NOTRE DAME GRADUATE TALKS OF BROADWAY MUSICAL ROLE

A Cape Girardeau man who achieved his goal of being cast in a Broadway musical returned to his high school alma mater Thursday and talked to students in a Notre Dame High School drama class.

Roger Seyer -- a self-described singer-actor -- graduated from Notre Dame in 1985. After attending college at Southeast Missouri State University and graduating from Millikin University in Decatur, Ill., he bounced around the country for four years, appearing in musicals in Illinois, Kentucky and Florida.

After numerous auditions about a year ago, the producer of "Miss Saigon" hired Seyer to play an Asian soldier in the musical, a role involving not only acting, but also singing and dancing. He also serves as an understudy to the lead cast member.

That was 10 months ago and Seyer has earned his first vacation since accepting the role and returned to Cape Girardeau with his wife, Kari, to visit family including seven siblings and his parents, Joe and Frieda Seyer.

While in town, he also took time to discuss his role in the Broadway musical with 14 students in Notre Dame's drama class. He also discussed everything from cast member salaries to playing a softball game against another Broadway musical's cast which had Matthew Broderick as a designated hitter.

"I have achieved the goal I have set for myself," he told the students. "I'm kind of like, 'Hey, what to I do now?'"

Seyer said he wants to continue working with the "Miss Saigon" production for the next few years then consider roles with more predominance. But at age 29, he said he is too young to get many other roles.

"I still have a lot of networking to do, and you really have to be in the right place at the right time," he said. "It's a matter of getting people to notice you."

Seyer said a regular cast member makes about $1,000 a week on Broadway.

"I've heard of people making more than $5,000 a week," he said. "But compared to what they get for television or the movies, that's nothing."

Seyer also entertained students by singing the song from "Miss Saigon" that gained him his role, "Why God Why." He sang the song for producers during his audition, he said.

"I'm where I want to be right now," he said responding to student's question about how he kept his enthusiasm for eight shows a week. "I'm really fortunate to be doing what I'm doing. There are a lot of other actors out there who aren't."

"Miss Saigon" is set near the end of the Vietnam war when an American soldier at the end of his tour falls in love with a Vietnamese girl. The soldier and the girl are separated during the fall of Saigon and the soldier returns to the states where he marries an American woman.

Thanks to an Army buddy, the soldier discovers that his Vietnamese girlfriend gave birth to his child and he and his wife travel to Vietnam to meet them.

After meeting the soldier and his wife, the mother kills herself so the child can grow up in the United States with his father.

The musical has been performed on Broadway eight times a week since April 11, 1991.