South Pacific at Chichester Festival Theatre full casting announced

Full casting and streaming plans have been revealed for Chichester Festival Theatre's South Pacific, set to reopen the venue in July.

Rodgers and Hammerstein's award-winning South Pacific contains such well-known songs as "Some Enchanted Evening" and "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair". It is set on an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean during the Second World War.

Leading the team will be Gina Beck (Matilda, Show Boat, Wicked, Phantom of the Opera) as Nellie, Julian Ovenden (Bridgerton, Downton Abbey, Merrily We Roll Along, Grand Hotel, BBC Proms) as Emile, Joanna Ampil (Avenue Q, Les Misérables, Miss Saigon) as Bloody Mary, Keir Charles (Quiz, Back To Life) as Luther Billis and Rob Houchen (Les Misérables, The Light in the Piazza) as Cable.

It also includes Iroy Abesamis, Lindsay Atherton, Carl Au, Rosanna Bates, David Birrell, Leslie Garcia Bowman, Taylor Bradshaw, Bobbie Chambers, Charlotte Coggin, Danny Collins, Oliver Edward, Sergio Giacomelli, Shailan Gohil, Adrian Grove, Zack Guest, Cameron Bernard Jones, Amanda Lindgren, Matthew Maddison, Sera Maehara (as Liat), Melissa Nettleford, Rachel Jayne Picar, Kate Playdon, Pierce Rogan, Clancy Ryan, Charlie Waddell and James Wilkinson-Jones, with children's roles played by Lana Lakha, Kami Lieu, David Ngara O'Dwyer and Alexander Quinlan.

The set and costume designer is Peter McKintosh, and the choreographer and movement director, Ann Yee. Musical direction is by Cat Beveridge, with musical supervision by Nigel Lilley, orchestrations by David Cullen, lighting design by Howard Harrison, sound design by Paul Groothuis, additional arrangements by Theo Jamieson, and casting by Charlotte Sutton.

The venue has stated that one performance of South Pacific each week will be socially distanced. There will be a Dementia Friendly performance on 1 September at 2.30pm.

South Pacific will go on sale with a reduced capacity auditorium (approximately 900, as opposed to 1300), which will be bolstered if restrictions permit.

The show will be streamed for remote audiences, with dates to be revealed. It runs live from 5 July to 4 September 2021

The venue will also stream a film based on its hit production of Crave with Alfred Enoch and Erin Doherty.

Sign up for our daily newsletter for more