MACHIAS — One of Washington County’s best kept secrets may be the Lubec-based Harmony Seekers.

For two hours Friday, the Rubicon Playhouse in Machias echoed with nostalgia as the Harmony Seekers sang, marched and performed skits in a program titled “Music From the War Years.” The two-part show hearkened back memories of World Wars I and II, but ended on a note for peace as the group sang John Lennon’s “Imagine” on a stage lit only by white candles.

Music Director Eleanor McKeary encouraged audience participation and easily won it. From the first lines of the show-opening “You’re in the Army Now”, through “Mademoiselle from Armentieres” and sentimental favorites like “My Buddy” and “Till We Meet Again,” the Harmony Seekers had the audience humming and singing along.

Many of the numbers were sung around staged skits. McKeary introduced the group’s youngest member, “B-B-B-Becky” Woodward as “K-K-K-Katie”, the girl in a World War I song of that name. Rebecca’s father — introduced by McKeary as “B-B-B-Basil” Woodward — sang the tune.

Other light-hearted skits were performed around “Just Like Washington Crossed the Delaware” — featuring Jim Bezanson as Washington and Dick Welch as Gen. Pershing — and “How Ya Gonna Keep ‘Em Down on the Farm?”

On a more serious note was “The Rose of No Man’s Land.” The song featured Glenna Cline as a nurse who cared for wounded and dying soldiers on the battlefields of World War I.

The first set closed with a rousing medley of George H. Cohan show tunes. The Harmony Seekers marched up the theater aisle, exiting through the front entrance and returned on stage from the back while singing “Give My Regards to Broadway”, “Over There”, “I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy” and “You’re a Grand Old Flag.”

The curtain raised on the second set to a stage decorated as a World War II barracks on the left and a living room from that same era on the right. The skits this time were woven around songs like “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition” and “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree.”

Dorothy Blanch sang a hilarious rendition of “They’re Either Too Young or Too Old,” describing the plight of American women and the “slim pickins” they were left with after the “cream of the crop” went off to war.

Rosalie Woodward’s portrayal of the flirtatious Lili Marlene in the song of that same name, had the audience laughing and clapping. While Lili’s charms were more than the men sharing the scene could handle, the audience couldn’t get enough. Woodward’s moment in the spotlight earned her an invitation from Rubicon Playhouse owner Wayne Mallar to audition for a future Rubicon Playhouse production.

The entire group — vocalists Pat Dyndiuk, Jim and Susan MacFeat, Frank and Eleanor McKeary, May Newman, Donna Vineyard, Beverly and Dick Welch, Bezanson, Blanch, Cline and the Woodwards along with piano accompanist Cindy Wallace — contributed to an evening of honest, home-spun family entertainment that pleased young and old alike.

McKeary, as the group’s music director, plans the group’s programs and arranges their music as much as a year in advance. Harmony Seekers members hail from the Lubec area, including Campobello Island, New Brunswick and Whiting.

The 52-seat Rubicon Playhouse is open year-round to local talent wishing to stage a live music show or play. Since its opening last winter in a third-floor loft above Howard’s Men’s Shop in Machias, the Rubicon Playhouse has earned a reputation as a cozy and intimate venue promoting and keeping community theater alive Down East.

For more information, contact Wayne Mallar at 255-3671.