THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 25, 1995 TAG: 9508250672
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 105 lines
Lara Wells had been through many enchanted evenings. She wasn't ready for another until an Encore Theatre colleague, Elizabeth City artiste Mary Cherry, made her listen to something called ``A Grand Night for Singing.''
Wells was sold.
``It's so different,'' she said. ``The orchestrations and vocal arrangements are incredible - challenging to performers.''
She is now - cliche time - bubbling with enthusiasm.
Lucy Vaughan has been bubbling for some time, too, recalling her World War II years as a USO entertainer.
Coming up, at Dinner Theater at Angler's Cove in Bethel, is ``USO Camp Show,'' an original production she is directing and in which she appears.
A lot of it is autobiographical, based on Vaughan's adventures entertaining GIs overseas.
The songs are upbeat and tearjerk, World War II fun and inspiration.
Unfortunately, both productions are being offered at the same time.
Rodgers and Hammerstein's ``A Grand Night for Singing'' will be presented tonight and Saturday and Sept. 1 and 2.
``USO Camp Show'' can be seen tonight and Saturday and Sept. 1, 2, 8 and 9.
The wise theatergoer will try to see both.
The Encore Theatre is one of the first amateur groups to get hold of ``A Grand Night for Singing,'' which played Broadway last year.
``The rights just became available,'' Wells said. ``The books are brand new.''
The songs are old treasures from the 10 Broadway plays and one movie penned by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II.
The title comes from their lone screen venture, ``State Fair.''
The performers are stage veterans with impressive show business backgrounds - Wells, Cherry and Janet Scott, to name three.
As they rehearse, they hammer and saw, readying their new home, the 120-seat Main Street Stage in Elizabeth City, for its first production.
Home is the second floor of the Pasquotank Arts Council Gallery, a long climb for those old enough to remember some of the songs. Worry not - there will be someone to take your hand and help you up and down.
It should be worth the climb.
You will hear unusual versions of the usual - familiar Rodgers and Hammerstein songs in unfamiliar settings.
``We take some non-traditional approaches,'' Wells said. ``For instance, some songs that were sung by women will be sung by men.
``You'll recognize the music, if not the arrangements,'' Wells said. ``It makes you appreciate the songs even more. The melodies are still there.''
Thirty of them, matter of fact, representing every Rodgers-Hammerstein production - most familiar, a few not too well known.
There is no plot, but there is a thread which Wells romantically calls ``a journey through love - infatuation to discovery of love, to marriage, kids, how great love can be.''
Rodgers and Hammerstein covered it all.
Wave the flag, tap the feet, cry the tears.
``USO Camp Show,'' with permission from United Services Organization to use that name, will follow dinner at Angler's Cove.
Dinner for Vaughan, for six months during World War II, was often K- and C-rations as she went from base to base, military hospital to military hospital, entertaining GI Joes.
``Everything in our show actually happened,'' said Vaughan, tripling as producer, director and performer.
``I'm just doing two songs - ``Lili Marlene'' and ``Place Pigalle,'' she said.
Behind the scenes, she directs with a vengeance. This is her labor of love, her baby. She wants it right.
A cast of 14, offering 40 songs, is the key.
One of the songs, ``When the Lights Go On Again All Over the World,'' includes the names of some of the best-known battles of the war.
``USO Camp Show'' also pays tribute to the American and British performers who, like Vaughan, spent a great deal of time entertaining the troops.
The names alone are memorable - Sir Harry Lauder, Vera Lynn, Bea Lillie, Gracie Fields and the Andrews Sisters.
``Oh, my. If you lived during this time - so much emotion. I get choked up,'' said Vaughan, who met Bob Hope, Bea Lillie, Ingrid Bergman ``and all the Dead End Kids.''
Overseas, she played hospitals, sometimes to men who were dying. She said the most popular song was ``Embraceable You,'' a lovely back-home ``I-miss-her-so-much'' piece. ILLUSTRATION: THEATER PREVIEW 1
WHAT:``A Grand Night for Singing'' - the music of Rodgers and
Hammerstein.
WHEN: 8 p.m. tonight and Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday, and 8 p.m.
Sept. 1 and 2.
WHERE: Main Street Stage, 609 East Main St., Elizabeth City.
Tickets are $7. Student and senior citizen tickets cost $5. For
information and reservations call 335-1359. Tickets are available at
Mailboxes Etc. and Mulligan's Waterfront Grille.
THEATER PREVIEW 2
WHAT: Dinner Theater at Angler's Cove presents ``USO Camp
Show.''
WHEN: Buffet dinner at 6:30 p.m., curtain at 8 tonight and
Saturday and Sept. 1, 2, 8 and 9.
WHERE: Angler's Cove Seafood Restaurant, Bethel, N.C.
Tickets are $17.50. For reservations call 426-9295 during the day
or 426-7294 at night.
by CNB