Ability over Appearance: The Carnegie Hall concert's decision to cast Reba McEntire as Nellie raised a fair few eyebrows among theatre fans, to say the least — particularly since McEntire was over 50 at the time. But most of those fans shut up afterward, when they saw that the wide-eyed, idealistic, youthful spirit she brought to the role was perfect for Nellie.note Her vocals weren't in question, as she'd played the title role in Annie Get Your Gun on Broadway seven years earlier to great acclaim.
All-Star Cast: The Carnegie Hall concert version in 2006 brought together famous Broadway actor Brian Stokes Mitchell as de Becque, country legend Reba McEntire as Nellie, and Alec Baldwin as Billis.
Cut Song: Many, some of which, like "My Girl Back Home," are now commonly used in revivals.
Another, "Suddenly Lovely," eventually received new lyrics, which turned it into "Getting to Know You" from The King and I.
Yet another, "Loneliness of Evening," received a spot in Rodgers' and Hammerstein's Cinderella (1965).
"Younger Than Springtime" re-uses the melody of a Cut Song from Allegro, "To My Wife".
Averted with "You've Got to Be Carefully Taught". Due to the implications the song brings up about systemic racism, many people petitioned for it to be removed. The state of Georgia went so far as to introduce a bill banning entertainment containing "an underlying philosophy inspired by Moscow", and one legislator claimed that "a song justifying interracial marriage was implicitly a threat to the American way of life." When asked to remove the song, Rodgers and Hammerstein refused, saying that song was the entire reason why they wrote the play in the first place.
Dawson Casting: Even though Nellie Forbush is supposed to be young and naive, she was portrayed by women in their 30s for both Broadway productions (notable soprano Kelli O'Hara in the revival, and Broadway legend Mary Martin in the original). Also, ABC's 2001 TV movie cast a 53-year-old Glenn Close in the role.
Executive Meddling: Averted with "You've Got To Be Carefully Taught"; Rogers & Hammerstein were pressured to remove the song, but it stayed intact.
Rodgers and Hammerstein originally planned to adapt just one story from Tales of the South Pacific, Cable and Liat's love story. But when they realized it would feel too similar to Madame Butterfly, they brought in Nellie and Emile from another portion of the book and wove the two love stories together.
The movie
Creator Backlash: Director Joshua Logan publicly apologized for the use of color filters. Incidentally, they were not supposed to be that heavy, and he was aghast when he saw the final print.
Cut Song: "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair" runs drastically shorter in the movie. The soundtrack restored most of the missing sections, although the cast apparently never recorded the bridge.
Executive Meddling: The colour filters were meant to be more subtle, but 20th Century Fox made them so extreme. As tickets to the roadshow version of the film were pre-sold, there was no time to correct them.
Non-Singing Voice: Among the movie's leads, only Mitzi Gaynor, who played Nellie, and Ray Walston, who played Luther Billis, did their own singing. Juanita Hall deserves special notice, as she originated the role of Bloody Mary on Broadway nine years earlier, but still needed dubbing by Muriel Smith (she'd later be allowed to do her own singing in the film version of Flower Drum Song).
Star-Making Role: France Nuyen actually did the best out of this film. She became a minor celebrity for her small but memorable role as Liat - and originated the lead in The World of Suzie Wong (but was recast in the film with Nancy Kwan).
The plan was first to have Ezio Pinza and Mary Martin reprise their roles from the stage version. Ezio Pinza died suddenly in 1957, and they decided to go with a new cast. Stories about why Mary Martin didn't get cast range from producers fearing no one could match her talents or simply being too old at 45 to play the young and naive Nellie.
The producers of the film considered casting Doris Day as Nellie. Possible reasons for her rejection include her agent demanding too much money, or Day herself feeling too nervous to sing for Richard Rodgers. Other candidates included Judy Garland, Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, Ginger Rogers and Elizabeth Taylor.
The first cut of the film was 181 minutes, and the songs "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Outta My Hair" and "This Nearly Could Have Been Mine" ran much longer.
