South Pacific
Adapted from two short stories by James Michener, South Pacific chronicles two love affairs. The first involves Lt. Joe Cable and a young Polynesian girl. The second revolves around Nellie Forbush, a Navy nurse from Little Rock, and Emile de Becque, a French planter with whom she falls in love one enchanted evening. Rodgers and Hammerstein tied the two stories together by having Cable and de Becque go on a dangerous mission behind Japanese lines from which only one of them returns. The original production featured Mary Martin and marked the Broadway debut of Metropolitan Opera basso Ezio Pinza. It opened at the Majestic Theatre on April 7, 1949 and ran for 1,925 performances, making it the second longest running musical of the decade. It also became only the second musical to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. In 1967, the show was revived at Lincoln Center with a cast headed by Florence Henderson and Giorgio Tozzi. The classic 1958 film version featured Mitzi Gaynor and Rosanno Brazzi.