World premiere of “Rosie” illuminates the women of Willow Run
During World War Two, the women of the nation played an invaluable role in the defense of the nation. By now, most people should know the story of Rosie The Riveter, a line worker from then Willow Run plant in Ypsilanti, MI that manufactured B-24 Liberator bombers. She was the poster-personality to inspire women to work in the plants.
Wild Swan Theatre this week had its world premiere of musical Rosie the Riveter, and original story and music by Jeff Duncan (book) and Brian E. Buckner (music), to salute the women who toiled at home in jobs previously done by men who were doing the combat fighting in Europe, North Africa and the Pacific.
Created for upper elementary, middle-school, high-school and family audiences, Rosie’s book is based on interviews with a group of the original Rosies who are now in the 90s. The play, about an hour long, is a kind of review with original songs written by Buckner connected by a series of situations that the Rosie’s related to author Duncan. There is Bernice Summers (K Edmonds), a southern African-American wife who was a maid, and came North to work at Willow Run. She is countered by Liz Marie Calhoun (Aynsley Martindale), a white woman who came from the coal-mines of Kentucky and neither wants to work with Bernice, nor does she think her African-American co-worker should be allowed to donate blood to white soldiers.
And, of course, there are stories of love and tragedy. Many of the woman working on the lines had husbands, boyfriends, fiancées, and fathers serving overseas during the war. Kathryn Stillwell (Sarah Briggs) expects to use her college skills in a defense plant front-office, but winds up on the line and has a fiancee fighting in Europe. Donna Malone (Leah Fox) is a line leader who lives in Ypsilanti, has two kids and a husband fighting.
The set of Rosie is a simple affair, with a handful of props that look like they could be parts of planes. These work stations get moved around by the cast members for different scenes and songs. Props are limited, with cast members miming a lot of actions, such as handling a rivet gun. Wild Swan productions typically mime a lot for their young audiences, but in this case, I thought that the numbers and scenes might have been helped by having actual props and maybe some sound effects of the tools operating.
The actors often break the fourth wall to narrate their thoughts to the audience. In this way, the hour long script is working hard to deliver a story and homage to these amazing women, and to make sure the “lessons” and learning about the Rosies are getting across to the young audience the play is written for. In a longer show, the device might not work as well.
Brian E. Buckner (winner of the 2015 Wilde Award for music direction for his original score and performance for Wild Swan’s Ugly Duckling earlier this year), does extremely well with songs of consolation over a loved one killed in action and even the Jim Crow laws that Berenice left behind south of the Mason Dixon line. His original songs, overture score and transitional music keep the show in the right spirit and mood throughout.
The audience I attended the show with was made up of older grade schoolers, as well as some older patrons, some of whom were wearing veteran hats with their military units. The laughs from the young folks came on the laugh lines, and the applause was loud after songs and at the end from the kids. That’s a good sign for Wild Swan, which plans to tour the show next year, and possibly beyond, after its sold-out limted run this month.
Wild Swan’s Rosie is a tasty nugget of history about the part of The Greatest Generation that often gets overlooked. And as it is a chapter of history that touches the families of Michigan, who played a major part of the “Arsenal of Democracy” and the winning effort to defeat the Axis Powers in World War Two, it is a show the whole family should see when the opportunity comes along.