Fan's Review
by Jennifer A. Brown
Thanks, Jen, for the contribution!


Simply put, the show was fabulous! It was so exciting and different, it is little wonder why Michael is so enthused about this project! The show was inventive and different - there were old songs done in new styles, added lyrics as well as new songs written by the show's performers. There were many styles of music and swing dance, from the Lindy (East Coast), West Coast, Latin and country, to name a few. There was never a dull moment, and each time, the show went by too fast!

The curtain rose (which was a sort of burnt orange color with white outlines of instruments) – the stage was dark. Casey MacGill, wearing a purple, blue and fuscia striped zoot suit, is on stage alone with a single spotlight. The first song of the show, "It Don’t Mean a Thing" (If It Ain’t Got that Swing), starts out slowly, he is singing only to his ukulele. Then the lights came on, the band joined in, and from that moment on, the joint was jumpin’! OK, I know that sounds corny, but believe me, the energy of this show was incredible! As soon as the swing dancers came out, the crowd was shouting and cheering along – it was amazing!

The next number was a medley of three songs, "Airmail Special / Jersey Bounce / Opus One". The company performed more fantastic swing dancing during this song. This was followed by "Jumpin’ at the Woodside" by Count Basie, featuring swing dance champions (and husband and wife), Ryan Francois and Jenny Thomas.

Next, Ann Hampton Callaway entered the stage wearing a gray/silver pantsuit. She is so beautiful and has such an incredible stage presence. She performed a song entitled "Bounce Me Brother" (With a Solid Four). Her voice was incredible, so smooth and jazzy, and the spirit with which she performed was electrifying!

The swing dancers left the stage, and the next number (made up of two songs) started out humorously – the first song, called "Two and Four" was written by Ann Hampton Callaway. It was sung by Laura Benanti - she is one of the four lead vocalists, along with Ann Hampton Callaway, Everett Bradley and Michael. She was dressed in a uniform similar to that of a WAC, and the song was about how she wanted to swing with rhythm like the other dancers (which she so comically could not do!). At a subsequent performance, she wore a blue silky dress, which she pulled apart to reveal a more - well, revealing! - dress! Casey MacGill joined in the song, teaching her how to get some rhythm. She picked it up, and performed the next number, "Hit Me With a Hot Note" and "Watch Me Bounce". During the song, she was transformed from being clunky and awkward!

After that, the moment I had been waiting for arrived, when Michael made his entrance to a song written by Casey MacGill called "Rhythm". Michael’s entrance was brief, but spectacular – he was wearing a black shirt (it was a little shimmery) and black leather pants. He entered the stage dancing with this tremendous energy, and did two back flips! There was one or two parts where Michael and the rest of the cast danced across the stage from one side of the other in a line, so make sure to pay attention at all times! The number flew by (as did the whole show!).

The next number marked the entrance of Everett Bradley, who was also terrific and an extremely versatile performer. He was wearing a business suit, and at the beginning of the number, one of the dancers removed his suit jacket for him. This number was comprised of two songs, both co-written by Mr. Bradley, "Throw That Girl Around" and "Show Me What You Got". The company (including Michael) danced during this number, but primarily featured two sets of swing dance partners, performing two styles of swing – West Coast and Latin. At that point in the number, the rest of the cast (including Michael to the left) made a semi-circle and sang back-up vocals while the two sets of dancers alternated their routines. During the song, Everett Bradley was on the right, singing and playing conga drums and maracas. Michael was on the left, watching the dancers, cheering along, whistling, and singing with such enthusiasm - I don't think he stopped smiling for one second during this song! Michael was carrying Everett Bradley's jacket, and helped him put it back on at the end of the number. Then Everett Bradley looks at his watch, and with such humorous animation runs away, late for something. In the meantime, at the front of the stage, a little café table is moved in on the left side, with Ann Hampton Callaway sitting in one of the chairs. Ann is anxiously looking at her watch. Everett again runs across the stage (in the back), with his briefcase, then appears from the left, sitting down at the table with her.

They performed the next song, called "Bli Blip", by Duke Ellington. They are supposed to be on a first date, and exchanged scatting "dialogue". It was very funny, resulting in an amusing miscommunication at the end.

