![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Lara-Ciekiewicz.jpg\")
<\/a>\u201cA lot of cities are celebrating this kind of repertoire from the \u201950s,\u201d says Rye. \u201cVictoria is really riding this wave; there\u2019s a great appetite for this here.\u201d<\/p>\n
What\u2019s different about this show is the musical accompaniment, explains Rye.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the first time ever on the island we are doing the full musical treatment: we\u2019ve got 40 voices and 40 musicians on stage as never seen before in Victoria.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rye explains how lucky we are to live in a community that can afford that kind of orchestral treatment of this repertoire.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost cities our size don\u2019t have an opera company or an orchestra; we\u2019re fortunate that this community is so musically literate. It\u2019s unprecedented,\u201d he says. \u201cWhat\u2019s unique about this production of South Pacific<\/i> is you\u2019re bringing professional voices together with professional symphony as it was written, as Rodgers and Hammerstein originally intended. That\u2019s a big deal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rye says the first time he saw South Pacific<\/i> was as a child on PBS.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy favourite moment is the song \u2018Some Enchanted Evening,\u2019 but what makes me laugh is that one big ensemble entrance for \u2018Wash That Man Right out of My Hair.\u2019 As a married man, one has to laugh about being subject to this kind of treatment by a group of women. It\u2019s a fun, sexy scene!\u201d<\/p>\n
He claims that this performance of South Pacific <\/i>is for everyone because it \u201crings true for us or parents and grandparents who celebrate this music.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all have a connection to this piece,\u201d says Rye. \u201cIronically, we all have a connection to the war in which it is set. There\u2019s nobody who can\u2019t find a home in South Pacific.<\/i>\u201d<\/p>\n
Female lead Lara Ciekiewicz, who stars as Nellie Forbush, says that the goal of the performer is to communicate and get involved in the story.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what is so special about this show,\u201d she says. \u201cEverything that happens to the characters is so visceral for the audience, as well; it\u2019s a very direct show.\u201d<\/p>\n
With a jovial spirit and the distinct laugh of an opera singer, Ciekiewicz admits that she saw South Pacific<\/i> for the first time only when she was preparing for her role.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was about a month ago on YouTube,\u201d she says. \u201cI have never seen a live version of South Pacific<\/i> ever. So I\u2019m coming to it as free and clear of any kind of assumptions as anybody else is.\u201d<\/p>\n
A self-proclaimed prairie girl at heart, Ciekiewicz studied in Montreal, where she got a master\u2019s degree in opera.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat experience shaped my vision of what a career [in opera] would be like and how hard I would have to work to be in the career,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s this training that allows her to explore the operatic tendencies of South Pacific.<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cBut if I could be any other character in the show,\u201d she says, \u201cit would be Billis, just so I could sing \u2018There Is Nothing Like a Dame\u2019!\u201d<\/p>\n
Even without that, this performance promises indeed to be some enchanted evening.<\/p>\n