Paulo Szot to Reprise Tony-Winning Turn in London Revival of South Pacific

Opera star Paulo Szot, who starred as Emile de Becque in the 2008 Lincoln Center revival of South Pacific, will reprise his Tony-winning performance in a London mounting of Bartlett Sher's Tony-winning production, according to the Daily Mail. Loretta Ables Sayre will also reprise her Broadway role as Bloody Mary. London stage vet Daniel Koek joins as Lt. Cable and previously rumored EastEnders star Samantha Womack will play Ensign Nellie Forbush. South Pacific will run at London's Barbican Theatre from August 15 until October 1, when it will embark on a U.K. tour before returning to the Barbican in 2012.

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 Theater production won eight Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Musical.

Sher’s revival of South Pacific opened at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre on April 3, 2008, and closed July 10, 2010. In addition to Szot and Sayre, the cast included Kelli O'Hara as Nellie, Matthew Morrison as Lt. Cable and Danny Burstein as Luther Billis.