Celebrate America
With the excitement of big band and toe-tapping rhythm, Logan swings back half a century to the Copacabana in a glimpse of American history. The Celebrate America Show, an annual local production, offers a musical celebration to entertain and remember.
After a 25-year tradition of extravagant dinner dances, USU discontinued hosting these affairs because of a lack of funding. Refusing to let a local tradition fall between the cracks, members of the community arranged a production of what is now the Celebrate America Show.
Broadly based on the old Glenn Miller show, the production undertakes a Broadway-style performance with singing, dancing and scenery to match the look and feel of an American tradition.
Now in its sixth year of production, the Celebrate America Show has grown extensively in the community and has had offers to expand the annual event to other states. According to writer and director Brenda Anthony, the celebration has flourished since its humble beginnings as a “glorified road show,” now described as an elegant evening offering professional-level entertainment.
Anthony said the show follows an original theme each year, based off historical research and collaborative ideas from the community. In a musical review, the Celebrate America Show attempts to display the spirit and enthusiasm of significant eras in American history while simultaneously honoring veterans, current military, firefighters and law enforcement officers as the “Spirit of America.”
With the help of a 16-piece big band, it is this spirit that production members hope to share with the audience. This year’s largest focus will include popular tunes from the 1930s and ’40s displaying what Anthony said she envisions as a combination of the glamor of the Copacabana and the spirit of a military canteen.
In addition to the period’s music, the show attempts to recreate the look and entertainment base of the time, transforming the Taggart Student Center Ballroom into an old-fashioned dance hall, a glimpse of which can already be seen at the Ballroom’s entrance. The fine details from the atmosphere to authentic costuming are what cast members hope take audience members back in time.
The cast, composed of 12 singers and 15 dancers, have been rehearsing 16 hours a week since summer began to prepare the show for a live audience. The event’s planning is more of a continuous undertaking, however, beginning early in the year with auditions, scouting for the community’s best talent and searching for innovative ideas for the show’s design.
Jenete St. Clair, a student at USU and singer in this year’s production, says audience members can appreciate the entertainment of the evening regardless of their individual musical tastes. But beyond the entertainment value of the show, St. Clair enjoys the production’s distinct appeal – its focus on a deeper, unifying theme of patriotism.
“Every time we get together, we have patriotic moments to remember what the show is about,” she said. As Anthony emphasized, the show combines light-hearted entertainment with touching tributes of American heroes, remembering and acknowledging what they have done and continue to do for the country.
Like the canteen days, the production will include dancing after the show’s conclusion in which all audience members are invited to participate. Students interested in attending the Celebrate America Show can purchase tickets for the student performance for $6 at the TSC Ticket Office or the Spectrum. The student night, Sept. 6, will not include dinner like the other night’s performances. Seating will be available at 7:30 p.m. for preparation of the show’s opening at 8 p.m. For more information about the Celebrate America
Show, go to
www.celebrateamericashow.com.
-cynthiadiane@cc.usu.edu