Dallas is Gonna Jump and Jive

Broadway's Hot Musical - SWING! Comes to the Majestic Theatre

March 12-17, 2002

The Original Broadway Musical SWING! will play eight performances at The Majestic Theatre, 1925 Elm Street, as part of the Broadway in Dallas Contemporary Series presented by Dallas Summer Musicals.  Tickets are on sale now at The Box Office, 542 Preston Royal Shopping Center, or at any Ticketmaster outlet, including the new Majestic Theatre Box Office. 

SWING! was nominated for six Tony AwardsTM including:  “Best Musical,” “Best Director,” “Best Choreography,” “Best Orchestrations,” and two nominations for “Best Featured Actress.”  SWING! was also honored with nominations for “Outstanding Broadway Musical” and “Outstanding Choreography” by the Outer Critics Circle and “Best Cast Album” by the Grammy Awards committee.

SWING! is a celebration of the music and dance phenomenon that swept the nation in the ‘30s and ‘40s and has returned to become one of today’s fastest growing trends.  SWING! opened on Broadway at the St. James Theatre December 9^th to powerful praise for its music, its dance and its style.  More than a dance revue, SWING! crosses ethnic and cultural barriers, hi-lighting an eclectic mix of Jive, Latin Swing, West Coast Swing, Hip-Hop Swing, and Country Western Swing.  It is this multi-dimensional quality of SWING! that garnered critics’ praise.  Clive Barnes of the New York Post called SWING! “A major breakthrough and the most exhilarating show in town!”

Anna Kisselgoff of The New York Times wrote “SWING! is terrific!  Flashy artistry and virtuosity in distilled emotional vignettes that also speak of human relationships, time and place.”

The SWING! First National Tour opened at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles Nov. 20, 2000 and played a record breaking eight-week engagement.  Lewis Segal of the Los Angeles Times said: “SWING! jumps, jives and wails.  The high-energy choreography is invariably sensational,” while Evan Henderson of the Los Angeles Daily News said “SWING! positively cooks, you’ll be dancing in your seat.”  And Joe Adcock, Theatre Writer for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer said: “SWING! is literally wonderful.  Literally.  Full of wonders.”

This all-singing, all-dancing evening features a mix of new and classic songs and over 30 tour de force dance numbers – some comic, some romantic, some nostalgic, some sexy.  SWING! also features spectacular vocal performances, while the entire show is driven by the dynamic sound of a hot neo-Swing band.  In addition to several original songs, SWING! features classic Swing tunes such as “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy,” “Harlem Nocturne,” “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing),” “Jumpin’ at the Woodside,” “Sing, Sing, Sing!,” “Stompin’ at the Savoy” and “Blues in the Night.”

SWING! was originally directed and choreographed by Lynne Taylor-Corbett, while Tony AwardTM winning director Jerry Zaks served as Production Supervisor.  The original direction and choreography is recreated for the SWING! tour by Director Lori Steinberg, who most recently directed  A Child’s Garden, a new musical, and the acclaimed production of Ice Island: The Wait for Shackleton, by Marjorie Duffield.  She has been on the creative team of many original productions, including Assassins, Six Degrees of Separation, and Jerry Zaks’ revivals of Anything Goes and the Tony AwardTM winning Guys and Dolls. 

SWING! is choreographed by Kim Craven, who trained and danced under Lynne Taylor-Corbett.  Sets are by Thomas Lynch, costumes by William Ivey Long, lighting by Marty Vreeland, and orchestrations by Harold Wheeler, and is based on an original idea by Paul Kelly.  The 2001-2002 tour of SWING! is produced by Troika Entertainment.  The Dallas production is part of the Broadway in Dallas Contemporary Series, presented by Dallas Summer Musicals.

The SWING! original cast recording is produced by Sony Classical.  For further information, visit the official website at www.SwingonBroadway.com.

Single tickets for SWING! are on sale now at The Box Office, 542 Preston Royal Shopping Center, or any Ticketmaster outlet, including Foley’s and Fiesta Stores, Sound Wherehouse, or the new Majestic Theatre Box Office at 1925 Elm Street.  Tickets range in price from $32 to $58, and may also be purchased by calling 214-631-ARTS or online at www.ticketmaster.com. For groups of 20 or more, call Nicole Metzger at 214-426- GROU(P). 

SWING! opens Tuesday, March 12 at 8 p.m. at The Majestic Theatre, with performances at 8 p.m. every night through Sunday, March 17 at 8 p.m..  There will also be two  weekend matinees at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, March 16 and 17.

Season sponsors for the Broadway in Dallas Contemporary Series presented by Dallas Summer Musicals are The Dallas Morning News, WFAA TV Channel 8, KDMX Radio Station and Visa.  For more information about the season, visit the Dallas Summer Musicals website at www.dallassummermusicals.org.

Edited by Dave Shultz