playbill vip

A note from the director:

South Pacific has always been one of my favorite musicals.  I have always loved the music of Rodgers and Hammerstein, but this particular musical has so many memorable songs.  Every time I see it I find myself humming the melodies for days afterward.

Another reason I enjoy this musical is because my father was in WW2.  He was in the Navy and was actually stationed in the South Pacific.  He didn’t like to talk about the war much as I was growing up – it just brought up too many horrific memories for him. The few times that he did share some of his stories with me, I understood how the sailors greatly missed their families at home, but that they still had to reconcile this loneliness with their daily life and duties on-board.  My dad was a relatively quiet, yet spunky man who became our small town’s postmaster in Illinois for thirty years after the war.  I have always thought he was much like this musical’s character of the Professor . . . usually quiet yet intelligent but a bit of a practical joker.

Did you know that one of our own Bluffton residents was in the original movie? Corporal Ed Higgins was a Marine in WW2 and happened to be stationed in the Pacific when his commander pointed to some of his company and told them not to board their ship like the others.  They thought they were in trouble but soon realized that they had been chosen to be extra actors in the original movie.  In fact, you can see a close-up of Ed in the movie during the Thanksgiving Follies scene.  When Emile is holding a bouquet of flowers for Nellie, Ed is two people to Emile’s right.  I have greatly enjoyed hearing his recollections of the movie, of his time in WW2, and of Mitzi Gaynor.  Thank you, Ed for being a real inspiration for our show.  Thanks also for doing a cameo role as the piano player for “Honey Bun”.

We hope that you enjoy the show!

Sue Coolman