The Tony-winning Lincoln Center Theater production of South Pacific will end its run at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre on Sunday, August 22, 2010. At the time of closing, the revival will have played 37 preview and 1,000 regular performances.
Directed by Bartlett Sher, South Pacific is the longest-running revival of a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical to ever play Broadway. The production opened on April 3, 2008, starring Kelli O'Hara as Nellie Forbush, opera star Paulo Szot as Emile De Becque (winner of the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his performance), Matthew Morrison as Lt. Joseph Cable, Danny Burstein as Luther Bills, Loretta Ables Sayre as Bloody Mary and Li Jun Li as Liat. Grease star Laura Osnes now plays Nellie, with Szot and David Pittsinger alternating in the role of Emile.
In South Pacific, a U.S. Navy nurse falls in love with a local plantation owner on a tropical island in the Pacific during World War II. Featuring music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and a book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan, the Lincoln Center production won eight Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Musical.