Encore’s newcomers give big voice to ‘Miss Saigon’
Stadium bringing operatic drama to city May 6-8
WOONSOCKET – When you’re producing a musical that’s adapted from an opera, you’d better bring on some great voices.
That’s exactly what Encore Repertory Company has done for “Miss Saigon:” there is a classically trained lyric soprano, a vocalist who has performed professionally for a decade, and a veteran actor who has been starring in Encore Rep shows for eight years. And those are just the leads. “I have been blown away by the talent of this cast on an individual level and as an ensemble,” says Becca Donald, with a big smile that says as much as her words. “Working with this cast has been extremely rewarding. I can’t wait to bring the show to the stage for others to experience.”
That happens May 6 to 8, when Encore performs the multiaward winning musical at the Stadium Theatre.
“Miss Saigon” re-imagines Giacomo Puccini’s “Madame Butterfly” by setting the story of a doomed romance in the Vietnam War era, replacing the geisha and American lieutenant of “Butterfly” with a GI, Chris, and a 17-year-old Vietnamese bar girl, Kim.
Sara LaFlamme of Franklin is the classically trained soprano who plays Kim, although she says it’s not her high notes that count in this score.
“She (Kim) sings in the basement,” says LaFlamme, who has been appearing in summer stock and professional theater since graduating from the University of New Hampshire with a degree in musical theater.
She’s a new voice for Encore Rep, as is Cooper Cerulo of Grafton, who plays Chris. Cerulo performed professionally with a Cape Cod a capella group called Hyannis Sound, and for six years with Celebrity Cruises.
Now a self-described “9-to-5 guy, working in a bank, going to be a dad,” Cerulo decided at the last minute to audition. No one is happier than Donald, who wanted to offer him the role on the spot.
“We definitely lucked out, talentwise,” Donald says.
Encore audiences will recognize veteran actor Brian Lopes in the pivotal role of The Engineer, the ambitious and ruthless owner of the bar where Kim works.
The Engineer fills a couple of theatrical slots — as a villain and as comic relief — but Lopes’ interpretation doesn’t stop there.
“He’s not a villain in the full sense,” Lopes says. “He’s not purposely hurting anyone, but he will use anything and anyone to get what he wants. He’s very manipulative.”
“He’s so over the top,” adds Donald, “that some of his actions are comic.”
Their story takes place in the days before the fall of Saigon, in 1975. Chris, disillusioned and bitter about the war, falls in love with Kim, the orphaned and destitute bar girl under the thumb of The Engineer. When the city falls, however, Chris is shipped back to his life, and a new wife, in America.
Years later, Chris returns to Vietnam, where he is sought out by Kim, with some self-serving “help” from The Engineer. Chris discovers that Kim had his baby and has been raising their child, Tam. What the future holds for the couple and the child comprise the heartbreak and the hope of the story.
The music that underscores the emotional saga was composed by Claude-Michel Schonberg, with lyrics by Alain Boublil and Richard Maltby Jr.; the first two artists also gave us the music and lyrics for “Les Miserables.”
“The music can be tough,” Donald says, largely because virtually everything is sung – like an opera – and what comes between the songs is a conversational kind of singing that imitates speech “but has no melody,” LaFlamme explains.
Encore has recruited another pro, however, as the musical director: Mark Colozzi, co-director of instrumental and choral music at Cranston High School East, who has worked with several other theater companies. A soloist, he earned music and fine arts degrees from the University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island College.
Donald also brings education and experience to her directing duties. The East Greenwich native graduated from High Point University in North Carolina, where she studied performance theater and human relations, and has directed previous shows for Encore and Encore Kids.
And yes, she says, the helicopter that became such a symbol of the Americans’ evacuation from Vietnam is represented in this musical.
“It’s not ‘Blackhawk Down’ big,” she says, but it does create drama of appropriately operatic dimensions.
Encore Rep will present three performances of “Miss Saigon” on Friday and Saturday, May 6 and 7, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, May 8, at 2 p.m., at the Stadium Theatre, 28 Monument Square. Tickets are $21 and $26 and available at the box office in the theater, by calling (401) 7624545, or online at www.stadiumtheatre.com.
A video preview from rehearsal is available on YouTube at StadiumTheatrePAC.