Show Synopsis:
Ensign Nellie Forbush, a nurse, and Emile de Becque, a plantation owner, have fallen in love on an island in the South Pacific during World War II and become engaged. Nellie discovers that Emile's two children are half-Polynesian and breaks off the engagement, despite Emile's pleadings. Emile goes on a mission to report on Japanese ship movements and goes missing. Nellie comes to know and love his children, despite her racial prejudice, and when Emile returns, they are ready to start life as a family.

Character:
Emile de Becque, a wealthy middle-aged French planter; very passionate.

Song Context:
Emile has lost Nellie after she learns about his former wife?s Polynesian heritage, and he realizes that everything that has ever made him truly happy is on the island. He does not want to leave when the war is over, and begins to think about how happy he could have been if he had been able to keep holding onto a woman he loved.

Fun Facts:
1) Oscar Hammerstein II asked Mary Martin to play Nellie because he was intent on casting her in a role that showed "the real Mary, a corn-fed girl from Texas." 
2) This musical was based on a series of short stories called Tales of the South Pacific by James Michener, which won a Pulitzer Prize in 1947. Pinza and Paul Szot, who played Emile in the 2008 revival of South Pacific, both won Tony Awards for their performances. 
3) Pinza was a slow learner and Hammerstein was a notoriously slow lyric-writer, so tensions were high when one of Pinza?s ballads had to keep being rewritten. Miraculously, the concept, lyrics, and execution of this song came remarkably quickly, and it became Pinza?s favorite song in the musical.