| The 2005 U.S. Army Soldier Show will unveil "Operation America Cares," a 90-minute song and dance production, at the Fort McCoy Rumpel Fitness Center, building 1122, Wednesday, July 27 and Thursday, July 28. The 6 p.m. performances are free and open to the public on a first-come, first-served seating basis.
Bob Baldwin, the Fort McCoy Soldier Show point of contact, said the Rumpel Fitness Center will have several amenities, including a new stage, to help attendees enjoy the show.
"The new stage is about a foot higher than the old one so that should make for better overall viewing of the performances," Baldwin said.
Video screens from the Training Support Section will be in place to help audience members follow the performance and air conditioners from Regional Training Site-Medical will be used inside the facility for customer comfort. Better Opportunities for Single Soldiers (BOSS) personnel will sell refreshments, said Mike Napsey, BOSS program adviser.
The MTV-style Soldier Show showcases the talent of active-duty Soldiers who were chosen by audition. The show builds on the theme of last year's show "Heart of a Soldier" that honored deployed Soldiers and expresses the importance of giving deployed Soldiers a touch of home, said Soldier Show Director Victor
Hurtado.
"The message of the show is that it doesn't matter how tough we are and it doesn't matter how fit to fight we are, Soldiers are still human and longing for the familiar and America's affection," Hurtado said.
The cast and crew will attempt to bring his vision to life with musical genres of rhythm and blues, new rock, country, gospel, eclectic new wave/new age, patriotic and newly arranged movie themes.
Calling the show "our gift to the American Soldier," Hurtado stresses his desire to leave audiences with a sense of newfound knowledge.
"It's not just about singing and dancing; it's about each audience member getting something out of it -- being entertained, being moved, being inspired," he said. "We want to give them something to think about until next year
-- lift their spirits and grow their minds."
The show will focus on how Soldiers deal with the stresses of war and long deployments, Hurtado said. In one scene, a crate stuffed with recreation kits arrives from the Army's Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) headquarters.
"The show is really going to focus on how we take 'home' to the deployed Soldiers," said Hurtado, who performed in the Soldier Show from 1986 through '89 while on active duty.
While DVDs and CDs can help Soldiers combat stress, nothing boosts morale quite like personal contact from home, Hurtado said. The reinforcing feeling that everything is OK often makes a world of difference.
"We want to recognize that they're over there protecting us," said executive producer Joey Beebe, a former Soldier Show performer in his fourth season on the production team. "To immortalize them in our show is our way of showing that we understand and recognize what they're doing for this country."
The cast of 19 includes 16 performers and three audio and lighting technicians.
Staff Sgt. Joanne Makay, a member of the 2003 cast, is the lone returning Soldier Show performer. During her last tour, she sang "Heat Wave, "Something Worth Leaving Behind," and a medley of Irving Berlin's tunes.
"She has quite a presence in the show," Hurtado said of Makay, who sang with Wynonna Judd at the 2003 U.S. Army Birthday Ball.
Berlin, a Russian immigrant named Israel Beilin who is best known for "White Christmas" and "God Bless America," wrote the first U.S. Army Soldier Show while on active duty at Camp Upton in Long Island, N.Y. Named "Yip Yip Yaphank," the show appeared on Broadway in 1918.
During World War II, Berlin created another Soldier show for Broadway: "This is the Army," which became a 1943 film featuring a military cast with stars Ronald Reagan and Joe Louis.
At the request of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, the show toured for three years, performing for troops stationed in Europe and the Pacific.
The Army National Guard is the lead sponsor and partner of the 2005 U.S. Army Soldier show. AT&T is the corporate sponsor. No federal endorsement is implied.
For more information about the Fort McCoy performances, visit the MWR Web site at
http://www.mccoymwr.com or call (608) 388-3200.
(Information in this story also comes from a news release from a story by the U.S. Army Community and Family Support Center.)
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