The musical “South Pacific” is coming to Broadway. That’s Broadway in Poplar Bluff.
The Stage Company has been rehearsing for months for the production which will run two weekends starting Friday night at the historic Rodgers Theatre.
“This is the most ambitious project The Stage Company has ever undertaken,” said director David Carroll of Poplar Bluff. “The reason I chose South Pacific to submit to the board of director’s was two-fold. The first is 2019 is the 70th anniversary of the opening of the Rodgers Theatre. The second is 2019 marks the 75th anniversary of D-Day. I felt that this would be an excellent production to highlight the Rodgers Theatre’s anniversary while also honoring The Greatest Generation.”
Written by Oscar Hammerstein II and Joshua Logan, with music and lyrics by Richard Rodgers and Hammerstein, “South Pacific” will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and again at Friday, June 28, and Saturday, June 29, with a 3 p.m. performance Sunday, June 30.
A seek peek at an early rehearsal showed the cast and crew busy turning the theater in a south sea island. The front lobby decorations prepare theatergoers for the stage, which had to be extended to enable the production to have enough space to create the various scenes on the island during World War II.
Carroll took a few minutes while watching the dancers and chorus warm-up to share thoughts about the production.
Putting it together took a little bite of imagination, said Carroll, who started working on it a year ago. He started rehearsals for the principal singers in January with the full ensemble of rehearsals starting in March.
Clarifying he’s acted in and directed many plays, CarrolI said, he was assistant director for the musical “1776” many years ago and has acted in several musicals, but “the only thing I hadn’t done was direct a musical.”
The company typically has about six weeks from auditions to opening night on a regular play. For this musical, auditions for the principal characters were held in October so they could start rehearsing with the music. Auditions for the chorus and other characters were in January. They have been rehearsing pretty much three to four days a week since January to get down the blocking, the choreography and songs, and dialogue, said Carroll and Tracy Tarpley, a Stage Company officer and stage manager for the production.
“The cast and crew have dedicated many, many hours toward making this show a success and I couldn’t be prouder of them,” said Carroll. “As far as the cast, it is comprised of veteran Stage Company all-stars and also has a huge number of new faces. This area has so much hidden talent. We have cast members from as far away as Puxico and Campbell.
“This cast is so huge, but they have become as close as family,” he said, adding other cast and crew members travel from Arkansas, Greenville and surrounding areas.
Some are playing more than one roll and according to Carroll, “the last two weeks before opening night is the busiest.”
Carroll said, the musical “probably is the biggest show we’ve done since the ‘Wizard of Oz.’ It is the most complicated show we’ve done. We are adventurous.”
The tech and set coordinators also have been working on the lighting and set concepts since October, Tarpley said. The set crew started building the sets and the extensions in May so a lot of work has gone into this show not just with the actors but with the “unseen” crews who usually get overlooked since they work in the background.
This production also requires costumers because there are a lot of costume changes with some of them having to happen very quickly with just a few minutes between scenes, Tarpley said.
“Everyone has worked so hard on this show we just want it to be a success and we really want the community to come out and support us so we can continue to bring live productions to Poplar Bluff,” Tarpley said.
Tarpley explained providing the community with a production like “South Pacific” is costly not only in time, but financially.
“We don’t have the final cost yet for the show, but it is going to be approximately $10,000 per the director by the time it’s all said and done,” Tarpley said. “A typical ‘straight’ show costs around $3,500. The licensing and royalties for this show are quadruple the amount typically spent on a straight play.
“We don’t think people realize how expensive it is to put on a musical and since we are all volunteers, we only have the money we raised from the previous season and ad sales and sponsors to put on the shows,” she said. “We have been fortunate that we’ve had a good season and we had a good ad sales campaign along with support from the community with loaning us props for this show and providing materials at cost so we had a little more cushion to work with but we have been watching our pennies closely.”
Because of the added expense the group has to raise the ticket prices for a musical to $20 for adults, $15 for veterans, $10 for children at the door.
“People can buy them in advance at the Greater Poplar Bluff Area Chamber of Commerce or on our webpage (www.pbstageco.com). The adult ticket price presale is $15 so they save $5 verses buying them at the door,” Tarpley said.
The cast members are Hilary Lawson, Felix Torres, Lori Prewitt, Kate Wheeler, David Smith, Glen Deaton, Jackson Hill, Patrick Wheeler, Darrell Taylor, Roger Morris, Sloan Paxton, Alia Barfield, Cyrus Sagharichi, Jasper Barnum, Rachael Walenda, Donato Pietrofere, Jenniet Galvan, Will Montgomery, Catina Moore, Jenni Urich, Sarah Montgomery and Samantha Vitale.
The production crew is Tracy Tarpley, Angie Howard, Ariel Judd, Tina Schaefer, Mary Duckett, David Carroll, Kerie Amsden, Bree Savat, James Kilgore III, Darrell Taylor, Grant Widener, Grant Widener, Connie Taylor, Tami DeWitt, Darrell Taylor, Lee Spilberg, Hilary Lawson, Hilary Lawson, Michael Starnes and Guy McAndrew.