Students at local high schools learned about World War II recently through a living history cabaret featuring songs such as “The Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company C” and actual letters from the era.War Bonds: Songs and Letters of World War II was performed for students at local high schools in November, thanks to the arts council’s Students Take pART in the ARTs program. The productions were sponsored by CT Communications, First Charter and The Independent Tribune.
Written and produced by EbzB Productions, the cabaret, featured actors and singers Serena Ebhardt and David zum Brunnen and musician Julie Florin.
The performance opened with President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s voice and his famous words about a “day that will live in infamy,” instantly transporting students to another era. There were serious moments: a soldier’s letter home about liberating a concentration camp, a woman at home talking about people eating horsemeat and grim statistics on the total number of people killed or wounded. There also were humorous segments: Ebhardt and zum Brunnen finding other loves in the audience as they sang “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree with Anyone Else But Me,” students joining in on the song “One Meatball” and Ebhardt’s hysterical depiction of actress Marlene Dietrich singing “Lili Marlene.”
Songs and reminiscences demonstrated to students how much World War II changed the world permanently with songs like “Rosie the Riveter” and letters from women whose roles had changed when their husbands went to war; the story of Dorie Miller, the first black American to win the Navy Cross; and a poignant letter about how Jim Crow laws prohibited black soldiers from being served in a restaurant that had even seated German prisoners of war.
To help them integrate the performance into the curriculum, teachers received a study guide and were invited to a workshop conducted by zum Brunnen.
The arts council plans to do a public performance of War Bonds next fall.