South Pacific is a musical, with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and book by both Hammerstein and Joshua Logan. The story draws from James A. Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1948 book, Tales of the South Pacific, weaving together characters and elements from several of its stories into a single plotline. The musical won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1950. The issue of racial prejudice was sensitively and candidly explored, particularly for a 1949 stage work.

South Pacific is generally considered to be one of the greatest musicals in history.  Several of its songs, including "Bali Ha'i," "Some Enchanted Evening," "Happy Talk", "Younger than Springtime," and "A Wonderful Guy" have become worldwide standards. The Broadway production of South Pacific was nominated for ten Tony Awards and won all of them, including Best Musical, Best Score and Best Libretto. It was the only musical production ever to win all four Tony Awards for acting. The show was a critical and box office hit, and the musical has since enjoyed many successful revivals and tours and spawned a 1958 film and other adaptations.