World War II Images On Display In Foyer of Rogers Little Theater
- Ongoing: until Sunday, August 15, 2010
- Sunday:
- Tuesday:
- Wednesday:
- Thursday:
- Friday:
- Saturday:
- Where: Rogers Little theater , Rogers
- Cost: Not available
- Age limit: Not available
RLT TO OPEN SOUTH PACIFIC MUSICAL JULY 30
World War II Images On Display In Foyer Starting July 23
ROGERS, Ark. — World War II photographs will be on display at Rogers Little Theater starting July 23 in connection with the MainStage musical, South Pacific, opening July 30.
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,” RLT will be performing Rodgers and Hammerstein’s timeless classic, South Pacific, for three weekends: July 30-Aug. 1, Aug. 5-8; Aug. 12-15.
Show times are 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays. Dinner theater costs a total of $42, and balcony seating is $17 per ticket.
Lts. Charles H. Johns and Mary E. (Sage) Johns -- the grandparents of South Pacific cast member Rob Swearingen, who plays the role of Yeoman Herbert Quale -- generously donated to the theater larger size copies of 10 photographs of their days in training and service to the United States during World War II.
Charles Johns (USMC) was a fighter pilot in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Mary Elisabeth Sage trained at the Great Lakes Naval Air Station and served as a navy nurse, stationed first in Corpus Christi and then as one of only three nurses assigned to Eagle Mountain Lake Naval Air Station.
The images to be on display include Lt. Charles Johns inside or outside World War II aircraft, on Guam before a bombing mission and in San Francisco, en route to Eagle Mountain Naval Air Station to pick up new planes for the invasion of Japan. Images of Lt. Mary Sage are while she was in Corpus Christi and at the Eagle Mountain Naval Air Station in Ft. Worth, Texas.
In 1945, First Lieutenant Charles H. Johns spotted Lieutenant JG Mary E. Sage. As fate would have it, that night in 1945 began a relationship that is 64 years and counting.
With music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and book by Oscar Hammerstein II and Joshua Logan, 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.
Bali Hai, the fictional island in South Pacific, is based on the real island of Ambae, visible on the horizon from Espiritu Santo. James Michner, who wrote the novel Tales of the South Pacific on which the musical is based, was stationed on Espiritu Santo.
This 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.
The Cast
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.
The USN Seabees are Kyle McNamara of Bella Vista as Stewpot, also known 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.
The 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.
Tickets are available at the RLT box office, 116 S. Second St., or by calling 631-8988 or going online at www.rogerslittletheater.org.
About RLT
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, the nonprofit organization known as 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, youth programming and other special events and presentations.
Next season's impressive slate of six Main Stage productions are Nunsense, The Odd Couple, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Arsenic and Old Lace, Driving Miss Daisy, and The Sound of Music. Memberships are on sale now through Aug. 31.
This event was posted July 14, 2010 and last updated July 15, 2010
