MUSICAL: South Pacific at The Royal National Theatre

South Pacific was an immediate hit on Broadway in 1949, and a sucessful film version followed in 1958. Adapted from James A Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, it combines passionate romance in a South Seas paradise, with the realities of a world at war. On a small South Pacific island, Nellie Forbush, a US Navy nurse, falls for a mysterious French planter whose life-style could not be more different from the conservatism of her own Arkansas background. Meanwhile, Lt Joe Cable arrives to carry out a top-secret spying mission against the Japanese fleet from behind enemy lines. He is befriended by a Tonkinese trader, Bloody Mary, and soon becomes involved with her beautiful young daughter... To celebrate the centenary of Richard Rodgers' birth, Trevor Nunn directs Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical masterpiece, with musical staging by Matthew Bourne and designs by John Napier. Starring Philip Quast. The richly descriptive score contains a host of classic songs, including Some Enchanted Evening, I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair, There is Nothin' Like A Dame, Younger Than Springtime and Bali Ha'i.

Showing at The Olivier Theatre, Royal National Theatre, South Bank, Upper Ground, SE1 9PX. Performance Times: Monday to Saturday 7.30pm. Matinees Wednesday and Saturday at 2.00pm. Price: £40.20 Nearest tubes: Waterloo Currency Converter