Samantha Womack Sails South Pacific into Barbican???

The long-rumoured transfer of the Lincoln Center’s Tony award-winning revival of South Pacific to the Barbican Centre looks like it will go ahead this summer, and EastEnder Samantha Womack (nee Janus) is reportedly in negotiations to star. Bartlett Sher‘s production, which won seven Tony Awards including Best
Musical Revival, will dock at the Barbican for six weeks from mid-August (dates tbc), prior to an already-confirmed national tour. The Daily Mail reports that Womack, currently playing Ronnie Branning in EastEnders, has landed the lead role of Nellie and is close to finalising a contract.

Womack’s previous stage credits include a 2004 tour of Harold Pinter’s Betrayal and, in the West End, Guys and Dolls and Grease. The Mail
also reports that, after a UK tour from 3 October until Christmas,
which will visit Milton Keynes, Manchester, Bristol and Glasgow among others, the
production will return to the Barbican in 2012.