Rehearsals for the spring musical “South Pacific” got underway last week along with a burst of energy from junior Dylan O’Bryan and company.

“I know all the leads, they are all really talented musicians and performers, so we are going to get a lot of practice in,” he said. “There are a lot of people taking private voice lessons as well.”

O’Bryan, who plays Emile de Becque, looks forward to playing, what is for him, a new type of character.

“[Emile] is a mature, older man, which is hard for teenagers to portray accurately,” he said. “It will be an interesting struggle to try to be as true to the character as I can be.”

O’Bryan expects audiences will enjoy the music and social issues addressed in the play.

“There are a lot of familiar songs, like ‘Some Enchanted Evening,’ and even the lesser-known songs are also very catchy,” he said. “I think [the audience] will enjoy the story because it is a little bit shocking in our time — the issues with race and prejudice the show addresses. I think it is interesting.”

Stage manager Alana Mayott said the tech crew has much work to do before the show.

“I’ve never built an airplane, so I think that is going to be coolest set piece to build,” the junior said. “We want to extend the stage, but I’m not sure if we will have the resources or time to do it.”

Mayott also explained the largest obstacle the tech crew would have to face.

“The shower will probably be the hardest set piece to build because we have to run water through it and it’s going to make the stage wet,” she said. “We’ll have to see how we are going to build that so that it is convenient for tech to pull on and off stage and so that the actors don’t get soaking wet.”

“South Pacific” will open March 23 and play through March 24.

By Kyle Townsend