Sentimental Journey: A WWII Music Review will be the second show of the 2022 season at Highlands Playhouse.
The Mountain Theater Company at the Highlands Playhouse is saying “farewell” to the 1960s and Jersey Boys and traveling back in time to the 1940s with the second show of the season, “Sentimental Journey: A WWII Music Revue.”
The show pays tribute to the power of music during World War Two and will hold its opening performance on Aug. 12 at 7:30 p.m. and will run until Sept. 4.
“Specifically, [it’s about] the music that helped America and Great Britain really survive the war during one of the hardest parts,” director Scott Daniel said. “It was music that brought people together, and I thought that it fits really well within our season this year because our season is all about bringing people together and sharing gifts and collaboration. And so this show was a perfect example of that. And it features music from that popular era both here in the United States and also in the United Kingdom.”
The show will have a run time of 90 minutes with a 15 minute intermission in between the two, 45-minute acts. Attendees can expect to hear over 40 classic hits from the 1940s, including songs from the Andrews Sisters, It Had to Be You and the title track, Sentimental Journey, all the while paying homage to the legendary USO shows of World War Two.
“We feature some Andrews Sisters songs, like Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy and Rum and Coca Cola, and then there are also just classic patriotic songs,” Daniel said. “We really end the show with the cast in military uniforms from the period and it’s red, white and blue and very beautifully patriotic. And so there was a nice opportunity for all the servicemen and women who are currently active or non active service people to stand and be appreciated within the show. So there’s a nice little patriotic section at the end as well.”
This week will mark the show’s second week of rehearsals and, according to Daniel, the audience is not prepared for the vast array of talent that will be displayed by the cast. The cast will also feature three members who the audience may recognize from “Jersey Boys,” Brandon Leporati, Erin Leigh Knowles, and Cyle Ivey.
“We’re only for days in and we’ve learned just about more than half of the first act of the show, and we have another two weeks before we even open and the audience is just not ready for what they’re about to see,” Daniel said. “They’ve never seen dance like this on this stage. These are professional, very well experienced competitive ballroom, and swing and Latin dancers that are just going to truly blow your mind. It’s amazing.”
The theater’s production of “Jersey Boys” experienced a completely sold out run, selling 3,739 tickets and running for 22 shows. This was a first time ever event for the theater company, who has never had a run longer than 17 shows.
“The Playhouse has only ever had I think, at most, four or five sold out performances in a run,” Daniel said. “We’ve never had this many shows before and our organization has never presented more than 17 performances of any show. So, we increased an extra week longer than we have before and people still attended which is inspiring for sure. Absolutely motivating.”
Daniel said that the theater is hopeful for a similar turnout for not only “Sentimental Journey,” but the next two shows to come in the company’s 2022 season.
“We’ll say the numbers are already positive. We have already sold more tickets than our second show from last year in 2019. We have actually sold more tickets before even opening “Sentimental Journey” than we did for “Jersey Boys,” which is very impressive.
“We’ve already sold 1100 tickets for the show and we’re only in our fourth day of rehearsal. So it is on a very strong path to be quite successful. So if we can keep that train going through our incredible fall and winter offerings too, we will have a very good year we can all be quite proud of.”
Tickets for “Sentimental Journey” and the rest of the theater’s shows for the season are currently on sale at www.mountaintheatre.com. Daniel encourages anyone who wants to see one of the company’s shows purchase their tickets as early as possible to ensure they can get a seat.
“Tickets are on sale for our entire season,” Daniel said. “And because tickets are selling so quickly, we’re encouraging people now, if you want to see our Christmas show, and you know the date you can come, get some [tickets] because we can’t guarantee that there’s going to be a seat available for you when you know. We don’t want people to be in the same situation we were in with Jersey Boys. We had a waiting list of over 100 people and our last week of that show, we had at minimum a dozen standing on the patio hoping they could get in. That would be a great place for us to be with “Sentimental Journey,” and really any of our shows this season. We want, of course, everyone to see it, but we like being hard to get into. I think that’s a good place for us to be.”