"George M!" will hit the stage of Shryock Auditorium at 7:30 pm. Friday. Tickets are $25 and $19 for children 15 and younger.

"George M!" is the all-singing all-dancing musical spectacular celebrating the life and work of George M. Cohan, who's been labeled one of the greatest song and dance men ever known.

Cohan's flamboyant patriotism and cocky self-assurance helped ensure his success in the theater, which is where he spent nearly his whole life. He even claimed to be enough of a patriot to be born on the Fourth of July, which he missed by just a day.

During his prolific career, Cohan composed more than 500 songs, wrote more than 40 musicals and plays, collaborated on several shows, starred in more than 35 plays and owned and operated three theaters on Broadway.

The musical follows Cohan's life from when he was a teenager working in his parents' vaudeville act, The Four Cohans, through his biggest career successes. The show then moves to the time when he was no longer writing and producing but instead starring in the Rodgers and Hart musical "I'd Rather Be Right!" in which he portrayed Franklin D. Roosevelt.

"George M!" opened on Broadway on April 10, 1968, running for more than 13 months and then heading for a wide-ranging national tour.

The show is an old-fashioned type of musical featuring big production numbers, tap dances and soft-shoe routines, not to mention some great classic songs. Cohan wouldn't have had it any other way than spectacular.

"George M!" is a show that audiences may enter already humming the tunes, including classic patriotic songs such as "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy" and "You're a Grand Old Flag" as well as "Over There," which earned Cohan the Congressional Medal of Honor during World War I.

His romantic Irish qualities show in songs such as "Mary," a love song to his daughter, "Nellie Kelly I Love You" and "Harrigan."

The show also includes Cohan's well-known "Give My Regards to Broadway," a tribute to his beloved "Great White Way.' Cohan loved Broadway so much that the year he died he supposedly took a taxi cab ride from 14th Street up to 42nd Street to watch scenes from "Yankee Doodle Dandy," taking a last look at the places he'd lived and worked his entire life.

The musical "George M!" takes the audience back to a time of unfailing pride and faith in the United States, when most citizens still believed in the American ideals. Don't miss this opportunity to look back at the life and times of George M. Cohan, a true patriot and prince of American theater.

Shryock box office hours are weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. To charge by phone call 453-2787.