Lincoln Center South Pacific Revival Extends Run into 2009

The first-ever Broadway revival of South Pacific, which was originally announced to play through June 22 only at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theatre, is now performing an open-ended run. The show is currently booking through January 4.

Directed by Bartlett Sher, the production stars Kelli O'Hara as Nellie Forbush and Paul Szot as Emile de Becque. Also featured are Matthew Morrison as Lt. Cable, Loretta Ables Sayre as Bloody Mary and Danny Burstein, who supplies comic relief as Luther Billis.

With music by Richard Rodgers and a book by Oscar Hammerstein II and Joshua Logan, 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.

The score features such standards as "Some Enchanted Evening," "This Was Nearly Mine" and "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair" as performed by a 30-piece orchestra. A new cast recording comes out May 27 on the Sony BMG Masterworks label.