Swing!
OPENING: December 9th, 1999.
CLOSING: January 14th, 2001.
Seen: July 5th, 2000.
LOCATION: St. James Theatre
Well Theater Kids – I have good news and bad news.
The bad news is that I seem to have hit some major writer’s block. I’m hitting a wall with my scripts and since October, I’ve started quite a few pieces but have finished nothing. And in the past few weeks, I haven’t had the inspiration to work on any of my existing pieces.
The good news is that my inability to do anything creative means that I can focus on the blog a bit. So welcome back!
Sometimes I wonder if this is where the idea of the musical revue came from. Where there songwriters and playwrights who were just so frustrated with their own sudden inability to write something new?
Without doing any additional research on this, I don’t believe that’s true. But it makes for a nice story. If my memory serves – do not use this for research purposes, please – the musical revue predated what we now call the “traditional” Broadway musical. And then, once the traditional musical took off – the revue didn’t die. It evolved.
When I was eleven, my parents did the exact thing you do for a theater kid: You put them in theater camp. For the most part, I loved it. I was the oldest in the group, but it didn’t bother me. I got my performing kicks out and that’s all I cared about. Did it bother me that the other kids didn’t take performing as seriously as I did? A little bit. But that irritation paled in comparison to the joy I got performing and learning.
But the best part? We got to see a Broadway show at the end!
When we started the camp, we were told that we were going to see Footloose. Being the dutiful Theater Kid that I was turning into, I did the proper homework, which in this case involved purchasing the sound track and introducing myself to the world of Kevin Bacon. Even then – I was gearing up to be prepared for everything.
But then tragedy struck; Footloose was closing early and suddenly – before we were scheduled to go!
But our camp had promised a show and our parents had already paid for it, so a show we would see. And that, my dear Theatre Kids, is how I ended up seeing the musical revue Swing!
Swing! was mostly a true musical revue. There wasn’t a plot outside of the songs and the entire piece was meant to be a celebration of the swing genre. But it wasn’t a true revue – some of the songs were written by members of the cast. What made it a “non-true” revue was that there were some songs that written by members of the cast.
Headlining the show was a woman named Ann Hampton Calloway. I had no idea who she was. Now that I’m older, I can confidently say that it’s probably a good thing that I did not. She’s a cabaret singer and I’d be concerned if any eleven year old. What I didn’t know what that I was obsessed with her sister – Liz Calloway. And to my pre-teen brain, anyone who worked on the Anastasia film was cool beans – especially if you did the singing for Meg Ryan.
If only I had known, amirite?
Who I did recognize on the stage was Laura Benanti who is now a Broadway stalwart who my current inner circle adores. And I had already seen her as a nun in the Sound of Music. Was I excited to see her? Absolutely. Did I know she would become a fixture of the Broadway landscape? No, but I don’t think I would have expected anything different.
One of my most vivid memories of this show was getting to our seats. Most of the Broadway theaters are on this historical registry and the St James is no exception. Many of them cannot comply with ADA regulations because there is simply no place to install an elevator without a complete renovation. And in the case of the St James, an elevator would very welcome. Since we were a group of theater kids, we were naturally seated in the highest balcony. The stairs to that tier are numerous, narrow, and circular. We were kids and we were dizzy when we finally reached the top. I can only imagine how less abled individuals manage them.
Overall, we enjoyed the show. I only remember two of the numbers, neither of which Ms. Benanti was in. But was it a ground breaking piece of theater? Not really. It was nominated for six Tonys, two of which were for Best Featured Actress in a musical for both Ms. Hampton Calloway and Ms. Benanti. It also was in the running for Best Musical. Sadly, it took home no hardware.
In 2017, another swing musical called Bandstand hit Broadway. It was another revue/jukebox musical, but this one had more of a plotline. It starred Laura Osnes and Corey Cott. My immediate thought when remembering this one was “Bandstand” lasted longer. But upon checking…it didn’t. In fact, it actually flopped hard, running only five months. This entry isn’t about Bandstand and I didn’t see it, but it made me wonder why Bandstand only ran five months while Swing! lasted thirteen. I have two theories about this – the obvious one is that Hamilton was still in it’s absolute hey day, having opened less than two years previously. The other theory is that the swing genre just wasn’t as popular at that moment in time. Will it come back in popularity? I have no doubt, as preferences in music, like denim cuts, always come back into style eventually.
Swing! may be a forgotten piece of theater that everyone except those of us who saw it remember, but I’m glad I got to see it. It opened me up at a young age to different types of theater. It’s no Footloose (RIP), but Footloose is consistently done in schools and community groups, whereas Swing! is not. And in the end – I can say that I was one of the few people who saw it.
CAST: REPLACEMENT
CONFIRMED UNDERSTUDIES:
Erin East for Maria Torres
THE COMPANY: Ann Hampton Calloway, Everett Bradley, Laura Benanti, Michael Gruber, Mark Arvin, Kristine Bendul, Carol Bentley, Jen Bounds, Caitlin Carter, Geralyn Del Corso, Beverly Durand, Erin East, Stacia Fernandez, Ryan Francois, Kevin Michael Gaudin, Edgar Godineaux, Aldrin Gonzalez, Lorin Latarro, Rod McCune, J.C. Montgomery, Holly Raye, Robert Royston, Carlos Sierra-Lopez, Dana Solimando, Jenny Thomas, Keith Lamelle Thomas, Maria Torres, Derek Williams, Casey McGill, and the Gotham City Gates.
Standby for Ann Hampton Calloway and Laura Benanti: Stacia Fernandez
Standby for Everett Bradley, Michael Gruber, and Casey McGill: J.C. Montgomery
Swings: Mark Arvin, Kristine Bendul, Erin East, Kevin Michael Gaudin, Lorin Latarro, Rod McCune, Holly Raye, and Derrick Williams
Brantley, Ben. “THEATER REVIEW; Hit the Hot Notes and Watch ‘Em Bounce”. New York Times, December 10, 1999. https://www.nytimes.com/1999/12/10/movies/theater-review-hit-the-hot-notes-and-watch-em-bounce.html?searchResultPosition=6
Pogrebin, Robin. “INVESTING; Broadway Angels, With Smaller Wings.” New York Times, December 26th, 1999. https://www.nytimes.com/1999/12/26/business/investing-broadway-angels-with-smaller-wings.html?searchResultPosition=23
