South Pacific's Sayre To Be Featured On 'Today Show'

  Loretta Ables Sayre will be the subject of profile feature on NBC's "Today Show" by national news correspondent Jamie Gangel, during the 8:30 to 9AM half hour this Thursday, April 3 - the morning of her Broadway debut as "Bloody Mary" in Lincoln Center Theater's new production of Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein's prize-winning musical classic SOUTH PACIFIC, which opens that evening at 6:30PM at the Vivian Beaumont Theater.   A native of Hawaii, Loretta was discovered in an open audition in her home state and this profile will document her incredible journey.

 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), Sean Cullen, Victor Hawks, Luka Kain, Lu Jun Li (Liat), Laurissa Romain, Skipp Sudduth, and Noah Weisberg.  LCT gratefully acknowledges that Mr. Szot appears in Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific with the permission of Actors Equity Association.  The production has 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.

 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.   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.  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.
The performance schedule is Tuesday evenings at 7 PM and Wednesday through Saturday evenings at 8pm, with matinees Wednesday and Saturday at 2pm and Sunday at 3 pm.  Tickets priced from $65 to $110 are available at the Lincoln Center Theater box office (150 West 65 Street), at telecharge.com (212) 239-6200 or on-line at www.lct.org.