South Pacific

Riverside Center is pleased to announce a stellar cast being led by world renowned opera singer Branch Fields as Emile De Becque & Kate Marshall as Ensign Nellie Forbush.
Set against the dramatic background of a South Pacific island during WWII, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific intertwines the themes of romance, duty, & prejudice to create a story that is hilarious, heartbreaking, & thought-provoking. Based on the anecdotes of a real-life U.S. Navy commander stationed on an island, the musical follows 2 intercultural love stories: Nellie, a spunky nurse from Arkansas, falls in love with Emile, a French plantation owner on the island who has two children from his late Polynesian wife; at the same time, U.S. Lieutenant Cable falls for a beautiful island native named Liat. Both Americans find themselves struggling to reconcile their own cultural prejudices with their amorous feelings, all the while under the dark cloud of a war that is coming ever closer to their island paradise.