and by their own prejudices," describe press notes.

Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific premiered at the Majestic Theatre on April 7, 1949 and went on to enjoy a five-year Broadway run winning countless awards including nine Tony Awards (including Best Musical) and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.  Considered by many the finest musical ever written, the score's songs include such musical theater classics as "Some Enchanted Evening," "Younger Than Springtime," "Bali Ha'i," "There is Nothin' Like A Dame" and "A Wonderful Guy."

Together with Rent, A Chorus Line and Sunday in the Park with George, this revival of South Pacific helps create Broadway history with 4 of 7 Pulitzer Prize-winning musicals running concurrently on the Great White Way.

Tickets to Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific are available at the Lincoln Center Theater box office (150 West 65 Street), at www.telecharge.com, or by visiting www.lct.org.