Rotorua singer stars in popular musical

South Pacific featuring Tim Beveridge (right) will visit Rotorua on October 2 as part of a nation-wide tour. Photo / Supplied

Rotorua baritone Tim Beveridge is set to star in a national tour of South Pacific, one of the world's most treasured musicals, transporting audiences to a Rodgers and Hammerstein wartime romance.

South Pacific will perform at Rotorua's Sir Howard Morrison Performing Arts Centre on October 2 as part of its 24-venue New Zealand tour.

The musical is being toured by Ben McDonald, who produced Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story, Oklahoma! and The Pirates of Penzance.

South Pacific is based on James A. Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1947 book Tales of the South Pacific, the anecdotes of a real-life US Navy commander who was stationed on an island. It follows two intercultural love stories, in which Americans find themselves struggling to reconcile their own cultural prejudices with their amorous feelings, all the while under the dark cloud of a war that is coming ever closer to their island paradise.

The original Broadway production enjoyed immense critical and box-office success, became the second-longest running Broadway musical, and has remained popular ever since.

As well as Beveridge, the 18-strong cast will also star former Shortland Street actress Geraldine Brophy, Tizane McEvoy who starred as Maria Elena in Buddy and Bronwyn Turei, from Go Girls.

McDonald said he was excited to be touring such a classic musical that intertwined the themes of romance, duty, and prejudice to create a story that was all at once hilarious, heartbreaking, and thought-provoking.

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. Tickets to the Rotorua show will be available from Friday at Ticketmaster.