Musical cabaret and WWII stories featured in free ‘1940s Canteen’ show in Scranton on Aug. 25
From a press release:
Travel back in time with “The 1940s Canteen,” a unique collaboration with a professional theater company, United Neighborhood Centers, seniors, and teens.
The first half of this show will consist of ensemble-created monologues based on World War II veterans’ experiences, as well as those of Scranton natives who were part of the Home Front in 1941 through 1945. The older active adults will also perform a number of songs from the ’40s as part of the piece.
After intermission, the REV Theatre Company will present its critically acclaimed show “The 1940s Cabaret,” direct from Philadelphia and Cape May. Based on the sensational song stylings and bestselling recordings of Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters, the cabaret features such enduring, endearing classics as “Bei Mir Bist Du Schon,” “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree,” “Mairzy Doats,” “Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive,” and “Rum and Coca-Cola,” among many more marvelous melodies.
A happy, heady hit parade of musical nostalgia aimed straight for the heart, four performers will recreate and recharge the marvelous harmonies, rhythms, dynamic songs, and choreography of the original singers. REV’s cabaret will share their exuberance with audiences who are familiar with these songs and performers while introducing this unique and irresistible musical experience to new audiences of all ages. Renew your romance with these terrific, toe-tapping, time-tripping tunes or fall in love with them for the very first time in West Scranton.
The performance, which is free and open to the public, will take place at the Oppenheim Center for the Arts (1044 Jackson St., Scranton) on Saturday, Aug. 25 at 6 p.m.
As part of REV and UNC’s commitment to Scranton community outreach, “The 1940s Canteen” will also be presented to residents of the Gino J. Merli Veterans’ Center in Scranton on Friday, Aug. 24 at 2 p.m.
This program is supported by the Lackawanna County Arts and Culture Community Project Grant program and PNC Bank.
“The 1940s Cabaret” was conceived, created, choreographed, and costumed by Rudy Caporaso.
The REV Theatre Company brings a fresh contemporary vision to existing dramatic works and company-created new pieces. Although telling the story is paramount, they interpret and transform the material they work with, changing and intensifying their vision using exploratory and developmental workshops.
REV’s creative process for both classical and new works constructs a world of juxtaposed components: classical text with interjected original writing (including text from other plays, as well as documentary material); music from varied time periods; intensely physical and choreographed staging; highly stylized production numbers; stark and stripped-down design; performances not only in theaters, but in urban parks and public spaces; site-specific pieces and nontraditional performance venues in New York, Philadelphia, Scranton, throughout Connecticut, and upstate New York; audience-immersive theatre experiences; and everyday objects and materials used in unusual ways and as surprising design elements.
REV’s educational outreach programs are an essential part of their mission. Their goal is to make live theatre accessible to everyone by appealing to a widely diverse audiences and by developing and creating cultural activity to enrich the lives of young people and families, particularly those who are underserved in the arts. They bring free professional productions geared towards family audiences and accompanying children’s workshops, particularly to low and middle income families, especially in undeserved communities, as they are committed to developing new theatre audiences.
REV Theatre Company productions challenge, provoke, energize and, above all, entertain audiences through the accessible, vivid, passionate worlds they create on stage.
United Neighborhood Centers of Northeastern Pennsylvania is one of the largest and longest operating nonprofit organizations in the region. The agency’s purpose is to meet the needs of local low-income families, seniors, and youth, while also empowering them to attain self-sufficiency.
See NEPA Scene’s photos of the REV Theatre Company’s 2015 production of William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” at the Scranton Cultural Center here.
