Swing!

Swing! is a musical conceived by Paul Kelly with music by various artists. It celebrates the music of the Swing era of jazz (1930s–1946), including many well-known tunes by artists like Duke Ellington, William "Count" Basie, Benny Goodman and others. It received a nomination for the 2000 Tony Award for Best Musical and other Tony awards.

This article is about the 1999 musical. For other uses, see Swing (disambiguation).

Swing!
MusicVarious
LyricsVarious
BookPaul Kelly
Productions1999 Broadway

Productions

Swing! premiered on Broadway at the St. James Theatre on December 9, 1999 and closed on January 14, 2001, running for 461 performances. The director and choreographer was Lynne Taylor-Corbett, and the production was supervised by Jerry Zaks. Among the cast were Laura Benanti, Ann Hampton Callaway and Everett Bradley.[1] A US tour began Nov 20, 2000 at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles.[2]

The Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera production, directed and choreographed by one of the original cast members, Dana Solimando, ran in June 2009.[3]

The original cast album was released by Sony Classical on January 18, 2000.[4] The original cast album was nominated for a Grammy in the "Musical Show" category.[5]

Premise

Swing! combines high energy dancing, singing and acrobatics. There is no dialogue in the show, and the story is told entirely through music and dance. The show tries to recreate the swing style of jazz, which used large bands, fixed musical arrangements and solo-driven improvisations. Together with the development of the music, various forms of swing dancing emerged, varying by geographic regions, such as the Lindyhop or Jitterbug in Harlem or the Whip in Houston.[2][6]

There are also story-driven numbers for example "I'll Be Seeing You", with Scott Fowler and Carol Bentley doing a Gene Kelly kind of ballet.[7]

The show includes music and dance styles from early swing, West Coast, to other jazz styles, and even hip-hop (as shown as in an all-male version of "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy"). Some of the individual couples, for example Ryan Francois and Jenny Thomas, perform their own choreography. Francois and Thomas are established stars in the world of swing, having been the Lindy champions in 1997 The American Swing Dance Championships and the U.S. Open Championships.[6][8]

Some of the songs have new lyrics, but most are well-known swing-era hits, including "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)"; "Sing, Sing, Sing", "Jumpin at the Woodside"; and "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy (of Company B)".[8]

Songs

Awards and nominations

Original Broadway production
Year Award Ceremony Category Nominee Result Ref
2000 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Musical Nominated [10]
Outstanding Choreography Lynne Taylor-Corbett Nominated
Outstanding Orchestrations Harold Wheeler Nominated
Theatre World Award Everett Bradley Won [11]
Ann Hampton Callaway Won
Tony Award Best Musical Nominated [12]
[13]
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical Laura Benanti Nominated
Ann Hampton Callaway Nominated
Best Direction of a Musical Lynne Taylor-Corbett Nominated
Best Choreography Nominated
Best Orchestrations Harold Wheeler Nominated

References
  1. Brantley, Ben. "Hit the Hot Notes and Watch 'Em Bounce", The New York Times, December 10, 1999, p. E1
  2. McBride, Murdoch.Swing Closes Jan. 14 on Broadway; Touring Co. Gets Strong Start in L.A. Archived February 1, 2013, at archive.today playbill.com, January 14, 2001
  3. Carter, Alice."Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera's new show's got 'Swing!' Archived June 18, 2009, at the Wayback Machine Pittsburgh Tribune Review, June 13, 2009
  4. "Swing!". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved May 29, 2023.
  5. "43rd Annual Grammy Awards Nominations Coverage (2001)". Digitalhit.com. Retrieved May 29, 2023.
  7. Ostlere, Hilary."Swinging On Broadway. – Brief Article – Review – dance reviews", Dance Magazine, November 1999
  8. Sommer, Elyse."A CurtainUp Review:Swing!", Curtainup.com, February 3, 1999
  9. "Swing - Musical Dance Revue - The Guide to Musical Theatre". Guidetomusicaltheatre.com. Retrieved May 29, 2023.
  10. Drama Desk Awards and nominations, 1999–2000 Archived December 15, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, Dramadesk.com. Retrieved January 4, 2009
  11. Theatre World winners, Theatreworldawards.org. Retrieved January 4, 2009
  12. Tony Awards and niminations, 2000 Archived August 31, 2016, at the Wayback Machine tonyawards.com. Retrieved January 4, 2009
  13. Pogrbin, Robin. "Tony Nominations Mirror a Small World", The New York Times, May 9, 2000, p. E1
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