WHS Select Choir staging “Miss Saigon”

Some staged drama has returned to the life of Russell J. Faunce and it has nothing to do with the excess heat in the auditorium he and others complained about at a recent rehearsal nor does it involve such situations as when he sent the Select Choir ensemble back to the rehearsal room that same night to get a number right before they dared to re-take the stage.

“Miss Saigon” is the drama source.

“‘Les Miz’ was such a success,” Mr. Faunce said of the 2008 production of “Les Miserables” staged by the Select Choir. “‘Miss Saigon’ is really the same type of thing with the same composers. It’s fun doing something really dramatic again.”

“Miss Saigon,” the 1991 Tony-winner created by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schoenberg of “Les Miserables” fame, will be staged Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Watertown High School.

“It’s contemporary pop music,” Mr. Faunce said. “It’s the retelling of ‘Madama Butterfly.’”

The musical, with no spoken dialogue, takes place during the turmoil of the Vietnam War and concerns an American soldier and a Vietnamese girl who fall in love, only to be separated during the fall of Saigon. “Their struggles to find each other over the ensuing years ends in tragedy for her and a fighting chance for the child he never knew he had,” according to a description by the production’s licensing agency, Music Theatre International.

Musically, “Miss Saigon” mixes pop and other elements in a score with haunting numbers including “The Movie in My Mind,” “The Last Night of the World” and “Sun and Moon.” The musical owes a significant debt to the dramatic legacy of Giacomo Puccini, whose classical opera “Madame Butterfly” served as a model for the tragic story it tells.

Mr. Faunce noted it’s a mature show.

“It’s not ‘High School Musical’ and it’s not ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ Mr. Faunce said, referring to those two shows presented on the school’s stage in 2006 and 2005 respectively. “It’s got a mature theme and deals with war. In some ways, it’s a wonderful story of Vietnam and the ugly story of Vietnam.”

“The music in it is really cool — it’s a lot of stuff you wouldn’t hear,” said senior Sara Glover, who plays Ellen, the wife of Chris the GI, played by senior Mark Anthony Taylor.

“People will be impressed, especially if it’s the first time seeing the show,” Mark Anthony said.

“Things happen you don’t expect,” said junior Maria V. Bufalini. “Hopefully, it will draw some tears.”

Following the show’s 1991 opening on Broadway, New York Times critic Frank Rich wrote, “... the show still manages to plunge the audience back into the quagmire of a generation ago, stirring up feelings of anguish and rage.”

There was no fall stage show last year presented by the Select Choir because it had other commitments, but Mr. Faunce said it’s likely there will be another Select Choir musical this semester.

Mark Anthony said the Select Choir is up to that challenge.

“The whole choir is very talented and that’s the reason we can put on ... two shows,” he said.

“We’re not just lead-strong,” Maria said. “We’re everyone.”

sTAGEHANDS provide LIFT

While on Broadway, “Miss Saigon” wowed audiences with its special effects, including the landing of a Huey helicopter on the roof of the embassy as the last Americans are evacuated from Saigon during the song “Kim’s Nightmare.”

Jonathan L. White, a volunteer set creator, said the high school production will have a “helicopter,” but it will be stationary and hung on the stage’s far right.

“It’s going to be more of the illusion,” Mr. White said.

“It’s all about sound and lights,” Mr. Faunce said.

Mr. White, who has been a stage volunteer for about a decade, said there’s a team of about 10 others who spend Monday nights and some other days constructing the set during a span of about six weeks.

“We go with group ideas and something we can manage,” he said.

Volunteer Michele R. Glover said the set for the school’s “Miss Saigon” is different from past productions she has worked on in that it’s mostly static; there’s not a lot of set changes, which are always done by the student cast.

Those sets, Mrs. Glover said, are envisioned by Mr. Faunce.

“Basically, Russ has the ideas and the vision, and we make it work,” she said. “He drew pictures of exactly what he wanted.”

The cast of Watertown High School Select Choir’s production of “Miss Saigon”:

Dennis Caughlin is the engineer; Sara Glover is Ellen; Mark Anthony Taylor is Chris; Maria Bufalini plays Kim; Nieko Crescenzi is John; Jack Wiley is Thuy; Julia Harrienger portrays Yvette; Tiandra Knight is Mimi, Alex Marilley is Gigi and Taylor Burrows is Yvonne.

Playing assistant commissars, soldiers and Marines: Jeffrey Reff, Andrew Van Houten, Michael James, Cameron Devlin and David Zabriskie.

The ensemble: Matthew Bradley, Johanna Capone, John Castilleja, Rachael Coon, Natalie Dick, Meredith Griffin, Kathryn Harrienger, Michaella Levine, Taylor McCown, Kate Moore, Austin Myers, Nicholas Netto, Erika Norstrud, Joshua Shannon, Alexandra Smith, Tyler Wessner, Jonathan White and Genny Wise.

Director Russell Faunce is assisted by David Simmons and Anne Hillerman.