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A wonderful cabaret-style production featuring songs from the World War II era is coming to the Davis Theatre in Concord on Saturday, November 14, at 8 p.m.  The theatre operated by the Cabarrus Arts Council is located at 65 Union Street South in Cabarrus County’s historic courthouse.

War Bonds:  Songs and Letters of World War II is a musical journey through the war that redefined the world featuring songs, drama, dance and multi-media images.  The performance is part of the On Stage at the Davis series.  Bank of the Carolinas is a gold sponsor of the 2009-2010 series.

“War Bonds is a well crafted work by two of the best in the business,” said Jane Lonon of the Ashe County Arts Council which has presented the show in its theatre.  “It leaves audiences with smiles and tears.”

The living history cabaret is interspersed with personal letters from the war front and headline news from the era.  It recalls a time when Rosie the Riveter discovered she could take care of herself; when African-Americans, who were segregated at home, integrated abroad to become war heroes; and when a man’s only wish was to be home for Christmas.

Twenty-two songs from the 1940s lift the mood, even as the atrocities of war are described.  You don’t have to have lived through World War II to appreciate the songs, which include Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree, Rosie the Riveter, One Meatball, White Christmas, I’ll Be Home for Christmas and As Time Goes By. 

War Bonds is performed by award-winning artists Serena Ebhardt and David zum Brunnen accompanied by a full band.  Ebhardt’s professional theatre career began at age 6 and has included television, film, commercial and voice-over work.  She was in the American Off Broadway premiere of Winding the Ball, performed in a national tour of Anne Frank; toured Canada in Nunsense and has been on regional theatre stages in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Chicago and New York.  zum Brunnen has managed several theatres and appeared in the American premiere of Winding the Ball in New York, Nicholas Nickleby and You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown in Canada and on national tours of Elliot Engels’ The Night Before Christmas Carol and The Tender Nights of F. Scott Fitzgerald.

If War Bonds sounds familiar, it may be because you saw it on North Carolina public television as a companion to Ken Burn’s epic documentary, The War. 

Tickets are $35 and available at the Davis Theatre box office, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Monday-Friday, 704-920-2753 or online at www.CabarrusArtsCouncil.org.

Filed under: Davis Theatre, On Stage at the Davis by admin