Musical recalls risks, sacrifices of USO troupes

Troops put themselves in harm's way during war.

So do entertainers.

Snohomish choreographer Eleanor Leight, who went with the Radio City Rockettes to Europe a month after World War II ended there in 1945, remembers dodging debris from bombed-out buildings in Munich, Germany.

She remembers going through the liberated Dachau death camp, watching the Nuremberg trials and traveling in trucks throughout Germany, France and Austria to entertain soldiers.

With 80 people in the show and 20 tons of scenery, it was Radio City Music Hall's contribution to the war effort.

"We always traveled by weapons carriers," Leight recalled. "We sat sideways and looked out the back door. They joked that all we saw was Europe through the back door."

They were all part of the USO (United Service Organizations), which for decades has provided "morale, welfare and recreation-type services to our men and women in uniform," as its mission states.

For the past 40 years, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport's mezzanine level has hosted the USO. Marcia McCraw, the chairwoman of the USO Puget Sound Area, said the airport facility and a USO facility at McChord Air Force Base served more than 100,000 military personnel and their families last year with free room and board, shower facilities, diapers and, at Sea-Tac, high-speed Internet service.

"We have our facility at Sea-Tac that's been open 24/7 since 1966, and you don't realize what an impact it makes," McCraw said.

This is the USO's 65th anniversary, and the Village Theatre mines that rich lore in "Girl of My Dreams," a musical set during World War II.

The show will open at 8 p.m. Friday at the Everett Performing Arts Center. Hugh Hastings, who plays Granddad, a veteran entertainer recalling his USO days, called the show "a very nostalgic piece ... reconstructing the whole feeling of the World War II era."

The characters in this USO troupe of eight include Phil, the bandleader, who has a heart murmur. There's also Ben, a tap dancer extraordinaire with flat feet. Both were classified 4-F — medically disqualified from military service — but still wanted to get in on the action.

The others:

• Effie, a sassy redhead with Eve Arden-style wisecracks that mask her real feelings.

• Liz and war hero Luke, fledgling film actors with heavy emotional baggage.

• Freddy, an engaging everyman who got transferred out of an Army motor pool after he used brake fluid in a general's oil change.

• Cindy, a naive woman in an interfaith love affair with Phil.

Composer Peter Ekstrom wrote lyrics with Steve Hayes and David DeBoy, and their witty words move the plot along as much as the spoken dialogue.

Under Steve Tomkins' directorial hand, the cast members reflect the duality of the characters' lives onstage and off. One of the most striking scenes in the musical takes place high in the sky, with the eight sitting against the side of a bomber. They're jostled, scared and strafed with anti-aircraft fire. But you wouldn't know it from their bravado, which they sing of in the witty, get-a-grip tune "Hunky Dory."

Set designer Carey Wong has included large black-and-white photos depicting thousands of troops — and the convents, hospitals and fields where makeshift performances occur.

Ekstrom's songs follow standard jazz forms, melodies, chord changes and rhythms of the era, including the syncopated "Coffee and Donuts," the couples ballad "We've Got a Lot in Common," the saucy "Pin-Up Girls" and Ben's dance number "Look at Me, I'm Really Swingin.' "

Hastings, Taryn Darr (who plays Liz and granddaughter Laurie) and most of the others in the cast have been a part of the show since 2001.

"We spent a lot of time fleshing out the characters and really honing up the story," director-choreographer Tomkins said.

"I think the one thing that [World War II] generation has taught — they defined the meaning of self-sacrifice. What charmed me about this show, it came from a different point of view — of the USO performers, a group not necessarily fighting but supporting."

Diane Wright: 425-745-7815 or dwright@seattletimes.com