The next song, "Billy-A-Dick", by Hoagy Carmichael, was performed by Michael. A yellow bed was wheeled out on the right side, and Michael was in it, laying down, with his back to the audience and his head on a purple satin pillow. The song was basically about Michael as an apartment tenant kept awake at night by "a set of drums upstairs." The original lyrics to that song (I will have a link) are not the same as those done in the show, they were apparently re-written to go along with the act, and it was really cute! Michael was wearing a pair of red and white striped pajamas (or pyjamas for the benefit of those European members of the board, and you know who you are!) and a pair of black and white shoes (I believe they were black with white spats). Michael's facial expressions during the song were hilarious as he looked up at the ceiling with this look of anticipation that the drumming would stop; then BOOM! The drums start again, and he is totally exasperated! Then the dancers enter the stage and accompany him in a tap dance designed to "get even" with the neighbor. Michael's dancing during this number was fantastic - then he and Maria Torres jump up onto the bed (which was actually plastic) and dance there. Now, there were two different endings that I saw, and I am unsure of which one will end up being the ending most of you will see after the show opens. The first version ended with the dancers leaving the stage, and Michael tip-toeing back to bed, looking up at the ceiling (again, anticipating some peace and quiet), and going back to sleep. The drums start up again, he pops up out of bed, finishes the final line of the song (by this time he doesn't mind the noise), and one of the dancers (who was holding a teddy bear during the song), throws the teddy bear at Michael, he snuggles up with it (awwwww), and lays back down. The second ending threw me off, because I had the first ending pretty much engrained in my mind. It essentially ended with the entire cast either on or around the bed. Michael said they had just changed the ending the previous night. I really liked the first ending (well, because it was adorable with him snuggling with the teddy bear!). But naturally, we would be a little prejudiced in that respect, so maybe the new ending probably works better for the rest of the audience. Either way, the song is terrific and very catchy!

The next song, "Harlem Nocturne", featured Conrad Korsch on the bass, and one of the dancers, Caitlin Carter. Mr. Korsch plays the bass alone on the stage. Then, from behind the bass, Ms. Carter extends her arm out to join in playing the bass. She comes out from behind, and does a very sexy dance to the song - her outfit was incredible. It was a gold velvet backless pantsuit, scooped low (and I do mean low!). The dance ends with Ms. Carter returning to the back of the bass. That's an entirely simplistic description, I know, but it needs to be seen!

Following "Harlem Nocturne", there are two separate songs listed in each of my Playbills, "If I Were In Love Again" by Rogers and Hart, and "Humphrey Bogart". Neither of these songs was performed at any of the shows I saw.

There was a scene somewhere with Ryan Francois and Jenny Thomas - they were dressed, respectively, as a chef and a maid, as they were in their subsequent number in Act II, "Kitchen Mechanic's Night Out". Anyway, the maid is holding a huge stack of plates with (fake) food on them as she dances, and I remember seeing a carrot or something fly off one of the plates onto the stage. During his dance to "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy", I noticed Everett Bradley so smoothly sweep down to pick up the carrot and put it in his pocket (which was probably undetected by most people, but I seem to have an eye for details, which you may have noticed in reading this review - that is if you actually make it through this whole thing! LOL). So that is the reason I think the scene took place here, since....

The next song was "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy", sung by Everett Bradley along with Ryan Francois and Edgar Godineaux. So far, I don't think Ryan Francois has performed it at any of the shows I have seen, or so I can gather from the understudy slips I have. Anyway, it is a very unique rendition of the song, performed in a hip hop style, and their clothes were also in that style. They have since changed the costumes, and now they are in business suits with briefcases, but the song is performed the same.

Next is a longer scene called THE USO, which is supposed to be a World War II USO dance. It starts with Laura Benanti, Geralyn Del Corso and Caitlin Carter singing "GI Jive" (similarly to the Andrew Sisters). Then the cast sings a medley of "String of Pearls", "I've Got A Gal in Kalamazoo" and a song called "Candy". In the first peformance I saw, Michael was wearing an Army uniform (all the same color khaki), which was the same as many of the other men. In the subsequent shows, Michael had a Marine uniform on, which was much nicer. It made him stand out from the others (which naturally he already does, but much more so!). Initially, the Marine uniform was quite ill fitting. It was really too big, and the jacket was hanging very loosely. The hat was way too big also. Michael said it was a last minute switch (since I had not seen it the previous evening) and the costume was not fitted for him yet. He said he felt pretty silly in the hat too - he said he felt like a pizza chef!! They have since fit the costume, and added a nice white belt (no more loose hanging jacket!). So, I am guessing that this costume works well, and that they will be keeping it. Michael sang a part of "I Got a Gal in Kalamazoo", which was pretty funny, since he and one of the other soldiers at the dance compared pictures of their gals, and apparently the other soldier had the same gal back in Kalamazoo as well!

