The King and I

WRITTEN BY: Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II, based on a book by Margaret London
PERFORMED AT: East High School, Corning, NY
PERFORMED ON: March 31-April 3, 1994
DIRECTOR: Judy Cross
MUSICAL DIRECTOR: Richard Perry
SPONSORED BY: EHS Drama Club
PRINCIPAL CAST (and selected extras):
* CAPTAIN ORTON/DANCE CREW- Michael C. Riviello
* LOUIS LEONOWENS- Alex S. Feulner
* ANNA LEONOWENS- Courtney Kelley-Roe
* INTERPRETER/PRIEST- Tim Plerhoples
* KRALAHOME- Jeff Danielson
* KING- Geoff Moore
* TUPTIM- Tracey Cranston
* LUN THA- Brian Kahl
* LADY THIANG- Meg Howells
* PRINCE CHULULONGKORN- Jay Bardhan
* SIR EDWARD RAMSEY- Eric English
* SLAVE/PRIEST/BUDDHA- David Alan Scott Jr.

PLOT: A British schoolteacher (Courtney Kelley-Roe) sails to Thailand to teach the King's children. A musical drama, loosely based on a true story.

HISTORY: My first "real" play since I narrated "Peter Rabbit" in Kindergarten, I was cast as a slave, a priest, and a crew member for the ballet sequence.
In the ballet sequence, I was to dress in black and carry a wooden lightning bolt across the stage. But the guy who was supposed to play the great god Buddha kept missing rehearsals, so I would end up standing in for him instead.
Eventually, the director decided to give the Buddha role to me instead. The other "actor," due to his constantly missing rehearsals, was later kicked out of the play entirely (Just as well since he was a real jerk, anyway).
I later became admired for my ability to sit, like Buddha, completely still, on top of a tall set of stairs, for the entire ballet scene. I was happy just to be even remotely involved in a major stage production.
(An additional note: There was a big controversy raised by one of the cast members' parents because he objected to the cast wearing make-up to look Asian. The uproar didn't affect the outcome of the show, though it got the EHS Drama Club some rare front-page exposure in the local papers.)

PHOTOS:
* Me as a slave (photo by Aaron Goldman)
* Me as Buddha (photo by Aaron Goldman)
* Me as a Buddhist priest (photo by Aaron Goldman)