Lincoln Center to Present the First B'way Revival of South Pacific

Lincoln Center Theater will present the first-ever Broadway revival of South Pacific during its 2007-2008 season. Bartlett Sher, currently represented on the Great White Way by LCT's production of The Light in the Piazza, will direct, according to a production spokesperson.

South Pacific was adapted from two short stories by James Michener. The show centers on two love affairs beginning during WWII. The first affair is between a lieutenant, Joe Cable, and a young Polynesian girl. The second is between Nellie Forbush, a Navy nurse from Little Rock, and Emile de Becque, a French planter. In the musical, the lives of these couples become intertwined after the two men go on a dangerous mission--and only one returns.

South Pacific features music by Richard Rodgers and a book by Oscar Hammerstein II and Joshua Logan. The show made its Broadway debut in 1949 and played 1,925 performances at the Majestic Theatre. South Pacific netted a total of nine Tony Awards, including one for Best Musical. It also won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

In recent years, a national tour and London production of South Pacific were each rumored for a Broadway berth, but neither was ever mounted in New York. On June 9, an all-star concert of the musical was presented in New York, starring Reba McEntire as Nellie Forbush and Brian Stokes Mitchell as Emile de Becque.