Reba McEntire including "The New York Times", which commented, "Without qualification the best performance by an actress in a musical comedy this season." McEntire personally called the musical, "some of the hardest work I've ever done in my life". In 2005, McEntire starred as Nellie Forbush in the Carnegie Hall concert production of the Broadway musical "South Pacific" with Alec Baldwin as Luther Billis and Brian Stokes Mitchell as Emile de Becque, directed by Walter Bobbie and with an adapted script by David Ives. The concert was broadcast as part of the "Great Performances" series in 2006. In October 2001, McEntire premiered
Little Nellie Kelly (musical) the hit song "Nellie Kelly, I Love You", sung by Conroy, who also sings "You Remind Me of My Mother". Other songs include "All in the Wearing", "Dancing My Worries Away", "Till My Luck Comes Rolling Along", "They're All My Boys", "The Voice in My Heart", "The Busy Bees of DeVere's" and "The Dancing Detective". A song-book, including the music and lyrics of all the show's songs, was published in 1922 by M. Witmark & Sons of New York. "Little Nellie Kelly" opened at the Tremont Theatre, Boston, on 31 July 1922 and arrived at the Liberty Theatre on Broadway