It’ll be a first for MSU Theatre. One of many firsts this season, actually.

Come Oct. 1, opening night of “Miss Saigon” — which kicks off the 2008-09 season — a giant helicopter built by the department’s scene shop will land on the stage of the Ted Paul Theatre.

Oh, don’t act so surprised. By now, if you have any familiarity at all with Mr. Paul Hustoles and that crazy theater department of his, you won’t be at all surprised about the helicopter thing. This is the group that built a swimming pool on stage for “Metamorphosis,” after all. It’s the one that puts on four musicals per year — four more than a lot of theater groups who don’t want the hassle of such a large production.

Hustoles sure makes it all seem so easy. When you take your seat for “Miss Saigon,” the illusion will be complete. The scenes will be set. The actors will be prepared. The helicopter will, indeed, land.

But don’t be fooled by the seamlessness of the production. The department works hard to bring new and even classic shows they’ve done before to the stage each year. The work begins long before the students have their scripts and the scene designers picks up their hammers.

During the 2008-09 season, three of the six Mainstage productions will be premieres, including “Miss Saigon.” Three of the four Studio season shows also will be premieres. And it’s not just as simple as going to the catalog of plays and musicals and picking out their favorites.

Take last year, for example. The department had applied for the rights to put on “Chicago,” but didn’t get them. They’d even included the musical in their brochures, which went out to everyone on their mailing list. Then, after they replaced “Chicago” with “Thoroughly Modern Millie” on the roster, they got the rights to “Chicago” at the last minute.

Needless to say, they went through with “Millie,” having sold thousands of tickets already, and then applied for “Chicago” for this season. Guess what? Didn’t get it again. Hustoles also wanted to put on something old and fun like “West Side Story” this year but again was denied.

Why is it so tough to get shows sometimes? As Hustoles says, it all comes back to “the joys of American Capitalism.” Three or four “houses” control the rights and royalties for every musical ever written. Plays work the same way. These governing bodies make release decisions based on anything they’d like.

Most of the time it has to do with greed, Hustoles said: the possibility that the musical may be picked up for a national tour, or could possibly experience a revival on Broadway. The word “possibly” is key here, considering the likelihood is slim.

“We were shocked not to get the rights (to ‘West Side Story’),” Hustoles said. “They said ‘You could do ‘Les Mis Junior.’ We said ‘No.’”

The “junior” shows are highly edited versions of shows put on by high schools — well below MSU Theatre’s standards, of course. So it was back to the drawing board.

The rights for “Miss Saigon” had just become available to colleges and universities, so when The Man of the musical world suggested Hustoles apply for the rights to that, he was surprised but didn’t waste any time before asking for it. Incidentally, when Hustoles learned they had received the rights and told an acquaintance in the theater world MSU would be doing it, Hustoles was pretty proud of his response:

“He said, ‘Oh my God, are you going to do the helicopter ... of course you are, you’re MSU.’”

Thanks to MSU’s prolific season, it will be one of the first colleges to put on “Miss Saigon.” The same was true for “Cats” when they put it on last fall. The reason the department is one of the first is because not many do a lot of musicals, which gives them the chance to stage them before most.