Photo Preview: Blackman and Willetts in South Pacific Tour

Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific, the winner of nine Tony awards, including Best Musical, and the Pulitzer Prize, is being revived in a brand new production for an extensive UK tour, starring West End musical theatre stalwart Dave Willetts (Phantom of the Opera, Les Misérables and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers) and Helena Blackman, runner-up in BBC One's "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?." The tour will commence at the Grand Theatre in Blackpool before playing a further 32 towns and cities.

"Blackman plays Nellie Forbush, a naïve Navy nurse from Little Rock, Arkansas, who falls in love with middle-aged French plantation owner, Emile de Becque (Dave Willetts), during her wartime posting to a Pacific island. However, she soon discovers secrets in his past that she finds difficult to come to terms with. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Joe Cable is caught in a similar dilemma as he grows increasingly fond of Liat, daughter of the Asian peddler Bloody Mary. Only time will tell how these two enchantingly heartfelt love stories unfold," state press materials.

Opening at the Grand Theatre in Blackpool at the end of August, the South Pacific tour then continues to Hull, Stoke, Manchester, Edinburgh, Oxford, Wimbledon, Swansea, Birmingham, Sunderland, Nottingham and Londonderry in 2007 followed by Woking, Sheffield, Milton Keynes, Belfast, Dartford, York, Glasgow, Liverpool, Wolverhampton, Southampton, Cambridge, Bristol, Brighton, Torquay, Darlington, Rhyl, Bradford, Norwich, Derby, Malvern and Southend in 2008.

Photos by Robert Workman

 
Helena Blackman as Nellie Forbush

Dave Willetts as Emile de Becque