Swing! (Original Broadway Cast)
The neo-swing movement hit Broadway in full force with the December 1999 opening ofSwing!, 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 chanteuseAnn Hampton Callaway, Everett Bradley, Laura Benanti, Michael Gruber, and ukulele-totingCasey MacGill(fronting the Gotham City Gates) perform solos and duets as well as quintets arranged byManhattan Transfer's Yaron Gershovsky. Callaway (whose writing credits include the theme song for the TV seriesThe Nannyand 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