WINONA LAKE – Though it features the music of the legendary Cole Porter, “Something for the Boys” is rarely performed and little known, according to Grace College professor and theater director Mike Yocum. That may change at least locally after Grace students perform the musical this weekend at Rodeheaver Auditorium in Winona Lake. Show times are 7:30 p.m. Friday; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday; and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are available at the door for $7 for students and senior citizens, and $9 for adults. Along with the music by Porter, the book was written by Herbert and Dorothy Fields. Yocum said the Fields were a really famous team at the time the show came out in 1943. “It ran more than a year on Broadway and then went on a national tour,” Yocum said. There was a movie version, but it was changed so much, it was drastically different from the musical. One reason the show has hardly been performed or heard of was because 1943 also was the year that the well-received “Oklahoma!” premiered. Yocum said “Something for the Boys” kind of came at the end of an era of sketch writing for particular stars. “Boys” was written for Ethel Merman, who played the character of Blossom Hart. “The songs were written specifically for Ethel and her best keys,” Yocum said. With musicals like “Oklahoma!” everything started being integrated. Songs in the shows started being written to actually advance the story. “Boys” has been performed so infrequently, none of the usual publishing companies had the rights to it. Yocum said he had to go to the Cole Porter Trust for the script. They only provided one script, and Yocum had to make his own copies for every performer in the show. And then there was the sheet music, which had no orchestrations or is very difficult to read. A man in New York had borrowed the original orchestrations and never returned them before he died. His estate donated all his possessions to the Library of Congress, but not everything has gotten there yet, Yocum said. “I got five song orchestrations from the Library of Congress,” Yocum said. To recreate the missing orchestrations, IPFW reed teacher Farrell Vernon used recordings of the music to recreate the orchestrations. “We are one of the first companies in decades to do any of the original orchestrations,” Yocum stated. “For us to find and create orchestrations is exceptionally unusual.” Vernon worked with about three other people for several weeks to get them completed. As for the plot, Yocum said the show starts in New York. Three cousins are informed their Uncle Lou has died and left them his 4,000-acre estate in Texas. The cousins not only didn’t know Uncle Lou, they also didn’t know they had cousins. Once the cousins – Chiquita, Harry and Blossom Hart – meet, they instantly don’t get along. They get to the estate and find it a mess, Yocum explained. The estate is next to an Army base. Since the Army wives have no place to stay, the cousins think they can fix up the estate and let the wives stay there. However, Lt. Colonel Grubbs thinks the activities at the house are suspicious and he tries to close it down. On the side, Blossom and Rocky Fulton, a bandleader in the Army band, begin a romance, much to the displeasure of his fiance, Melanie. “The plot is basically for jokes and fun stuff,” Yocum said. For the Grace production, Bekah Noack plays Blossom. “I am a factory worker from Newark. I inherit a lot of land and house with my cousins. We get there and it’s just a dump. I meet Rocky, who I may or may not fall in love with,” Noack said, explaining her character. Knowing the role was written for Merman, Noack said playing it has been very different because Merman is so well known even today. “I’m more typically cast in ballads, lighter voice roles. She’s so brassy. It’s big shoes to fill,” Noack said. Madisson Heinl plays Chiquita, who she described as “really loud and exciting and I annoy Blossom out of her mind.” Chiquita also is a burlesque singer. “I’m really big and loud and I want people to know I’m in the room,” she continued. “It’s been really fun for us, that it’s good but really brand new. No one really knows it so we can make it how we want it,” Yocum indicated. “It’s hysterical. Just the little things the audience won’t all pick up because it’s so fast paced, but it’s hysterical,” Noack commented. Heinl noted, “It’s absolutely really funny. It’s quick paced and really caters to everyone’s tastes, from elementary school to senior citizens. It’s very exciting and audiences will leave humming the songs.” Some of the songs in the musical include the title song “Something for the Boys,” “See That You’re Born in Texas” and “I’m in Love with a Soldier Boy.” The cast includes 34 Grace College students and Warsaw Community High School senior Derek Grose as Roger Calhoun. Along with Heinl, Grose and Noack, the cast includes Jacob Blevins as Harry Hart; Macallister Seitz as Sgt. Rocky Fulton; Jonathon Roy as Laddie Green; Andrew Halferty as Lt. Col. Grubbs; Joey Hamby as Tobias Twitch; Jessie Sterner as Mary-Francis; Jessica Taylor as Melanie Walker; and Molly Jewell as Mrs. Grubbs. Soldiers include Austin Beer, Barrett Guess, John Hollister, Joshua Lingenhoel, Charlie Miller, Daniel Sponaugle and Kellam Venosky. Six women play Women’s Army Corps members, including Rachel Jensen, Tara Hamstra, Chloe Guess, Katie Kracher, Elisa Stump and Jessica Zeiger. Playing the roles of women, wives, etc. are Arielle Arn, Jennifer Burnham, Natalie Bryan, Lindsay Devereaux, Janessa Katzer, Janine McCormick, Hannah Ringler, Lauren Seitz, Kayla Chase Stephen and Alessa Smith.
