'Kilroy' is still here

The Coeur d'Alene Charter Academy Panther Players will present "Kilroy Was Here," a patriotic, musical salute to the G.I. Joes and Jills of the 1940s, later this month

"This is our first production of a musical at the Charter Academy, and we are having a blast," said director Tracey Vaughan. "The play is very funny, and the music makes you want to get up and do the Jitterbug."

According to a press release, there won't be a dry eye in the house after the stirring "Together We Must Stand" and a tribute to all branches of the military.

Still, Kilroy is a comedy and the setting is a U.S.O. Club in Brooklyn in 1942. Ships leaving the nearby Navy yard are being sunk by enemy U-boats. Allied intelligence suspects the club is unknowingly harboring Axis spies.

Enter Private Joe Kilroy, a young soldier who draws a curious cartoon face everywhere he goes.

He's the only one who knows where the next Allied convoy will converge. The enemy agents are stopping at nothing to learn his secret. The action builds to an exciting finale during a wild radio broadcast.

The mystique of the Kilroy drawings still interests us today, and it is fun for a younger generation to visit the customs and language of the past," Vaughan said.

The score includes such hits as "Don't Say No To The U.S.O.," "Slap That Jukebox," "Jitterbug Saturday Night" and "Rat-a-tat-tat That Rivet," with classic Andrews Sisters style harmony.

The musical will be performed Oct. 25 and 26 at 7 p.m., and Oct. 27 at 2 and 7 p.m., at the Coeur d'Alene Charter Academy, 4904 N. Duncan Drive.

Tickets will be available only at the door, adults $7 and students/children $5.

"While most of the play is light-hearted, we are reminded of the sacrifices made by an entire generation both on the front lines and at home," Vaughan said. "In our current economic times, we could all take a lesson from the pages of history when folks in the states learned to 'Use it up, wear it out; make it do or do without.'"