“Swing!”

Posted by Gail M. Burns - July 2011

Trading on the mega-popular swing dance revival of the late 1990’s, “Swing!” ran a respectable year and two months on Broadway and was nominated for the Tony for Best Musical in 2000 despite not having a book. (Another dance musical, Contact won that year.) And when the Mac-Haydn first staged it back in 2004 http://gailsez.org/2004/07/swing/ I liked it very much, even though I am not in favor of calling a non-stop series of songs and dance numbers with absolutely no characters, dialogue, or plot a “musical.” So I was both pleased and nervous to see it back on the roster this summer.

I was pleased because I had happy memories of a great show, and nervous because none of the people I had seen in 2004 would be on the stage this time around. Swing! is a true ensemble show, the Mac-Haydn annually hires a core group of singers and dancers who appear in solo roles and ensemble numbers throughout the season.

Generally, by mid-July, I would recognize the ensemble members and have my favorites picked out. This year, not so much. Not that the 2011 company isn’t talented, but they aren’t stellar. I can recognize very few, even the ones who have impressed me in solo turns, like Victoria Broadhurst and Carl Hulden.

So I was praying that Swing! which I knew would give a solo song or featured dance number to everyone in the cast, would be the break-out show for many of these young performers – that I would walk out of the theatre with the stars of tomorrow clearly before my eyes.

And two young ladies did jump out of the anonymity of the chorus and smack me upside the head, but two out of twenty is a sadly small ratio. The rest were very nice, but not exciting.

I continued to enjoy the work of Carl Hulden and Kevin Kelly, both of whom have shone in solo roles on the Mac-Haydn stage. Here Hulden got a nice silent comic dance number with Lauren French in the second act, and that was the moment that Ms. French popped out of the two-dimensional chorus line and became a three-dimensional performer in my eyes. She is spunky and fun.

I address her as Ms. French because there is also a Mr. French in the cast, Darrin French, who I have watched grow up on the Mac-Haydn stage. He is still relegated to the dance ensemble, but enjoy keeping an eye on his progress.

Other performers who I have seen in solo parts literally vanished into the woodwork though. Both Carman Napier and Alison Drew, who has the female leads in the recently closed Jeckyll and Hyde were unrecognizable to me.

I had looked forward to some fancy dancing from Andy Geary, who I know has special talents in that arena, but instead of finding special star power in him, other dancers rose in my esteem, notably Charles South and Meghan Glogower. Glogower’s solo on Harlem Nocture was one of my favorite dance pieces in the show.

But the real Stop-the-Presses-A-Star-is-Born honors go to Amelia Millar, who has also grown up at the Mac but I couldn’t have pointed her out in a crowd until this show. First she caught my eye as an extremely versatile and fearless dancer in just about every number, and then proved herself a really powerful singer with her solo on Cry Me A River. Millar has long brunette hair which she wears down, a daring and eye-catching style for a dancer as long hair is usually tied back or done up to prevent it blinding its owner or another dancer, or whipping someone painfully. But Millar seemed to have hers well under control and it not only looked lovely but moved well with her.

While the cast has few stars, they do work very well together as an ensemble under the direction of Kelly L. Shook, who also choreographed all but the traditional Swing dance numbers which were done by Molly Mahoney. Shook keeps the joint jumping and also does an innovative job of flowing one number into the next. There are a minimum of furniture and props to be moved, and those seem to appear and disappear as if by magic.

There is constant eye-candy thanks to Jimm Halliday’s parade of colorful and witty costumes which, as always, allow the performers a full range of movement while preserving their modesty. Laura Brignall has designed a snappy signature look for the walls and dance floor, and Andrew Gmoser’s lights keep up with frenetic pace while stylishly setting the mood.

But the big treat in this production is having a live eight piece band on stage. The musical sound at the Mac-Haydn is usually synthetic at best, but here Musical Director Joshua D. Smith on keyboard, Assistant Musical Director Matthew Rose on keyboard and guitar, and percussionist Joe Ulmer get to climb out of the pit and strut their stuff along with Jarod Greico on double bass, Daniel Cordell on trombone, Scott Halliday on trumpet, and Rick Hambright and Daniel Jones on saxophone. Cordell, Halliday, and Greico also get solo turns on various numbers.

If you don’t mind the lack of plot, Swing! is a fast and fun show that’s easy on the eyes. And if you are a big fan of the music of the 1940’s, its there in abundance. I was happy to revisit this show again, but would have been ecstatic if a few more ensemble members had distinguished themselves along the way.

Swing! runs July 21-31 at the fully air-conditioned Mac-Haydn Theatre, 1925 NY Rt. 203 in Chatham, NY. The show runs just a smidge under two hours and is suitable for the whole family. Matinee and evening performances, times and ticket prices vary: visit www.machaydntheatre.org or call 518-392-9292 for more information.

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