Carmen Cusack the standby, Jemma Rix, had been given the lead role. Cusack was with the company from June 10 to July 10, 2009. She left to begin rehearsals for "South Pacific". In 2009, Cusack played Nellie Forbush in the first national tour of "South Pacific". Based on the 2008 Broadway revival, performances began September 18, 2009 in San Francisco. For this role Cusack was nominated for the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Non Resident Production. In 2012, she played the role of Miss Gardner in the Off-Broadway revival of "Carrie - The Musical", which began performances at
Sarah Elizabeth Forbush Downs Theodore Dreiser to write for his "Smith's Magazine". Dreiser considered her to be one of the "three most popular authors in the world." Between 1880 and 1889, she serialized 47 romances for Street and Smith's "New York Weekly". Sarah Elizabeth Forbush Downs Sarah Elizabeth Forbush Downs (1843–1926) was a "dime novelist" from the United States. She wrote novels under her own name, as "Mrs. Georgie Sheldon", and as "Mrs. George Sheldon Downs". Downs was born June 5, 1843, in Wrentham, Massachusetts. Her parents were Edwin A. Forbush and Malvina F. (Ware) Forbush. She received her education at the Ladies' Collegiate