©Wichita Eagle
May 28, 2000



A Glimpse Through New York City's Stage Door
From 'Contact' to 'Kiss Me, Kate',
Theater is Still a Strong Tradition
in the Big Apple
By Diane Lewis

The following are excerpts from the article:

The first time I went to New York City as a college student, I saw my first Broadway play. In subsequent visits, no trip there is satisfactory unless I take in a few stage productions. Earlier this month, a week after the Tony nominations were announced, I went to New York ostensibly on a holiday, but managed to take in six theatrical productions.

My traveling companions and I bought some tickets before we left home, but secured others after we arrived. Tickets are not difficult to get (with the exception of The Lion King, and Sam Shepard's True West which closes soon.) These days, they're merely expensive. Top price for many shows is $80. Add a $5 or so service fee when you charge by phone, and that's not cheap. It's no wonder the lines are long at the discount TKTS booths.

Among the shows I saw, Kiss Me, Kate is up for 12 Tonys, the most of any show this year; Contact, 7; and Swing!, 6.

Here are brief reports on the shows I saw:

Swing!

Original concept by Paul Kelly; production supervised by Jerry Zaks; choreographed and directed by Lynne Taylor-Corbett.

Song-and-dance revues don't often generate much excitement. Some musical theatergoers feel cheated if they don't get a story, along with a tune they can hum on the way out.

Then a show like Swing! comes along. It taps into the revival of swing dancing and features the music of the great era of swing, the 1930s and '40s - Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey, with a few ballads thrown in for good measure. There are also a few numbers written by cast members Everett Bradley, Ann Hampton Calloway and Casey MacGill.

Who doesn't snap to pieces like "Caravan," "It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing," "Stompin' at the Savoy," "A String of Pearls" or "In the Mood"?

Swing!, with its 30 song-and-dance numbers, is a fast-paced two-hour show. In the spirit of the music, the joint fairly jumps with Lynne Taylor-C orbett's spirited choreography and a company that includes some swing dance title-holders. The band, which is on the stage, is made up of former members of the Blues Jumpers, Count Basie and Lionel Hampton bands.

The energy of the show captures the spirit of the swing era, and a segment that takes place at a World War II U.S.O. reflects some wartime feelings of fighting men and women and those they left back home.

Swing! marks the Broadway debut of singer/songwriter Calloway, who is best known in cabaret circles and for a few recordings. She's sensational, whether it's the hip "Bli-Blip" (for which she wrote some additional lyrics) or the quintessential WW II ballad, "I'll Be Seeing You."

Also notable is Laura Benati, whose rendition of "Skylark" took awhile to mellow out.

One of the featured performers in Swing! is Michael Gruber (terrific dancer), who is taking a two-week vacation from the Broadway show to return to Wichita to reprise the role of Don Lockwood in Music Theatre of Wichita's season finale, "Singin' in the Rain."

To a person, it's a dandy cast and very much a company show.


Back to the Swing! page