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Shubert New Haven
Presents Tour Dates Bway's Swing!,
May 8-20, 2001
13-JUN-2000
Playbill Online
The Shubert New Haven Theatre will present the current Broadway musical, Swing!, May 8-20, 2001. Shubert performing Arts Center president and CEO Caroline Werth announced that the show will be part of the New Haven theatre's 2000-2001 subscription series.
The show will not actually start its tour in New Haven as earlier reported. Instead, by the time it plays New Haven, Swing! will have run in Los Angeles, Seattle, East Lansing, Baltimore, Miami, Dallas, Chicago and Cleveland. Other cities in the tour will be announced shortly.
Songwriter and Swing! band leader Casey McGill performed the opening ukelele number from the Tony nominated Best Musical at a presentation for producers and press at the New Haven theatre on June 12. McGill wrote four songs the Swing! show at the St. James Theatre.
The presentation audience in New Haven saw a film clip as well, which represented the show favorably. A marketing representative for Swing! told Playbill On-Line that other filmed segments of the show have had positive reactions, including the recent Tony Award show performance by the entire cast.
McGill described the Broadway cast in detail but later told Playbill On- Line that specific assignments were still being decided for the New Haven run and it was not clear whether original cast members would be performing there next year. As of now, Swing! sources say the show's Broadway engagement remains open.
Tickets for the Shubert New Haven engagement of Swing! will range from $33-$65.
As reported last year, director and choreographer Lynne Taylor-Corbett's Swing! is an all-singing, all-dancing show that showcases Broadway singing and dance talent in a revue of Swing, Lindy Hop and Broadway styles.
Taylor-Corbett's associate choreographers on Swing include Scott Fowler, Rod McCune and Ryan Francois, the World Lindy Hop champion. Show originator Paul Kelly and several cast members including dancer Caitlin Carter unanimously cite McCune's contributions. McCune served as both dance captain and "lift coach," which they say helped enabled the Broadway dancers to learn the Swing and Lindy Hop skills that Ryan and his wife and partner Jenny Thomas brought to the project.
Taylor-Corbett's previous credits include choreographing Titanic and Chess, as well as the films "Footloose" and "My Blue Heaven."
Kelly and the producers searched worldwide for virtuoso dancers and singers, who specialized in various styles of Swing. Though this is a purely American art form, it has become popular all over the world and, in order to find the very best Swing dancers, they considered dancers from as far away as Stockholm, Singapore and Germany, as well as the two American hot beds of Swing -- New York and California. In fact, Ryan Francois and Jenny Thomas have come all the way from London.
Four-time Tony Award-winner Jerry Zaks supervised the production. Sets are designed by Thomas Lynch, costumes by William Ivey Long, lighting by Kenneth Posner and orchestrations by Harold Wheeler.
Based on an original idea by Paul Kelly, Swing is produced by Marc Routh, Richard Frankel, Steven Baruch, Thomas Viertel and Jujamcyn Theaters, in association with BB Promotion, Dede Harris/Jeslo Productions, James D. Stern/Douglas L. Meyers, Libby Adler Mages/Mari Glick and PACE Theatricals/SFX.
The musical stars acclaimed vocalists Laura Benanti, Everett Bradley, Casey MacGill and jazz/cabaret star and songwriter Ann Hampton Callaway in her Broadway debut.
The 30 dance numbers in Swing represent the many forms of swing that are popular around the world including neo-Swing dances, country western, Latin and traditional Swing dancing. The Gotham City Gates, a new Swing band comprising former members of the Blues Jumpers, Illinois Jacquet and the Lionel Hampton Band, performs throughout the show, giving it a distinctive and compelling sound.
Cast members Bradley, Callaway and MacGill also made musical contributions to the show.
