2014 South pacific
Shasta High’s 45th Annual Musical
Press
Shasta Takes Musical Journey to 'South Pacific'
By Jon Lewis, Special to Record Searchlight
Published April 2014
Gavin Spencer had any number of very legitimate reasons for picking "South Pacific" for Shasta High School's 44th annual spring musical. For starters, its score is packed with wildly popular standards and it's a beloved Broadway classic.
But Spencer had one more reason for his selection: his mother, Nancy Hopkins of Tillamook, Ore., played the role of Nellie Forbush in high school. "I'd been thinking about this show for years because of my mother. She asked me to at least consider it, and I figured I'd better," said the dutiful son.
"South Pacific" opens tonight at the David Marr Auditorium on the U-Prep High School's Eureka Way campus.
While happy to stage a tribute to his mother, Spencer can easily defend his decision on artistic grounds as well. "It's one of the most well-crafted musicals ever written," Spencer said. The musical, with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, also is of interest because of its progressive message about racism.
"This was such a bold message back in the late '40s, the idea that Nellie Forbush could fall in love with a French planter on this island, and then she finds out he has two Polynesian children. What a great message," Spencer said.
In addition to the storyline of an American nurse falling for a French plantation owner, "South Pacific" also features the romance between a Navy lieutenant and a young islander. The lieutenant, played by Thomas Sutherland, sings in "You've Got to Be Carefully Taught" that "You've got to be taught to hate and fear, You've got to be taught from year to year ? You've got to be taught to be afraid of people whose eyes are oddly made, And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade."
"It's still a powerful message, even these days," Spencer said.Putting in yeoman's work are the two senior leads, Moira Davis as Nellie Forbush and Josh Snel as Emile de Becque, the ex-patriate planter. Both students have Shasta High musical experience: Davis had the lead in 2012's "Guys and Dolls" and Snel played Raoul, Viscount of Chagny in last year's "Phantom of the Opera."
Lou Polcari directs the 25-member orchestra