Music by Richard Rodgers
Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
South Pacific is one of the most celebrated of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musicals. It won nine Tony Awards in 1950 including Best Musical, Best Book and Best Score and the James A. Michener novel on which it is based won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Set on an island paradise during World War II, two parallel love stories are threatened by the dangers of prejudice and war. Nellie Forbush, a spunky young nurse from Arkansas, falls in love with a mature French plantation owner, Emile de Becque. When she learns that the mother of his two children was an Island native, she’s unable to ignore the prejudices with which she was raise and refuses Emile’s proposal of marriage.
Meanwhile, Lt. Joe Cable has fallen in love with a beautiful Island girl, but denies himself the chance of a future out of the same fears that haunt Nellie. When Joe is killed on a dangerous mission, Nellie reconsiders whether life is too short not to seize her own chance for happiness.
After his triumph in Mack & Mabel in 2001, John Diedrich (Chicago) returned to The Production Company to play Emile de Becque and one of Australia’s brightest young stars, Katrina Retallick played Nellie. Almost every song is a major standard of the musical theatre repertoire including “Some Enchanted Evening”, “There is Nothing Like a Dame”, “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair”, “Bali Ha’i", “Happy Talk” and “Younger Than Springtime”.
Co-Director: John Diedrich
Co-Director: and Choreographer: Jo-Anne Robinson
Musical Director: Guy Noble