The Jets and Sharks hang
loose.
Katrin Puutsa
It hardly seems 6 months since the auditions for the
great American musical West Side Story, one of the classics of the genre,
due for performance on the 5th-7th June at 6.30 p.m. in the Globe Theatre of
the Regent’s School.
The director, Mr Lewis, has assembled a hugely talented
cast of 50 students to play these individualized characters and uniquely in
productions at the Regent’s School each actor has a responsibility to
understudy another actor.
West Side Story can be truly described as an actor’s
musical: it is not enough to sing, you have to act convincingly as well.
Like all great musicals, the songs advance the action and nurture the
audience’s understanding of the characters.
The story is set in the Upper West Side neighborhood in
New York City in the mid-1950s, an ethnic, blue-collar neighborhood. The
musical explores the rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks, two teenage
street gangs of different ethnic backgrounds. The members of the Sharks from
Puerto Rico are taunted by the Jets, a white working-class group. The young
protagonist, Tony, one of the Jets, falls in love with Maria, the sister of
Bernardo, the leader of the Sharks.
The dark theme, sophisticated music, extended dance
scenes, and focus on social problems marked a turning point in American
musical theatre. Leonard Bernstein’s score, and Stephen Sondheim’s lyrics
for the musical have become extremely popular; including Something’s Coming,
Maria, America, Somewhere, Tonight, Jet Song, I Feel Pretty, A Boy Like That
and One Hand, One Heart.
The preview excerpt which formed part of the Drama
Assembly on Tuesday 15th May stunned the audience into awed silence as they
witnessed the tragedy of Maria and Tony, a re-telling of Shakespeare’s
timeless doomed love affair.
The Music Department has been working equally as hard in
support of this challenging event with an orchestra of 25 players practising
hard to master Bernstein’s demanding score.
Ms Helen Burden and Mr Pete Burden have created another
stunning design to, once again, transform the epic space that is the Globe
Theatre.
The cast has also had to master their dance skills as
well as polish their Brooklyn accents. This ground-breaking production has
set everyone’s expectations running high and full-houses are expected for
the performances, the profits of which will benefit three of our school’s
community partners: Abundant Life, the Camillian Centre and Mercy Centre,
Rayong.
Tickets are 100 baht for students and 150 baht for
adults. They can be reserved by email: [email protected] or Mob:
0885204807.
The West Side Story cast.
Bernardo challenges Riff -in
rehearsal.
Mathew and Mary Kelly pull
back the curtains to reveal the honorary plaque and officially announce the
new school is open.
Elfi Seitz
A former movie star has opened a boarding school in
Pattaya where parents plant trees instead of paying tuition.
Mechai Viravaidya, a former senator and the man behind
Pattaya’s Birds & Bees Resort, opened the Mechai Pattana School May 26 with
the idea that parents and students would undertake community service to pay
for schooling.
Former Senator Mechai
Viravaidya welcomes everyone to the launch and speaks a bit about how it all
works.
To date, 23 girls and 5 boys have enrolled in the
program. For the students, ages 14-16, it is their first time away from
home.
To pay for the boarding school, parents must undertake
400 hours of community service and plant 400 trees per year. Students must
perform seven hours of community service a week in Pattaya, Chonburi and
Rayong.
Two specific elements of this school stand out when
compared with typical secondary schools around the region. At Pattaya,
student representatives will be elected to sit on the school board as well
as to become members of the purchasing and audit committees. There is also a
surprise waiting for anyone wishing to become members of the teaching staff.
These aspiring teachers have to first be interviewed and approved by the
student committee prior to further interviews by a committee of teachers.
Students hail mostly from the poor, mountainous regions of Northeast
Thailand and will spend one entire year by the sea studying as well as
experiencing the realities of the Eastern Seaboard of Thailand.
The regular school week is from Thursday to Monday.
Certain hours of Saturday and Sunday will be reserved for experienced
external teachers and volunteers from the Eastern Seaboard area and Bangkok.
The school’s weekend will be Tuesday and Wednesday, which will be used for
out-of-classroom activities in the provinces of Chonburi and Rayong, where
important institutions and industrial estates are located. Students will
also be organized in small groups to assist outlying schools and communities
as part of their sharing experience.
Honored guests at the opening
try out the desks and chairs in the new school, where young people will be
given a chance they might not otherwise have had to become tomorrow’s
community leaders.
Surprises are unending at this Pattaya school - students
are required to write letters home once a week and mobile phones will be
locked away except for one hour per week when phone calls are allowed. The
school aims to make these students from the Northeast to be bilingual, as
well as endeavor to create new young Thai citizens who are honest, caring,
resourceful, and know how to manage life, as well as business enterprises.
A highlight of this iconic education institution is the
establishment of the Kelly Lifelong Learning Center, dedicated to the
enrichment of the quality of life, advancement of knowledge, and improvement
of opportunities for deserving citizens of the Kingdom of Thailand. This
facility was donated by Matthew Kelly Sr. and many of his close friends,
together with his son Matthew and daughter-in-law Mary, to honor Matthew Sr.
on his 90th birthday. Kelly was present last year for the laying of the
foundation stone of the Kelly Lifelong Learning Center, which includes the
main classroom for the students, as well as an 80-person conference center.
Apart from the significant contribution of the Kelly
Lifelong Learning Center by the Kelly family and friends, the establishment
of the Pattaya campus is also a result of the generosity of several groups,
including the Birds and Bees Resort (owned by Mechai’s daughter Sujima),
IKEA, Microsoft, and many other socially-minded individuals and
organizations. The yearly operating costs during the first few years will be
provided by the Birds & Bees Resort.
The “biggest ukulele band in
Thailand” performs for the
honored guests in front of the new school.
The students will rise at 5 a.m. for beach cleaning and
exercise followed by working in the vegetable garden and milling rice prior
to a glass of milk. After that, they will take a shower and begin their
first class at 7 a.m., one hour before breakfast. The in-class school day
ends at 1:30 p.m. for a late lunch. The afternoon will be spent out of the
classroom on music, practical science, workshops, business operations, in
the fruit and vegetable gardens, or performing necessary chores at the
school.
At the May 26 orientation, students watched a video
presentation and toured the school. The rooms and restrooms sparkled and the
furniture, supplied by IKEA, gave the school a modern European look.
Mathew and Mary Kelly performed the opening while
students performed songs on ukuleles, with one girl calling it the largest
ukulele band in Thailand.
Matthew Kelly and Mechai both thanked sponsors in their
opening speeches and expressed hopes that the school would make a difference
to students in their daily lives. Mechai also announced that volunteers were
always welcome to teach students new skills, be it language, painting or
handicrafts.
Lunch followed with guests also participating in a
language demonstration class taught by Judy Hudson from Australia.
Visitors are welcome at the school to observe its
poverty-eradication laboratory farm, which was established in partnership
with the Kelly Lifelong Learning Center and land provided by the Birds &
Bees Resort.
