Another Christmas of yesteryear

Published 3:00 pm Wednesday, December 8, 2004

Ovation! returns with another look at the war years – this time, it’s 1944.

A healthy dose of nostalgia is the tonic prescribed in Ovation! Musical Theater’s “Home for the Holidays 1944: A Musical Christmas Celebration.”

The show evokes the World War II era with a simulated radio program that provides a platform for musical fare from vintage seasonal favorites like “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas” to sing-along carols led by a chorus of sweet-voiced children coached into near-angelic demeanor.

The “radio show” is a sequel to last year’s production, in which a USO troupe is stranded on Bainbridge on Christmas Eve 1943 and forced to broadcast the show from there.

A year later, the troupe has returned to broadcast the Christmas show at the behest of no less than the Commander in Chief himself.

“Last year’s show was so much fun, and the audience responded to the story and the characters so positively that we decided to continue the story line,” Ovation co-founder and artistic director Ron Milton said.

While the era is fun to recall, the show also has a contemporary edge, as the musical salute to the World War II troops inevitably conjures the soldiers spending Christmas in Iraq – a fact not lost on the actors.

“It’s very poignant,” cast member Linda Owens said. “I’m not saying whether the war is right or wrong. I’m just noting that it’s 60 years later and we’re still sending the same message, still supporting fighting troops.”

The show features a salute to the armed forces; a marching chorus belts the fighting songs of the Navy, Army Air Force and Coast Guard.

“In many ways, we are facing the same situation now,” Milton said. “Regardless of personal feelings about the war today, the fact is there are Americans in harm’s way.

“We want to help our community honor our servicemen and women and their families. When our 1944 cast sends Christmas wishes to our troops overseas, we leap ahead 60 years and send the same message to our troops this Christmas, 2004.”

The cast of 60 is made up almost entirely of Bainbridge Island residents and includes a dozen families, with six father-daughter combinations.

“It’s a lot of fun,” said Kathy Doll, whose daughter, Emily, and husband Jon are in the show. “Plus you know where they are and what they’re doing. And at least we’re together.”

In fact, the Ovation ensemble begins to resemble an oversize family, and there are now – several seasons into the enterprise – recognizable Ovation “regulars,” like Tim Sell and Nita Burks.

Actors range in on-stage experience, from local a cappella group SoundWave, whose close harmonies seem tailor-made for numbers like Irving Kahal and Sammy Fain’s “I’ll Be Seeing You” to Blakely fourth-grader Maddy Figueroa, who makes a musical stage debut in the chorus.

And various combinations of vocalists ham it up for commercial jingles that lure listeners to “trust your car to the man who wears the star” and to remember that “nothin’ says lovin’ like something from the oven – and Pillsbury says it best.”

The children are given prominent roles, leading the audience in sing-along carols and pegging the melody line below Lapid-Munter’s descant in a heart-melting rendition of “Jesu Bambino.”

“The children’s chorus reflects the fact that we wanted to incorporate the children in as important a role as everyone else,” Lapid-Munter said. “A lot of the time people think a children’s chorus is secondary. “

As 60 people move around the small LGI stage, the potential for disaster is truly mind-boggling. But just as real-life radio eschews dead air, Milton orchestrates the actors to avoid onstage collisions and awkward pauses.

“We do run a tight ship and we except that of our cast,” Lapid-Munter said, “and they do step up to the plate.”

Now, Ovation is stepping up to the plate with a commitment to an annual Christmas show that the group hopes will become a Bainbridge tradition. There is enough good music to sustain many shows to come, organizers believe.

“We’d love to do a ’60s and a ’70s show, Lapid-Munter said. “And of course, the ’50’s would be fun.”

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Holiday cheer

Ovation! Musical Theatre Bainbridge stages an original production, “Home for the Holidays 1944: A Musical Christmas Celebration.” The show plays at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 9-11 at the Bainbridge High School LGI room, with a 3 p.m. matinee Dec. 12. Tickets are $15 for adults, $12 for seniors/veterans and active military and $9 for children 12 and under, available at Vern’s Winslow Drug; by calling 842-0472; or online at www.ovationmtb.com. For more information, call 842-0472 or email info@ovationmtb.com.