Playwright: book, music and lyrics by Leo Schwartz At: Pride Films and Plays at Profiles Main Stage, 4139 N. Broadway. Tickets: 773-773-549-1915; www.pridefilmsandplays.com; $20-$25. Runs through: April 21
Subsequent generations relying on pop-culture images for their view of history can be forgiven erroneous impressions of World War II as a giddy carnival of swing-dancing GI Joes and Riveting Rosies. The archival panorama of America-at-war also includes courageous wives and mothers struggling at home bereft of their beloved menfolk, as well as idealized glimpses of the latter's heroism in the field, with an emphasis on the phenomenon of socially diverse citizens putting aside their differences to unite in a common goal. Such was the Hollywood version of the "Good War"its complexities left to another time and other narrators.
Composer Leo Schwartz claims to have based his tale of homos-in-uniform circa 1943 on material collected from veteran Jon Phillips, but despite the bitterness you might associate with authentic first-person accounts of a far less tolerant age than our own, Under a Rainbow Flag emerges as an unabashedly sentimental distillation of period propaganda as rosy-eyed as any Tinseltown quickie.
Well, so what if it does? War means death, and wherever you find young people struck down untimely, you will find romance. It's Phillips' story, and if he and Schwartz want to tell it as a fantasy of Andrews Sisters harmonies, hankie-twisting widows-in-trousers and old-school swish, its faithful adherence to its chosen genre makes it easy for us to suspend our disbelief. It's not all happy endings, after allthe archetypal characters who undergo self-discovery as a result of their turbulent times suffer loss and compromise, some finishing contented and others regretful.
Schwartz delivers a score steeped in nostalgic riffs and rhythmswe can hear echoes of Hope & Crosby duets in patter songs like "Can't Run Away From Gay" and "The Army's Handing Out Medals"along with flowery ballads for every occasion (listen for the slowed march-tempo and descending bass on the optimistic "One Day In His Arms"). David Zak directs a 10-member cast that sings and hoofs with oodles of energy and enthusiasm to warm the chilly Main Stage space, while the four-piece orchestra led by Robert Ollis makes the most of the room's multi-level architecture to achieve a comfortable acoustical balance.
In Evan Linder's Bear Suit of Happiness, set in this same era, a group of gay soldiers are ordered to put on a show for the troops. In the "impossibly hospitable world" they can only imagine, Under A Rainbow Flag would be that show.