How Broadway's 'Bandstand' tapped modern-day vets to get post-war life right

In the search to pay proper tribute to the heart, soul and sound of post-war popular music, the team behind a new Broadway musical found another story to tell – one of veterans home from war, seeking new purpose and a new outlet for their passions.

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And just like they did with the songs and dances, they were going to sweat the details.

That’s why “ Bandstand,” which opens April 26, became the first Broadway production to seek and receive “6 Certified” status from Got Your 6, a nonprofit group that largely works with Hollywood productions to ensure fair portrayal of veterans on screen … or, in some cases, on stage.

“The more we were writing, the more we wanted to honor the truth,” said Richard Oberacker, who composed the music and co-wrote the musical’s “book,” or narrative structure. “You honor the given circumstance. That’s actor talk, but you’re truthful to what’s going on around you, and you have to honor that. …

“We started doing the research, and we realized we had a show on our hands that had the opportunity to tell the truth about what was going on at that time, with these vets.”

The veterans in question form a band and enter a radio contest. But the quest for instant 1940s celebrity – think “American Idol,” but with more fedoras – wasn’t just about the music.
“The whole idea was to put together this group, the band, who were wonderful, regular people who had different kinds of problems,” said producer Roger Horchow, a Korean War veteran whose Broadway production credits include revivals of “Annie” and “Gypsy.”

“And there was no kind of counseling. And I loved the idea that playing together, forgetting their problems – getting together and playing in a band brought its own kind of therapy.”

Horchow, 88, said that while working on the material brought back memories of his military service, he felt a stronger bond because of his father, who’d served in World War I and World War II. Another producer, Tom Smedes, recalled his dad returning from long days at work running the Veterans Affairs hospital in Albany, New York.

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“He was always fighting for veterans’ rights in the hospital,” Smedes said. “It’s something that means a lot to me personally, so I’m thrilled that we can produce this show, but also do it accurately.”