SCARLETT JOHANSSON - SCARLETT EYES SOUTH PACIFIC MUSICAL

SCARLETT EYES SOUTH PACIFIC MUSICAL

Producers planning a Broadway production of South Pacific are said to be keen to have Scarlett Johansson involved to ensure a "sexy" show.

The 22-year-old actress is apparently in talks to play the lead role of Nellie Forbush in the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical.

Directed by Bartlett Cher, the show is scheduled for a January 2008 opening at New York's Lincoln Centre.

A production source told the New York Post: "They want the leads to be sexy. This is not going to be a stodgy old production of South Pacific."

Other actresses said to be in the running are similarly petite, stunning blondes Reese Witherspoon and Kelli O'Hara.

It is not the first time that Scarlett has been linked to potential roles in musicals; in November last year she was reported to have been lined up for the lead role in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Sound of Music before pulling out at the 11th hour.

Scarlett is also said to be a long-time fan of Rodgers and Hammerstein, who wrote numerous musicals including Oklahoma! and The King and I.

If she lands the role of Nellie Forbush then she will star as a US nurse who falls in love with a middle-aged French plantation owner, Emile de Becque, during the second world war.