Chichester Festival Theatre Artistic Director Daniel Evans will helm a new production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific as part of the organization’s newly announced 2020 season.
The Tony- and Pulitzer-winning musical will run July 6–August 29 with a cast led by Julian Ovenden (Merrily We Roll Along) as Emile de Becque, Gina Beck (Matilda) as Nellie Forbush, Rob Houchen (the Evans-helmed The Light in the Piazza) as Joe Cable, and Joanna Ampil (Waitress) as Bloody Mary.
The production will feature choreography by Ann Yee, sets and costumes by Peter McKintosh, lighting by Howard Harrison, and sound design by Paul Groothuis. Cat Beveridge serves as musical director, with Tom Murray as musical supervisor.
The season begins with Henry Goodman in Brecht’s The Life of Galileo, translated by David Edgar and directed by Jonathan Church (running April 24–May 16). Also on deck are five world premieres: Steven Moffat’s The Unfriend, directed by Mark Gatiss and starring Amanda Abbington, Frances Barber, and Reece Shearsmith (July 17–August 22); a new adaptation of Andrea Levy’s The Long Song by Suhayla El-Bushra, directed by Charlotte Gwinner and featuring Cherrelle Skeete (August 28–September 26); Kate Mosse’s stage adaptation of her novel The Taxidermist’s Daughter, directed by Jonathan Munby (September 12–October 3); the Ola Ince-helmed The Narcissist by Christopher Shinn (October 2–24); and the Chichester Festival Youth Theatre presentation of Pinnochio, adapted by Anna Ledwich and directed by Dale Rooks (December 12–31).
Rounding out the roster are revivals of Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing, directed by Simon Evans and starring Richard Coyle and Lisa Dillon (May 7–June 6); Jay Presson Allen’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie directed by Rachel Kavanaugh (May 29–June 20); Penelope Skinner’s The Village Bike directed by Nicole Charles (June 12–July 4); Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman’s Assassins directed by Polly Findlay (September 29–October 31); and Sarah Kane’s Crave, directed by Tinuke Craig and presented in the Spiegeltent.
For more information, visit CFT.org.uk.
