BY HANNAH GOLDFINGER
HGOLDFINGER@OPELIKAOBSERVER.COM
Pictured above, a scene from “We’ll Meet Again” during its August 2022 performance at the Opelika Center of Performing Arts. The show will be on tour in Alabama and Georgia starting later this month.
OPELIKA —
The Opelika performance sensation — “We’ll Meet Again” — is going on tour.
The show is a production on the life of Henry Stern — the man who as a child escaped from German occupation with his family into Opelika.
“In 1937, then 5-year-old Heinz Stern and his family escaped Westheim, Germany, under Nazi occupation,” said a synopsis in a press release about the show. “They were welcomed with open arms by the small town of Opelika, Alabama, where Stern’s family found love and acceptance. However, war left missing pieces for Henry Stern, as he became known, and for more than 60 years, he continued to search the United States for other family members who survived the Holocaust.”
The show was performed in Opelika, and at the time there were no plans in place for a tour.
“The entire situation is overwhelming,” said Henry’s son, J Stern. “I remember back to the day that Jim Harris approached dad with this idea. At the time, we had no idea that it would progress into what it is becoming.”
Opelika native Kate Larkin attended one of those shows, bringing with her Auburn Men’s Basketball head coach Bruce Pearl.
Bruce and his wife fell in love with the show and asked where else it would be on tour, Larkin said.
Upon learning that the show was a one-off, Bruce decided more people needed to see it and the tour was born.
“We want as many people to experience this production as possible, so that others can laugh and cry and be moved and inspired by the music, the story and the dancing – just like Brandy and I were,” Bruce said.
Ginger Stern, Henry’s daughter, echoed those sentiments.
“Ever since the first table read back in 2017 at the Barter Theater we hoped more people would be able to see the story,” she said. “… I hope as many people can see the play. I know Dad would be tickled that in every city on this tour, school students will be able to see the show. Dad visited different schools in the area and shared his story.”
“We’ll Meet Again” will kick off its tour on Aug. 30 at the Jay and Susie Gogue Performing Arts Center.
“Dad was a huge Auburn fan, we had season tickets to AU basketball for years,” Ginger said. “I know he would be pleased the musical is being performed at the Gouge.”
From there, it will travel around the state and into Georgia.
“Once Kate Larkin brought Coach Bruce and Brandy Pearl to the Opelika performance, I hoped something like this would happen” Ginger said. “They met Jim Harris, the playwright, and Rick Rose, the director/producer, and the wheels were in motion.”
The show will perform in Opelika again too, before the tour.
It will be at the Opelika Center for Performing Arts on Aug. 28.
Ticket information can be found here for that show: www.eastalabamaarts.org/tickets.
The show is meant to inspire hope, J said.
“It is my hope that people in Alabama (and beyond) understand the story, and all of the implications of it,” he said. “This is an important story for needs to be told.”
Ginger highlighted the history behind it.
“The holocaust was real, and we can never let happen again,” Ginger said. “Plus [I want people to know] how much Dad loved Opelika and this country.”
Tickets for the Gogue shows on Aug. 30 and Aug. 31 can be found here: www.goguecenter.auburn.edu/we-ll-meet-again/.