Set in Georgia in the 1860s, Gone with the Wind follows the indomitable Scarlett O'Hara's 10-year journey from a life of luxury on her father's plantation through the Civil War and the hardships it heaps on her and her family to the rocky post-war peace, with her love for Ashley Wilkes and the renegade Rhett Butler adding fuel to the fire. It is best known for its 1939 Oscar-winning film starring Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh.

The former artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, Nunn has won Tony Awards for his direction of The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, Cats, and Les Miserables. He also received Tony nominations for directing All's Well That Ends Well, Starlight Express, Aspects of Love, Sunset Boulevard, Not About Nightingales, and Oklahoma! He will be represented on Broadway later this season by Tom Stoppard's Rock 'n' Roll, which he first directed in London.