SOUTH PACIFIC Opens Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival's 20th Season

The sensational musical that won a fleet of awards when it opened in 1949 and again in its recent Broadway revival, Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific will open the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival's 2011 summer season.
 
"This American classic is a great kick-off for our celebratory 20th Anniversary season," says Patrick Mulcahy, producing artistic director, "and a great companion to our Shakespeare productions and other period classics." Although the season was announced last fall, the company could not release the title of the musical until a national touring production moved out of the region.
 
PSF associate artistic director, Dennis Razze, will direct. South Pacific will run June 15 - July 3 on the Main Stage, with previews June 15 and June 16.
 
When the musical debuted in 1949, it won the Pulitzer Prize, the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, and nine Tony Awards. "The genius of South Pacific is this: it turns out to be a musical which was both deeply rooted in its time and feels timeless today," wrote Ted Chapin, president of the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, on the 50th anniversary of the musical. The 2008 revival won five Drama Desk Awards, including Outstanding Musical Revival and garnered 11 Tony nominations, including best revival, director, choreographer, all four acting categories and all four design categories. It won best revival and six other Tonys.
 
Songs from the production have become worldwide standards: "Some Enchanted Evening,"  "Bali Ha'i," and "There is Nothin' Like a Dame."
 
The production sponsor is Alvin H. Butz., Inc., co-sponsors are Dr. and Mrs. Frank J. Szarko, and director sponsors are Linda Lapos and Paul Wirth.
 
The production previews June 15 and 16, opens June 17 and runs through July 3 in the Labuda Center's Main Stage Theatre. Performances are 7pm Tuesday, 8pm Wednesday through Saturday, Sunday at 2pm. One Sunday evening performance is offered at 7:30pm on June 19. Two Saturday matinees are scheduled June 25 and July 2 at 2pm.
 
Subscription and packages that include tickets to South Pacific are available by contacting the Box Office at 610.282.WILL [9455].Single tickets for the entire 2011 season, including South Pacific, will be released for sale February 14th.
The 2011 Festival also features Hamlet and Pride and Prejudice in repertory with the same cast (June 19 - August 7 on the Main Stage), The Comedy of Errors (June 22 - July 17), The Two Noble Kinsmen (July 27 - August 7), Sleeping Beauty (June 3 - August 6) and Shakespeare for Kids (July 27 - August 6).
 
Season Sponsors are Kathleen Kund Nolan and Timothy Nolan; Associate Season Sponsors are The Morning Call, Service Electric Cable TV & Communications and the Harry C. Trexler Trust. Director Sponsors are Linda Lapos and Paul Wirth.