Encore gets audience ‘In the Mood’

This Monday, Hays was graced with the presence of a big band called String of Pearls, and it performed its show “In the Mood,” which was comprised of popular music from the 1940s.

All in all, it was a pretty good show, though it wasn’t really aimed at the broadest of audiences.

Christina Caplan and Paul Saylor perform a swing dance at the performance of “In the Mood.”

I had trouble getting into it, to be honest, but that’s probably because my parents weren’t even born in the 1940s, so that’s a bit of a big time gap for me to breach.

However, the musicians were skilled at their craft, and they enjoyed playing their music.

Actually, during one of the songs, one of the singers invited the audience to sing along.

A sizeable portion of the audience actually joined in, and I’m sure even more people knew the words. The whole show was definitely a blast from the past.

During the occasional speaking portions, the singers really stayed in character as someone from the ’40s.

For some people, including myself, it wasn’t really our personal past, but it was still definitely interesting to see.

One of the parts I thought was powerful was the way the two acts were divided.

The first act was set before America’s entry into World War II, and it showed through the songs.

The aforementioned songs were fairly happy, usually upbeat and rather carefree, which reflected the aura of the times: Roosevelt was making sure people had jobs, and there was a lot of hope in the air.

However, in the second act’s era, Pearl Harbor had been attacked and America entered World War II.

Unsurprisingly enough, the songs in this portion also reflected the times: songs that were patriotic and inspiring and songs that lamented the absence of the young men gone off to war in faraway places.

These songs were the songs of that generation. It was nice being there to witness that these songs have not been forgotten.

The band and the singers did a good job in conveying the sense of the era they were imitating. Of course, to me it did seem a bit dated.

However, this doesn’t degrade the quality of the performance that was put on by the band.

They played well, had a good time and provided a good experience for a lot of people.

There’s not a whole lot more you can ask of entertainment.