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South Pacific opens Wednesday

Jennifer Geens
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Apr 30/04) - The vines are hanging from the rafters at NACC. The Tonkinese Islanders have their sarongs. Lucky seamen have their little white sailor's caps. And the shrunken heads are nice and shrivelled.

NNLS Photo

Shad Turner (Lt. Joe Cable) and Charlotte Overvold (Liat) sing during a rehearsal of South Pacific at NACC. - Jennifer Geens/NNSL photo



All signs indicate South Pacific is ready to roll.

The play is Kelley Merilees-Keppel's big comeback to the Yellowknife stage. Her last appearance was as a supporting cast member in The Mikado, 10 years ago.

She credits her co-star Ray Bethke with making the long hours of rehearsal easy.

"I don't think I could do this without Ray," she said. "He's so easy to work with. The best part of South Pacific is the cast. They're really fun to be around."

Bethke said nearly the same thing about Keppel.

"She's a lot of fun to work with," he said. "She's really developed the character of Nellie and made her her own. That makes it a lot easier for me to play off."

Keppel described Nellie as "a naive lady who's looking for adventure, but who maintains this sweet persona regardless."

Bethke said his character, Emile, takes the moral high ground.

Emile just doesn't get racial prejudice and can't understand why Nellie has an issue with his previous interracial marriage.

Director Christopher Foreman described South Pacific as one of Rodgers and Hammerstein's most popular musicals.

"It has something for everyone," said Foreman.

The play has two love stories, but, since it takes place during the Second World War, it also has a war subplot and lots of military men, That makes it, in Foreman's words, "a guy's musical."

This week, the cast and crew were ironing out the last few details of the production, including the big closing number that requires all hands on deck.

Foreman spent much of Tuesday night's rehearsal wrangling groups of singers into formation.

Closing number

The closing number is one of the few times everyone is on stage at once. Bethke said rehearsing South Pacific seemed less arduous than other musicals because there are few scenes when the entire chorus is on stage. Different groups of singers do their own thing and could rehearse on their own.

But that's not to say rehearsing any musical isn't demanding.

"If you're not in shape at the start, you're in shape by the end," said Bethke.

Ptarmigan Ptheatric's spring musical opens Wednesday, May 5, at 8 p.m. at NACC. The musical runs to May 8, with a matinee performance May 9 at 2 p.m. It returns to the stage May 12 to 15.