Kelli O'Hara: ' 'South Pacific'

The original Broadway production of "South Pacific" with Mary Martin and Ezio Pinza opened on Broadway in 1949, but what goes around comes around -- and Tony nominee Kelli O'Hara, who stars as Navy nurse Nellie Forbush in a ''Live From Lincoln Center: South Pacific" presentation of the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical, says the show still feels strikingly relevant.

"In many ways this didn't feel like a 60-year-old play," O'Hara tells Zap2it about the show, which PBS airs Wednesday, Aug. 18, on most affiliates (check local listings). "I feel like if there are real people dealing with real problems and issues like falling in love, or the loss of that love, it's always something that people can relate to."

Timing was everything, however, for this, the first Broadway revival of the musical since that original production, when it opened in 2008.

"The thing about 'South Pacific' that is so relevant and brought us into a more modern time is that there are so many things matching up," O'Hara says. "Our country is at war right now. We were electing an African-American president and our whole show was based on issues of race. We just felt so very relevant that it made us all believe in what we were doing very, very strongly. It was just important on its own, without our trying to conjure up ways to make it important.

"I don't have any trouble finding reality in any story I am doing as long as there are real people involved. It doesn't matter what period of time you're dealing with."

read more

Paulo Szot

'Live From Lincoln Center' will present the television premiere of Lincoln Center Theater's Tony® Award-winning production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's SOUTH PACIFIC tonight, August 18, at 8:00 p.m. on PBS, live from the Vivian Beaumont Theater. Lincoln Center Theater's new production of the musical classic won seven Tony Awards including Best Musical Revival as well as the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Drama League Award for Best Musical Revival. SOUTH PACIFIC, directed by Bartlett Sher, began performances Saturday, March 1, 2008 and opened Thursday, April 3, 2008 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater. The show will end its record breaking run on Sunday, August 22, 2010, making it the longest running Broadway revival of a Rodgers & Hammerstein musical.

Kelli O'Hara, who won critical acclaim for her performance as the original Nellie Forbush in this revival, will be performing for the Broadcast special, alongside original Emile de Becque, Paulo Szot. (Every best effort was made to recruit original Captain Cable, Matthew Morrison, for the special performance, however his GLEE production schedule made his return impossible). O'Hara officially returned to the productionon August 10, 2010 and will play out the final performances with Szot through August 22, 2010.

The national tour of Rodgers and Hammerstein's SOUTH PACIFIC will perform live at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center September 14-19, 2010. Tickets start at $47 and are on sale now. Tickets can be purchased by calling Ticketmaster at (800) 982-2787 or the Center's ticket office at (920) 730-3760. Tickets can also be purchased in person at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center's ticket office or online at foxcitiespac.com. Groups of 15 or more can save by calling (920) 730-3786. Additional fees may apply.

Based on James Michener's Pulitzer Prize winning book 'Tales of the South Pacific,' Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific has music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and a book by Oscar Hammerstein II and Joshua Logan. Set on a tropical island during World War II, the musical tells the sweeping romantic story of two couples-US Navy nurse Nellie Forbush (Kelli O'Hara) and French plantation owner Emile de Becque (Tony Award winner Paulo Szot), and Navy Airman Joe Cable and a young local native girl, Liat-and how their happiness is threatened by the realities of the war and by their own prejudices.

Rodgers & Hammerstein's SOUTH PACIFIC premiered at the Majestic Theatre on April 7, 1949 and went on to enjoy a five year Broadway run, winning countless awards including nine Tony Awards (including Best Musical) and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Considered by many the finest musical ever written, the score's songs include such musical theater classics as "Some Enchanted Evening," "Younger Than Springtime," "Bali Ha'i, There is Nothin' Like A Dame" and "A Wonderful Guy."

'Live From Lincoln Center' is in its 34th broadcast season. The series has received 13 Emmy® Awards, most recently for the broadcast of New York City Opera's MADAMA BUTTERFLY. Produced by Lincoln Center's John Goberman, this series has made the world's greatest artists on Lincoln Center's renowned stages accessible to home viewers in virtually every corner of the United States. It is the only series of live performing arts telecasts on American television today.

read more