Swing! (Original Broadway Cast) [CAST RECORDING]

Casey MacGill, Gotham City Gates, Laura Benanti, Various Artists - Stage Productions, Michael Gruber, Everett Bradley, Ann Hampton Callaway

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 25, 2000)
• Original Release Date: January 25, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Cast Recording
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00003XAIA
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #36,899 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  #21 in	Music > Jazz > Traditional Jazz & Ragtime > Boogie-Woogie
  #71 in	Music > Broadway & Vocalists > Musicals > Contemporary Musicals

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
The neo-swing movement hit Broadway in full force with the December 1999 opening of Swing!, a high-energy song and dance revue celebrating the music of the '30s and '40s. The show combines swing classics ("Stompin' at the Savoy") and wartime standards ("I'll Be Seeing You") with originals from its cast members. Cabaret chanteuse Ann Hampton Callaway, Everett Bradley, Laura Benanti, Michael Gruber, and ukulele-toting Casey MacGill (fronting the Gotham City Gates) perform solos and duets as well as quintets arranged by Manhattan Transfer's Yaron Gershovsky. Callaway (whose writing credits include the theme song for the TV series The Nanny and Barbara Streisand's "I've Dreamed of You" and "At the Same Time") has a voice that can burn on a ballad, blare like a trumpet, or scat up a storm. Of course it's a shame not to be able to see director-choreographer Lynne Taylor-Corbett's high-flying swing and Latin dancers, but this cast recording is an enjoyable romp in the spirit of Broadway's 1981 Ellington tribute, Sophisticated Ladies. --David Horiuchi

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The joint is jumpin', January 25, 2000

By	F. Behrens "Frank Behrens" (Keene, NH USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

It seems that even as I write these words the joint is jumpin' at the St. James Theatre in New York City to a new review called <Swing!> [what would they do without exclamation marks?] and the score is now available on a Sony release (SK 89122). For those of us who lived through the 40s--and I was a mere youth when the decade started--these tunes will elicit many many memories of the war that WW I was supposed to have made impossible and of the transformation of some forms of jazz into the Swing that was both a symptom of the uneasy times and a way of coping with them.

Here a talented cast--headed by Ann Hampton Callaway, Everett Bradley and Laura Benati--recreate the musical times with songs that have "It Don't Mean a Thing" as a framing theme and include "jammin'" numbers like "Bounce Me Brother," "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy," and "Stompin' at the Savoy" mixed with very lovely ones like the classic "I'll Be Seeing You" and "Blues in the Night."

Of course hearing the original versions of all these by the singers who introduced them and the bands that played them is a far more valuable experience historically. But from what I hear, the arrangers for this production have treated the material with respect and the soloists are "In the Mood" (I believe) that was intended by the composers. A worthwhile salute to an historical period and a joy to hear today.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One word... wow., January 27, 2000

By	Michael Costa (Costapolis, Doesn't-Existania) - See all my reviews

I saw the show in November and when I found out the CD wasn't released yet, I was mad. I've been waiting for 3 months now, but I assure you it was worth every second I waited. This CD is everything you could ever need in swing. It has every kind of swing possible, and every song is so well done that you'll listen to it again and again until you have to buy another one because the first one got worn out. I totally reccomend it! BUY IT RIGHT NOW.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing, August 9, 2001

By	"annetam23" (Pawtucket, Rhode Island United States) - See all my reviews

While I'm a dancer and actor, I've still been a little skeptical of dance shows on Broadway being considered musicals. I was even more wary of this show after seeing its performance on the 2000 Tonys, mainly because in two years, three Broadway dance shows included Sing Sing Sing as a number. However, when I saw Broadway on Broadway this past October and Ann Hampton Callaway's electric performance of 'Blues in the Night,' I decided to give Swing! another chance. Being a fan of swing music, I was familiar with almost all of the numbers. I found that the cast and orchestra gave WONDERFUL reneditions of the numbers, restoring them to the glory that they reached in the 30s and 40s. I've heard many of the songs played on the local Jazz/Swing station here, and my grandparents especially enjoy the album as they were around to hear the original versions. There is some fabulous dancer/musician interaction that must be seen on stage to carry its true merit, but the CD captures the energy and vivacity of the show beautifuly.