Casting Announced for SOUTH PACIFIC at Academy of Music, 11/23-28

Bob Boyett and NETworks  Presentations announce casting for the National Tour of The Lincoln Center  Theater Production of Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein's prize-winning  musical SOUTH PACIFIC, directed by Bartlett  Sher playing Philadelphia's  Academy of  Music Nov. 23 - 28. The press  opening is Tues. Nov. 23 at 7:30 pm.

Tickets starting at $20 are  on sale now and can be purchased by calling 215-731-3333, online at  kimmelcenter.org/broadway, at the Kimmel Center box office, Broad & Spruce  Sts. (open daily 10 am to 6 pm) or at the Academy of Music box office (open  during performances only). Groups of 15 or more will receive discounts for  select performances by calling 215-790-5883 or 866-276-2947.  Performances include:  Tuesday & Wednesday evening at  7:30 pm; Friday & Saturday  evening at 8:00 pm; Sunday evening at  6:30 pm; matinees Friday &  Saturday at 2:00 pm, and Sunday at  1:00 pm. The National Touring  Company of Rodgers & Hammerstein's SOUTH PACIFIC will be led by David Pittsinger (Emile de Becque) and  Carmen Cusack (Nellie Forbush), with Anderson Davis (Lt. Cable), Timothy Gulan (Luther Billis), Jodi Kimura (Bloody Mary), Gerry Becker (Capt. Brackett), Peter Rini (Cmdr. Harbison), Sumie Maeda (Liat), Rusty Ross (Professor), original 2008  Broadway
cast member Genson Blimline  (Stewpot), Christina Carrera (Ngana)  and CJ (Jerome).

The ensemble will include Christopher Carl, Christian  Carter, Eric L. Christian, Jacqueline Colmer, Alexis G.B. Holt, Rashaan James  II, Chad Jennings, Christopher Johnstone, Kristie Kerwin, Joe Langworth, Cathy Newman, Julia Osborne, Diane Phelan, John Pinto Jr., Bret Shuford, Kristen J.  Smith, Matt Stokes, Gregory Williams, Victor J. Wisehart and Amos Wolff. As Emile de Becque,

Rodgers & Hammerstein's SOUTH PACIFIC swept the 2008 Tony Awards®, winning seven honors including Best Musical  Revival and Best Director for Bartlett Sher. This breathtaking new production  completed a sold out 2 ½ year run at the Vivian Beaumont Theater on Broadway on  August 22, 2010 (after  playing 1,000 performances) and was recently featured on PBS' 'Live from  Lincoln Center'  series.

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 and French plantation owner Emile de  Becque and Navy Airman Joe Cable and a young local native girl Liat -- and how  their happiness is threatened by the realities of war and by their own  prejudices. Considered by many the finest musical ever written, the score's  songs include such classics as
"Some Enchanted Evening," "I'm Gonna Wash That  Man Right Outa My Hair," "Younger Than
Springtime," "Bali Ha'i," "There is  Nothin' Like A Dame," "This Nearly Was Mine" and "A Wonderful  Guy." The lavish new  production features a cast of 34, musical staging by Christopher Gattelli, sets  by Michael Yeargan (winner of the 2008 Tony Award®), costumes by Catherine Zuber  (winner of the 2008 Tony Award®), lighting by Donald Holder (winner of the 2008  Tony Award®), sound by Scott Lehrer (winner of the 2008 Tony Award®) and music  direction by Ted Sperling.  A full orchestra of 26 members - the largest orchestra of any touring Broadway production - will perform the original orchestrations by Robert Russell Bennett (winner of a Special 2008 Tony Award®) and dance and incidental music arranged  by Trude Rittmann.

For more information on the production, please visit www.SouthPacificOnTour.com. Become a  fan on Facebook (South Pacific on Tour). The Broadway Season is presented by the  Kimmel  Center and The Shubert Organization.