<Tr> <Th> Awards </Th> <Td> Pulitzer Prize for Drama Tony Award for Best Musical Tony Award for Best Original Score Tony Award for Best Author Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical </Td> </Tr> <P> South Pacific is a musical composed by Richard Rodgers, with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan . The work premiered in 1949 on Broadway and was an immediate hit, running for 1,925 performances . The plot of the musical is based on James A. Michener's Pulitzer Prize - winning 1947 book Tales of the South Pacific and combines elements of several of those stories . Rodgers and Hammerstein believed they could write a musical based on Michener's work that would be financially successful and, at the same time, would send a strong progressive message on racism . </P> <P> The plot centers on an American nurse stationed on a South Pacific island during World War II, who falls in love with a middle - aged expatriate French plantation owner but struggles to accept his mixed - race children . A secondary romance, between a U.S. lieutenant and a young Tonkinese woman, explores his fears of the social consequences should he marry his Asian sweetheart . The issue of racial prejudice is candidly explored throughout the musical, most controversially in the lieutenant's song, "You've Got to Be Carefully Taught". Supporting characters, including a comic petty officer and the Tonkinese girl's mother, help to tie the stories together . Because he lacked military knowledge, Hammerstein had difficulty writing that part of the script; the director of the original production, Logan, assisted him and received credit as co-writer of the book . </P> <P> The original Broadway production enjoyed immense critical and box - office success, became the second - longest running Broadway musical to that point (behind Rodgers and Hammerstein's earlier Oklahoma! (1943)), and has remained popular ever since . After they signed Ezio Pinza and Mary Martin as the leads, Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote several of the songs with the particular talents of their stars in mind . The piece won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1950 . Especially in the Southern U.S., its racial theme provoked controversy, for which its authors were unapologetic . Several of its songs, including "Bali Ha'i", "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair", "Some Enchanted Evening", "There Is Nothing Like a Dame", "Happy Talk", "Younger Than Springtime", and "I'm in Love with a Wonderful Guy", have become popular standards . </P>

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