WWII-inspired musical production earns raves

June 15, 2022

The original stage production "I'll Be Seeing You" featured a cast of eight, a five-piece live band, video projections of vintage images, and classic tunes from the Great American Songbook.

I'll Be Seeing You charms crowd with top-notch performances, production

 

The Palladium audience was treated to a charming and moving display of talent Saturday at the premiere – and so far, the only scheduled performance – of a unique in-house stage production, I’ll Be Seeing You: Love Stories of World War II.

 

Written and directed by local theater veteran Ellen Kingston, the Center’s Director of Creative Events, the poignant musical revue was based on true stories collected from families who lived and loved through the war era. Crafted as an homage to the Greatest Generation, the production included a costumed cast of eight, a five-piece live band, video projections of vintage images, and tunes from the Great American Songbook – lots and lots of tunes. See the full list below.

 

The singers and dancers included Olivia Broadwater, Tiffany Gilliam, Jerry Hacker, Kathleen Hacker, Nathanael Hein, Joseph Perkins, Melissa Schott and Matthew Vire. Music Director David Duncan led a live combo with musicians Becky Chappell, Bill Myers, Rob West and Ginny Womack.

 

Local arts critic Tom Alvarez praised the production as “a first-class theatrical experience” featuring “some of the most exceptional local talent around … in one of the finest performing arts venues in Indiana, if not the region.” Read Alvarez’s full review here.

 

Here’s a full list of the songs performed and their creators. All reflected the period, and many of them were favorites of the families who shared their stories.

 

Prelude: Sentimental Journey (Ella Fitzgerald recording) – Les Brown, Ben Homer, Bud Green

 

Opening medley:

All the Things You Are – Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein II

Almost Like Being in Love – Frederick Loewe, Alan Jay Lerner

Blue Skies – Irving Berlin

Come Rain or Come Shine – Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer

Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree – Sam H. Stept, Lew Brown, Charles Tobias

From This Moment On – Cole Porter

It Had to Be You – Isham Jones, Gus Kahn

It’s De-Lovely – Cole Porter

Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall in Love) – Cole Porter

My Funny Valentine – Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart

My Romance – Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart

Some Enchanted Evening – Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II

The Way You Look Tonight – Jerome Kern, Dorothy Fields

When the Children Are Asleep – Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II

You Were Meant for Me – Nacio Herb Brown, Arthur Freed

 

Moonlight Serenade – Glenn Miller, Mitchell Parrish

You’ll Never Know – Harry Warren, Mac Gordon

Just One of Those Things – Cole Porter

Tennessee Waltz – Redd Stewart, Pee Wee King [Sam Cooke]

Nevertheless I’m in Love with You – Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby

Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive– Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer

Margie, I’m Always Thinking of You – Con Conrad, J. Russell Robinson

Bill – Jerome Kern, PG Wodehouse, Oscar Hammerstein II

The White Cliffs of Dover – Walter Kent, Nat Burton

Some Other Time – Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden, Adolph Green

They Can’t Take That Away From Me – George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin

You’re My Everything – Harry Warren, Mort Dixon, Joe Young

I Remember It Well – Frederick Loewe, Alan Jay Lerner

Till The End of Time – Buddy Kaye, Ted Mossman

The Girl Who Loves a Soldier – Noel Gay, Joseph Butler

Them There Eyes – Maceo Pinkard, William Tracy, Doris Tauber

Every Time We Say Goodbye – Cole Porter

My Country ’Tis of Thee – Henry Carey, Samuel Francis Smith

I’ll Be Seeing You – Sammy Fain, Irving Kahal

 

 

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