Posted on: Sunday, November 14, 2004

'Miss Saigon' production is looking for players

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

Army Community Theatre has an open call for all roles, including Kim and the Engineer, for its February production of "Miss Saigon," with auditions set for 7 p.m. Nov. 22, 23 and 24 at Richardson Theatre at Fort Shafter.

ACT is the first community theater west of the Mississippi to secure rights to the Tony Award-winning Broadway show, and the Hawai'i premiere will be on the Army post Feb. 24 through March 12.

The musical, with music by Claude-Michel Schonberg and lyrics by Alain Boublil and Richard Maltby Jr., is inspired by Puccini's "Madam Butterfly" and retells a classic love story set in Vietnam at the time of the fall of Saigon. It made an international star of Lea Salonga, who originated the Kim role, and provided a showcase for a flood of Hawai'i actors, singers and dancers, who appeared on Broadway or in a subsequent national touring production.

Vanita Rae Smith is producer-director, Grace Bell Humerickhouse is associate director and choreographer, Melina Lillios is musical director, Kristi Kashimoto is stage manager and associate director, Tom Giza is set designer, Kathe James is costumer, Jim Ripley is lighting designer, Sean Rowbottom is sound designer, Sarah Ward is props manager and Ann Marie Smith is handling graphics/projections.

The musical, which boasts such hit songs as "The Movie in My Mind" and "The American Dream," also had a popular run at the Blaisdell Concert Hall several years ago. A "flying" helicopter has been one of the the technical highlights of the production.

For audition information, call 438-4480.