The next song is really terrific...it is called "I'm Gonna Love You Tonight" and Michael sings it to one of the USO ladies played by Laura Benanti. He appeals to her to "love him tonight" since he is off to war the next day. I believe everyone will enjoy this extremely romantic song *very* much!

Next, Ann Hampton Callaway performs a ballad "I'll Be Seeing You", while Scott Fowler and Carol Bentley perform a beautiful dance. Ms. Bentley's dress during this song is very pretty, pink satin with flowers. At the end of the song, the rest of the cast re-enters the stage, Michael is on the right with Laura Benanti, listening to the song.

The ending of this scene is also the ending of ACT I, they pick up the pace, and do more swing dancing to a medley of "Flyin' Home", "American Patrol", "Sharp as a Tack", "GI Jive", and "Airmail Special". They have added some songs since this time, including "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree", and I believe another Glenn Miller tune which escapes me at the moment!

The scene ends with a bugle calling the soldiers off to war. They form a line, pivot and march off stage, saluting, with Michael toward the end of the line. The women are dressed in 40's style dresses and wave them off. An exception is one woman, wearing a red bandana on her head, overalls and carrying an old style tool box (a la Rosie the Riveter). In another ending, they ended the dancing in the end of this act, but dropped this scene.

So at this point, the show was one hour, and there was a 15 minute intermission.

The second act (45 minutes) began with "Swing, Brother, Swing" sung by Michael, Laura Benanti, Ann Hampton Callaway and Everett Bradley (and I believe Casey MacGill as well) up on the platform with the band, and wearing gray/silver tuxedoes. The cast made brief appearances in little scenes during the beginning of the song - A very neat part was when Maria Torres, a Latin swing dancer (and winner of swing and latin dance titles, according to her Playbill bio), took hold of the skirt of the west coast swing dancer, Beverly Durand, as she spun around. The skirt was one color on one side, and another color on the other. As she spun, the wrap skirt unraveled, and then wrapped back again in the other color! Scott Fowler did a tremendous dance during the remainder of the song.

The next song was cute, it was called "Dancers in Love". Each time I saw it, the female role was performed by Kristine Bendul.

After that, Laura Benanti performed "Cry Me A River", accompanied by Steve Armour on the trombone. It was a neat arrangement, with her singing to him, and he "responded" with the trombone. There were parts to the song where the trombone sounded so much like a voice it was amazing.

In the Playbill, a song called "Rhythm Crossover" is listed next, but it was not performed at any of the shows I saw. On the other hand, it could be a brief song that was performed when Michael danced back across the stage in his pajamas, along with some of the other cast members in their costumes from other numbers. I know this was a new addition to the show, since I clearly did not recall seeing him in the pajamas again in the other performances. I believe it was at this point in between songs (although I must say I am not sure). It was very brief, so that's why I'm not sure where this little part took place. Sorry about that!

A brief scene of the show was a little party scene with the cast mingling and socializing together - watch Michael's facial expressions here as he acts drunk! It was very funny! He is wearing a black leather coat and pants, a black shirt and then puts on black sunglasses. The cast exits the stage to the left.

Ann Hampton Callaway played the piano and sings "Blues in the Night", with Caitlin Carter and Edgar Godineaux performing an extremely sexy dance. The dance follows the lyrics (about a man being a two face), and at the end, Maria Torres enters the stage to the left at the end of the song, which breaks up the dance. Ms. Carter walks by herself over to the piano near Ann Hampton Callaway as Ms. Torres and Mr. Godineaux exit the stage hand in hand, and Ms. Callaway sings, "my mama was right...there's gonna be blues in the night....." Ms. Carter's costumes were really sensational, and the navy blue velvet fringed dress she wore during this song was no exception!

