Gina Beck, Julian Ovenden, Joanna Ampil and Rob Houchen will star in a major new production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic South Pacific, one of two major musicals to feature in a packed 2020 season at the Chichester Festival Theatre.
Due to play the prestigious venue from 6 July until 29 August 2002, the new production of the enduringly popular musical which debuted on Broadway in 1949 will be directed by the Festival Theatre’s artistic director Daniel Evans.
One of the stars of Evans’ critically-acclaimed Sheffield Theatres’ production of Show Boat, Beck (Matilda, Wicked) will make her Chichester debut as US navy nurse Nellie. Co-stars Ovenden (Merrily We Roll Along, Grand Hotel), Ampil (Avenue Q, Miss Saigon) and Houchen (Les Misérables, The Light in the Piazza) will also make their Chichester debuts in the production.
Set and costume design will be by Peter McKintosh, with choreography and movement direction by Ann Yee, musical supervision by Tom Murray, musical direction by Cat Beveridge, orchestrations by David Cullen, lighting design by Howard Harrison, sound design by Paul Groothuis and casting by Charlotte Sutton. There will be a Dementia-Friendly performance of South Pacific on 19 August at 2.30pm.
South Pacific will be the second consecutive new production of a Rodgers and Hammerstein classic at the prestigious venue following on from last year’s critic and crowd-pleasing production of Oklahoma!
Evans and executive director Kathy Bourne also unveiled plans for a new production of Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman’s innovative 2004 Tony Award-winner Assassins which will be directed by Chichester newcomer Polly Findlay.
Marking Sondheim’s 90th birthday year, the production which will be designed by Lizzie Clachan with casting by Charlotte Sutton and will play in repertoire at the Festival Theatre from 29 September until 31 October.
Unveiling details of the 2020 season Evans and executive director Kathy Bourne said: “We are proud to have some of the UK’s most exciting artists working with us in Chichester in 2020. This year we’re achieving a 50:50 gender balance in our playwrights, and we’re thrilled to have five world premieres – which include first plays by Steven Moffat and Kate Mosse, and new work from Suhayla El-Bushra (based on Andrea Levy’s great novel), Anna Ledwich and Christopher Shinn.
“We’re reintroducing repertory for two productions this autumn, with Kate Mosse’s The Taxidermist’s Daughter alongside Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman’s Assassins in the Festival Theatre.”
Referring to productions outside of the Chichester home base, Evans and Bourne said: “This year CFT will also be reaching audiences across the globe. Sharon D. Clarke is re-creating her Olivier Award-winning performance in Caroline, Or Change in New York; Laura Wade’s The Watsons will be in the West End; James Graham’s Quiz tours the UK this autumn; David Haig’s Pressure visits Toronto; and Singin’ in the Rain splashes down in London, Japan and on a UK tour.”
Angela Thomas
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