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
Nellie Zabel Willhite Nellie Zabel Willhite Eleanor "Nellie" Zabel Willhite (Born November 22, 1892 in Box Elder, South Dakota – September 2, 1991) was the first deaf woman to earn a pilot’s license, as well as South Dakota’s first female pilot. Willhite became deaf at age two due to measles. She earned her pilot's license in 1928. She was a founding member of the Ninety-Nines, an organization which was founded in 1929 with 99 female pilots as founding members, and is dedicated to the advancement of aviation and support for women in aviation. Willhite started the first South Dakota chapter of the Ninety-Nines