Rogers Little Theater’s production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific
SOUTH PACIFIC: CAST SELECTED FOR TIMELESS CLASSIC COMING TO RLT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ROGERS, AR—The cast has been selected for Rogers Little Theater’s production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “timeless classic”, South Pacific.
With music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, book by Oscar Hammerstein Ii and Joshua Logan, and adapted from Tales of the South Pacific by James Michener, South Pacific is set in an island paradise during World War II, where two parallel love stories are threatened by the dangers of prejudice and war. Nellie, a spunky nurse from Arkansas, falls in love with a mature French planter, Emile. Nellie learns that the mother of his children was an island native and, unable to turn her back on the prejudices with which she was raised, refuses Emile's proposal of marriage. Meanwhile, Lt. Joe Cable denies himself the fulfillment of a future with an innocent Tonkinese girl with whom he's fallen in love out of the same fears that haunt Nellie. When Emile is recruited to accompany Joe on a dangerous mission, Nellie realizes that life is too short not to seize her own chance for happiness, thus confronting and conquering her prejudices.
The cast includes: Cynthia Bradford of Bella Vista as Ensign Nellie Forbush; Ron Sasine of Bella Vista as Emile de Becque; Adam Powell of Fayetteville as Lt. Joseph Cable, USMC; Kristyn Calhoun of Rogers as Bloody Mary; and Travis Mitchell of Springdale as USN Seabee Luther Billis.
Others cast as USN Seabees are: Kyle McNamara of Bella Vista as Stewpot, also know as Carpenter’s Mate 2nd George Watts; Luke Heffron of Bentonville as Professor; and Chris McNamara of Bella Vista as Abner.
USN personnel are: Jason Nemec of Rogers as Capt. George Brackett; Gordon W. Haller of Fayetteville as Cmdr. William Harbison; Kevin Lancaster of Rogers as Lt. Buzz Adams; Rob Swearingen of Rogers as Herbert Quale, sailor; Billy Olson of Bentonville as Yeoman Tom O’Brien, sailor; and Spencer Thompson of Bentonville as Radio Operator Bob McCaffrey, sailor.
Cast as United States Navy Nurses are: Whitney Keithley of Bentonville as Lt. Genevieve Marshall; Haley Henderson of Rogers as Ensign Dinah Murphy; Elizabeth Wax of Fayetteville as Ensign Janet McGregor; Sarah Chilcote of Fayetteville as Ensign Sue Yaeger; Morgann Grassi-Stokes of Bella Vista as Ensign Cora MacRae; Erin Truitt of Centerton as Ensign Lisa Minelli; and Brittany Ann Daniels of Siloam Springs as Ensign Pamela Whitmore.
Other denizens of South Pacific are: Tanya Giraldo of Rogers as Bloody Mary’s daughter, Liat; Khara Delaney Seeley of Rogers as Emile’s daughter Ngana; Mariano Moore of Rogers as Emile’s son, Jerome; Justin Lloyd of Bella Vista as Emile’s servant, Henry; S. Rene’ Garcia-Oliver of Centerton and Eowyn Francis-Moore of Rogers as Bloody Mary’s Assistants.
The production is directed by Ed McClure, Conducted and Musically Directed by Lisa-Welty Auten, Choreographed by Martina Peacock and Dru Peacock-Wiser, and Technically Directed by Mike Manning.
Full of familiar and memorable music such as “Some Enchanted Evening”, “I’m Gonna Wash that Man Right Out of my Hair”, “Nothing Like a Dame” and “Happy Talk”, the production will run July 30-August 15, 2010.
Tickets are available at RLT, the box office at 479/631-8988, or www.rogerslittletheater.org.
For almost 25 years, Rogers Little Theater has been Real Live Theater where Real Lives are Transformed. Beginning as a small community theater group putting on theatrical performances wherever their productions were welcome, RLT now finds its home at the beautifully renovated Victory Theater, 116 South Second Street, in historic downtown Rogers, where it annually presents six MainStage dinner theater productions, four 2ndStage/Diversity Unites productions, a host of children’s classes, programs and performances with its KidWorks Spotlight Studio, and other special events and presentations
For more information, contact director McClure at 479/903-6546.
