Lewis and Clark High School is taking an intimate theatrical look inside the Vietnam War.

The school’s theater department is staging the musical “Miss Saigon” starting next week.

More than 100 students are involved in the production, including making sets, costumes, working on lighting and sound, as well as the singing and dancing.

It’s an ambitious project, one that drama and stagecraft teacher Greg Pschirrer hopes will earn him a master’s degree. He’s been planning the production for three years.

“This show is incredibly hard,” said Pschirrer, who’s been attending Central Washington University during the summers for an intensive master’s program. CWU initially discouraged him from using “Miss Saigon” as his master’s project, suggesting it was too difficult for students to perform. He talked them into it, and says his students are proving that high schoolers can handle this huge performance.

The production is challenging since there are no spoken words. The story is told in nearly three hours of singing and dancing.

“Miss Saigon” covers deep themes, including drug use, prostitution, war, murder, suicide, casual sex and alcohol use. Young love and cultural differences also are confronted.

The story revolves around a young Marine, Chris, who is stationed in Saigon during the Vietnam War. He falls in love with a young prostitute named Kim. They become separated during the fall of Saigon, and Kim is left alone, pregnant with Chris’s son. It’s an updated version of the classic opera, “Madame Butterfly.”

“These are the exact same things you would find in ‘West Side Story’ or ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ ” Pschirrer said.

The characters the actors portray are around the same age as the students themselves. He feels many of the topics explored in “Miss Saigon” are relevant to the issues the students will probably face in coming years.

“Parent support has been incredible,” Pschirrer said.

He added that some of the raunchiness of the original Broadway production has been toned down to make the show PG-13. Most swear words have been taken out – there are still some, but the worst are gone – and the costumes have been toned down.

Pschirrer, who also teaches advance placement world history, said the play serves as a discussion piece for the students and helps them learn about the history of Vietnam and the war.

During some plays the department stages, the school has invited bus loads of elementary students to see abbreviated performances such as “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.” Not so for “Miss Saigon.” The subject matter is too serious for the little kids.

The play stars Zach Wymore, a junior, as Chris and Mia Yoshida, a senior, as Kim. The two said they aren’t too worried about the content but are excited to perform the play.

“It’s just beautiful,” said Yoshida, who has the Broadway-quality talent needed for the lead role.

Last year, Yoshida auditioned in Seattle and was called back to New York City for the final round of auditions in a nation-wide cast search for the rock musical “Spring Awakening,” which has won eight Tony Awards.

While he emphasizes “students in all the leading roles have worked really hard over the past four years and have matured into amazing performers, Pischirrer added that “Mia carries this show.”

“Once it begins, she leaves the stage only for about eight minutes in a two-and-a-half hour show. She has worked so hard and her performance will truly bring to light the meaning of ultimate sacrifice.”

LC students auditioned for “Miss Saigon” in November and held rehearsals for two weeks before winter break. January snowstorms closed school for a week and set the production back, but Pschirrer said the students got together on their own time to practice.

“The kids are doing an amazing job,” he said, noting that many leaders have emerged from the hard work.

Lewis and Clark’s drama program has won kudos from around the state. Last year’s production of “Grease” won honorable mention at the 5th Avenue Theatre High School Musical Awards, a competition involving schools with production budgets that dwarf funding for Spokane schools.

Pschirrer said the cost of staging “Miss Saigon” is higher than usual, around $20,000, including the cost of getting performance rights, costumes, props and sets. A device called OrchExtra has been rented to round out the performance of student musicians.