Gina Beck in Chichester Festival Theatre’s South Pacific. The production embarks on a UK and Ireland tour this summer. Picture: Johan Persson
A number of original cast members will return when Chichester Festival Theatre’s production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic South Pacific embarks on a UK and Ireland tour this summer.
Julian Ovenden (Merrily We Roll Along, Grand Hotel) will reprise his performance as Emile de Becque opposite the previously announced Gina Beck (Matilda, Show Boat) returning as Nellie Forbush when the touring production launches at the Manchester Opera House on 16 July 2022 ahead of a London season at Sadler’s Wells from 27 July until 28 August.
They will be joined by fellow members of the original Chichester Festival Theatre cast Joanna Ampil (Avenue Q, Miss Saigon) as Bloody Mary, Rob Houchen (Les Misérables, The Light in the Piazza) as Joe Cable and Sera Marhara (Warrior Queens, Carmen) as Liat.
Full casting for the production which will once again be directed by Chichester’s artistic director Daniel Evans will be announced at a later date.
Presented by Jamie Wilson, Jonathan Church Theatre Productions and Gavin Kalin, the production will follow its Sadler’s Wells season by heading for Dublin, Newcastle, Birmingham, Glasgow, Cardiff, Nottingham, Edinburgh, Leeds and Canterbury.
Announcing the tour last year, producers Wilson and Church said: “After experiencing the buzz of the auditorium in Chichester, along with the rapturous applause and standing-ovations, we knew that this production of South Pacific just had to have a further life so that the magic of it could be enjoyed by everyone.”
Evans and CFT executive director Kathy Bourne added: “We are always delighted to be able to share work made in Chichester beyond the borders of Sussex, and we’re proud to be working with our friends at Sadler’s Wells and many other regional theatres to bring Rodgers & Hammerstein’s beloved musical to wider audiences across the country.”
Originally due to be the centrepiece of the 2020 season, the production was the reopening production at the popular venue last summer.
Set and costume design is by Peter McKintosh, with choreography and movement direction by Ann Yee, with musical supervision by Nigel Lilley, musical direction by Cat Beveridge and new orchestrations by David Cullen. Lighting design is by Howard Harrison, sound design by Paul Groothuis, video design by Gillian Tan, with additional arrangements and Happy Talk orchestrations by Theo Jamieson, casting by Charlotte Sutton and additional children’s casting by Verity Naughton.
Based on James A. Michener’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book Tales of the South Pacific, South Pacific boasts music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein and a book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan.
The musical premiered on Broadway in 1949 with a production that garnered 10 Tony Awards including wins in all four acting categories – a first for any musical – and also took home the Pulitzer Prize for Best Drama. The 2008 Broadway revival won seven Tonys including the award for Best Revival of a Musical.
Featuring some of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s most memorable songs including ‘Some Enchanted Evening’, ‘Happy Talk’, ‘There’s Nothing Like a Dame’ and ‘Younger Than Springtime’ , the musical debuted in the West End with Broadway’s original leading lady Mary Martin starring as Nellie Forbush in 1951.
South Pacific is the second consecutive new production of a Rodgers and Hammerstein classic at the prestigious venue following on from its 2019 production of Oklahoma!
Angela Thomas
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