ADAPTED & DIRECTED BY:
Tom Ridgely
BY:
Frank Loesser, Arnold Auerbach, José Limón, et al
ORIGINALLY CONCEIVED BY:
Special Services Division, Army Service Forces, 1944-45
STARRING:
Laura Osnes, Will Swenson
DATES
January 6-11, 2017
LOCATION
Intrepid Museum
DESCRIPTION
In the summer of 1944, engulfed by a war spread across three continents, the US Army made a foray into some unlikely territory: producing Broadway-style musicals. Created by a Who’s Who of 20th century American entertainers, including composer Frank Loesser and choreographer José Limón, these remarkable artifacts were designed for soldiers to put on in the field as a way to boost morale.
In partnership with the Intrepid Museum and Under the Radar Festival, Waterwell excavated and revived these lost shows as a collaboration between civilian artists and military veterans. Tuneful, subversive, and disarmingly witty, the Blueprint Specials offer a fresh and surprising look at the intersection of conflict and culture. This staging, in a converted hangar of the former USS Intrepid, was the Blueprints’ first since World War II and their first ever for the American public.