Musicals Blog

South Pacific - Rodgers and Hammerstein

by Claire J Rottenberg


The musical "South Pacific" began when Joshua Logan and Leland Hayward purchased the rights to James Michener's novel, "Tales of the South Pacific." They then asked Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II to write the music and book for the play. Rodgers and Hammerstein agreed, but Hammerstein asked Logan, who had served in WW II, to help write the book. Next, the decision was made to hire Ezio Pinza and Mary Martin to play the lead roles of Emile de Becque and Nellie Forbush.

"South Pacific" opened on Broadway in April, 1949, after tryouts in Boston and New Haven. The production, directed by Joshua Logan, ran on Broadway for over five years and for 1,925 performances.

The score from "South Pacific" contains some of the most beautiful and powerful songs written by Rodgers and Hammerstein. The lyrics of "You've Got to Be Carefully Taught" are particularly strong, as they deal with the issue of prejudice and hatred that is too often instilled in young children by their parents and communities. The film also has wonderful comic and upbeat songs, such as "Honey Bun."

The movie version of "South Pacific" was made in 1958 and it was directed by Joshua Logan. The cast for the film was a mixture of Broadway and film actors. Rossano Brazzi was the only big-name film actor hired for the movie, but Mitzi Gaynor had a successful film career before "South Pacific" and John Kerr had achieved some fame with his earlier role in "Tea and Sympathy." Most of the supporting roles went to Broadway performers, such as Ray Walston.

"South Pacific" has one of the longest scores for a movie musical, with 16 songs. All of the songs from the original Broadway play were retained and one song, "My Girl Back Home," that was cut from the Broadway production was added back into the film.