Friday night, I headed up to Roseville to see "Swing!"
Superficially similar to "Smokey Joe's Cafe" (except for a decade earlier) "Swing!" features the swing music of the 40's, with much energetic dancing.
In contrast to "Smokey Joe's Cafe", in "Swing!", the orchestra was in full view, in the manner of the Big Bands of the 1940's. As Kay Hight said, "the orchestra was amazing!" Of course, I particularly enjoyed watching Andy Sullivan on drums!
Lorraine d'Arco had several excellent solos, particularly "Blues In The Night" in the second act. Monica Wright also sang well, particularly "Skylark" in Act 1.
Good dancing males were on stage, particularly Jerald Bolden (who previously played 'Ritchie' in "A Chorus Line"), and especially Hakeem Thomas. Hakeem has a very fluid, emphatic way of dancing that is very nice to watch!
The women dancers were well-matched to their partners and were fine to watch as well (particularly Kate Howe).
There was an audience participation segment at the end of Act I. I danced with Jessica Benz. I was tempted to get extravagant. Nevertheless, as a warning, I remember a ballroom dancing friend once complained about dancing with a stranger who got excited and suddenly tossed her into the air without warning (landing wasn't pretty). Before I could toss Jessica into the air without warning, however, the audience participation segment ended.
Jabriel Shelton was the featured male singer in a number of songs (Steve Campbell was the other featured male singer).
It's been at least a year since I've seen Jabriel perform, and he seems more mature than I remember. My first thought was 'it's about time', but then my second thought was 'if Jabriel's more mature, what does that make me?' Perish the thought!
Superficially similar to "Smokey Joe's Cafe" (except for a decade earlier) "Swing!" features the swing music of the 40's, with much energetic dancing.
In contrast to "Smokey Joe's Cafe", in "Swing!", the orchestra was in full view, in the manner of the Big Bands of the 1940's. As Kay Hight said, "the orchestra was amazing!" Of course, I particularly enjoyed watching Andy Sullivan on drums!
Lorraine d'Arco had several excellent solos, particularly "Blues In The Night" in the second act. Monica Wright also sang well, particularly "Skylark" in Act 1.
Good dancing males were on stage, particularly Jerald Bolden (who previously played 'Ritchie' in "A Chorus Line"), and especially Hakeem Thomas. Hakeem has a very fluid, emphatic way of dancing that is very nice to watch!
The women dancers were well-matched to their partners and were fine to watch as well (particularly Kate Howe).
There was an audience participation segment at the end of Act I. I danced with Jessica Benz. I was tempted to get extravagant. Nevertheless, as a warning, I remember a ballroom dancing friend once complained about dancing with a stranger who got excited and suddenly tossed her into the air without warning (landing wasn't pretty). Before I could toss Jessica into the air without warning, however, the audience participation segment ended.
Jabriel Shelton was the featured male singer in a number of songs (Steve Campbell was the other featured male singer).It's been at least a year since I've seen Jabriel perform, and he seems more mature than I remember. My first thought was 'it's about time', but then my second thought was 'if Jabriel's more mature, what does that make me?' Perish the thought!
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