To lighten up the mood, the next part starts out very funny. Everett Bradley, again in his business suit, has a cowboy hat. I don't know how well I can explain this, but as soon as he puts the hat on, he sings in this hilarious country "twang" which automatically ends the second he takes the hat off. He takes it off and puts it back on several times for just a second, then leaves it on - YEEEEEE HAAAAWWW!! Michael and the rest of the cast come out onto the stage in a line, and Michael is in a cowboy costume and white hat. He is doing this little dance backwards across the stage, playing a harmonica (or pretending to - hmmmm...good question!) Everett Bradley, Michael and Casey MacGill sing "Take Me Back to Tulsa" and "Stay All Night". Then Michael sings a song called "Boogie Woogie Country" (very interesting to hear and see Michael do country!). Everett Bradley gives Robert Royston his hat and it's pretty funny as he gets "possessed" by the same country spirit after he puts on the hat! Then Mr. Royston and Laureen Baldovi do a fabulous country swing dance number. They have won many swing dance and country dance championships and it shows. It is very difficult to go back and forth between watching Michael sing the song, and these outstanding dancers. The entire cast joins in at the end to do a country line dance.

Michael then exits the stage and returns, bringing in a white and green park bench. Ann Hampton Callaway sits on the bench and Everett Bradley runs across the stage behind her (again) with flowers. They perform "All Of Me" and "I Won't Dance". Ms. Callaway is initially resistant to dancing, but they do end up dancing toward the end of the song, and pretty humorously too, including a little tango.

The next song is called "Bill's Bounce". This is the number performed with the bungee cords. There are two male dancers, Aldrin Gonzalez and Scott Fowler, dressed in bowling shirts, glasses and hats. Two of the female dancers, Beverly Durand and Carol Bentley alternately enter the stage suspended by a series of bungee cords strapped together (initially the bungee cords were visible, now they have been covered over with fabric, appearing to be like crushed velvet and matching the dancers' costumes; one was teal green, the other royal blue). They do the routine bouncing from the front to the back of the stage, as well as from side to side, and twisting around too..I could see how complicated the choreography is, they have to have extremely precise movements to keep from getting tangled in the cords. At one show, one of the dancers did have her leg caught in the cord slightly, but she was able to quickly untangle it!

The next part was a little scene made up of "Kitchen Mechanic's Night Out" about a NYC chef and a maid (Ryan Francois and Jenny Thomas) who need to get out for an evening of dancing, and the next number "Shout It and Feel It" is a dance they perform when they are out. They did not do these two numbers at one of the subsequent performances. I don't know if it has been cut, but it was not replaced by another number. Hopefully, it will be in the show when they finalize it for the opening, it was very good. As I indicated earlier, Mr. Francois and Ms. Thomas are incredible dancers!

Next, Michael came out on stage, wearing a black tuxedo, (holding an old style microphone (a la RKO), for Ann Hampton Callaway to use during "Stompin' At the Savoy". (I have now seen Everett Bradley bring out the microphone, so this is another one of the changes that they are making). Michael then exited the stage. Ms. Callaway looked gorgeous with her hair swept up, and wearing a beautiful black gown. And of course, the song, "Stompin' At the Savoy" is beautiful. I have always liked the Benny Goodman arrangement (probably the most popular version), but the version of the song with lyrics has a little slower tempo, and with Ms. Callaway singing, it was marvelous. The song ended with the three set panels on each side of the stage rotating, illuminated with an Art Deco style pattern, and the back of the stage lit up with a clamshell design.

The pace picks up again for the show's finale, comprised of "Swing, Brother, Swing", "Sing Sing Sing" and "It Don't Mean a Thing" (If It Ain't Got That Swing). Michael ran out from the left, picked up the microphone, and exits the stage. The dancers did more swing dancing, and Ms. Benanti danced during a brief part, and went up onto the platform to sing. Michael came out from the right, and danced, then exited the stage on the left, and he also went up onto the platform with the band to join Ms. Benanti, Ms. Callaway, Mr. Bradley and Mr. MacGill as they sang. The male singers all wore matching black tuxedoes, Ms. Callaway wore her black gown from the previous number and Ms. Benanti wore a black dress. The vocal arrangement for Sing Sing Sing was very interesting, they substituted vocals for instruments during one section of the song - I had never heard the song performed with such an arrangement, but then again, I am really only familiar with Benny Goodman's version of this song. This is just one of many unique aspects of this show. While the show most certainly is characteristic of the 30's and 40's styles of swing, and that alone would make the show fantastic, the creators have added so many new styles and arrangements. These additions are very interesting, but more so, the show is just a lot of fun. It is so full of energy, and the audiences I was a part of all responded well to that energy. From what I was able to hear of the audience during the intermissions and after the show, most people really loved it, and I certainly expect Swing! to do well, if audience response is a factor.

Have a wonderful time everyone!


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