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By David Patrick Stearns
NEW YORK -- No rule exists on Broadway -- written or not – saying musicals must be useful, topical or relevant. So Swing, a revue at the St. James Theatre, makes no apologies for being simply tuneful, fun, sexy and colorful -- often more than shows that better account for themselves (*** out of four).
Naturally, nobody should approach a revue with the same expectations as a Stephen Sondheim musical. They don't pretend to be anything more than nightclub shows with a theme, which in the case of Swing is summed up by its title. It catalogs swing music in its various guises from the 1940s to the present, with songs by Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Johnny Mercer and Benny Goodman, with a few dips into country swing and more modern-day incarnations.
Despite its recent trendiness, swing music is of less social consequence than blues and occupies a slim, fitful place in pop culture history. But the Jerry Zaks-directed show makes its claim for being a Broadway presence with its tasteful art-deco sets, vigorous full-bodied orchestrations and athletic, ultrawatchable dancers (engagingly choreographed by Lynne Taylor-Corbett).
The key element is Anne Hampton Callaway. Much adored in jazz clubs and cabarets, Callaway is a beguiling song stylist/pianist with a voice approximating the perfect-pitch purity of Jo Stafford and the improvisational creativity of Wynton Marsalis. She also proves to be perfectly comfortable stepping out from behind the piano, cutting a slim, handsome stage figure and moving with grace and authority.
Less obviously, Callaway is a creative force in the show: She wrote the song Two and Four as well as new lyrics to existing songs to help them better suit the needs of the show, all of which conspire to give Swing something seldom found in revues -- sophisticated wit. Duke Ellington's Bli-Blip is a combative duet between Callaway and the vocally charismatic Everett Bradley, conducted entirely in scat-singing syllables. Beautiful young Laura Benanti (last seen in The Sound of Music opposite Richard Chamberlain) has a similarly sly, humorous duet with an irreverent trombone soloist in Cry Me a River.
Out of 42 songs, not all will be winners. There's an ongoing gag involving a briefcase-toting businessman, played by Bradley, who keeps showing up late for dates. There's also an eccentric, meaningless foray into choreographic bungee jumping in Bill's Bounce. But the show doesn't falter often or badly, and is, at worst, conventional -- as in a re-creation of a World War II USO show that climaxes emotionally with the cloyingly predictable I'll Be Seeing You. Even then, it's still a fine song in a genre that can be infinitely worse.
