Gertrude Lawrence Hammerstein II quoted from an essay on death written by poet and novelist Rabindranath Tagore. Lawrence was buried in the champagne-coloured gown worn for the "Shall We Dance?" number in the second act of "The King and I", and she was interred in the Aldrich family plot in Lakeview Cemetery in Upton, Massachusetts. She was the first person for whom the house lights were dimmed in all Broadway (Manhattan) theatres due to her death. In early 1953, Lawrence's name was included on a list of Columbia University professors who had died the previous year and were honoured with a memorial
Rodgers and Hammerstein by David Merrick, and received five Tony Award nominations. South Pacific opened on Broadway on April 7, 1949, and ran for over five years. Its songs "Bali Ha'i", "Younger Than Springtime", and "Some Enchanted Evening" have become standards. The play is based upon two short stories by James A. Michener from his book "Tales of the South Pacific", which itself was the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1948. For their adaptation, Rodgers and Hammerstein, along with co-writer Joshua Logan, won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1950. In the original production, Mary Martin starred as the heroine