Tennessee Performing Arts Center sails 'South Pacific'

The Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein Pulitzer Prize-winning musical South Pacific makes its Nashville debut at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center’s Andrew Jackson Hall Feb. 7-12. South Pacific is part of the Tennessee Performing Arts Center's HCA/TriStar Broadway series.

This new edition of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific is based on the 2008 Tony Award-winning Lincoln Center Theater production. 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.

“What better time to visit the South Pacific than the middle of February? And this ultimately optimistic story of two couples facing their own prejudices during World War II will also warm your heart with a message that speaks to issues still relevant to soldiers and families today,” said Kathleen O’Brien, President and CEO of the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. “This fresh, creative interpretation of a timeless classic is the perfect illustration of why some Broadway musicals withstand the test of time and live forever in revivals.”

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.”

Tickets for South Pacific are on sale now. Ticket prices start at $28 and will be available at the TPAC box office (505 Deaderick Street), by visiting tpac.org, or by calling (615) 782-4040. Group orders of 10 or more may be placed by calling (615) 782-4060.

For more information on the production, visit www.SouthPacificOnTour.com.

Performance schedule:

Tuesday, Feb. 7 at 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, Feb. 8 at 7:30 p.m.

Thursday, Feb. 9 at 7:30 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 10: 8 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 11: 2 p.m., 8 p.m.

Sunday, Feb. 12: 1 p.m., 6:30 p.m.