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‘Swingtime Canteen’ weak ending to strong Actors’ Summit season
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Reviewed by: FRAN HELLER Contributing Writer
A little nostalgia goes a long way in “Swingtime Canteen,” a musical stroll down Memory Lane and the 1940s when America joined the war effort and its tunesmiths committed it to song. It’s at Actors’ Summit through June 29.
Billed as a musical comedy, with book by Linda Thorsen Bond, William Repicci and Charles Busch, the show is more cabaret revue than musical, a throwback to a time when World War II was romanticized in song and story. Some 60 years and at least four more wars later, “Swingtime …” feels hopelessly outdated and irrelevant.
Under MaryJo Alexander’s slow-moving direction, the show never takes off. Reasons why include a weak book (strictly a means of linking the musical numbers), a score consisting of mostly lesser-known and long-forgotten songs, and a cast whose vocal and hoofing qualities rarely transcend the mediocre.
The story revolves around fading Hollywood film icon Marian Ames (MaryJo Alexander). Marian, who is dumped by Hollywood, decides to volunteer at the Hollywood Canteen, where she links up with a group of other gals to form an all-female band. As the show opens, the girls are entertaining the Eighth U.S. Air Force in London in 1944.
Marian’s “girls” include comely Rachel Maria Anderson as the flirtatious Lilly McBain, who is not above stealing someone else’s beau, and Lisa Marie Schueller as clever Jo Sterling, Marian’s best friend and sidekick. Schueller’s real-life pregnancy is put to good comic use in her cowboy number “Don’t Fence Me In.”
Borrowing from one of the early numbers, “Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive,” the cast fares better as an ensemble than as soloists, in such group efforts as an Andrews Sisters-style medley, and an entirely pleasing “I’ll Be Seeing You” with Jo and company.
In the original 1995 off-Broadway production, some of the actors, in addition to singing and soft-shoeing, also played musical instruments. In this tailored adaptation, the actors sit or stand around much of the time, which feels static.
The shorter and better second act picks up some steam. The song “Sentimental Journey” sums it up. Toward the end, those sentiments turn serious. A sudden air raid (good sound and lighting effects by A. Neil Thackaberry) reminds us what war is really about.
The show is awash in patriotism. Thackaberry’s set is draped with the Union Jack, the Stars and Stripes, and the French flag. The glamorous costumes, all variations on a theme of red and black, reflect costumer Alexander’s never-ending wellspring of creativity.
The interactive program includes a sing-a-long, impromptu dancing, and free donuts and coffee for the select few sitting in the frontlines.
Judging by the almost sold-out house at the preview, “Swingtime …” is definitely for audiences old enough to remember the Second World War.
Coming off a roster of such memorable productions as “Proof,” “Born Yesterday” and “Golda,” this season’s finale proves a letdown.
A little nostalgia goes a long way in “Swingtime Canteen,” a musical stroll down Memory Lane and the 1940s when America joined the war effort and its tunesmiths committed it to song. It’s at Actors’ Summit through June 29.
Billed as a musical comedy, with book by Linda Thorsen Bond, William Repicci and Charles Busch, the show is more cabaret revue than musical, a throwback to a time when World War II was romanticized in song and story. Some 60 years and at least four more wars later, “Swingtime …” feels hopelessly outdated and irrelevant.
Under MaryJo Alexander’s slow-moving direction, the show never takes off. Reasons why include a weak book (strictly a means of linking the musical numbers), a score consisting of mostly lesser-known and long-forgotten songs, and a cast whose vocal and hoofing qualities rarely transcend the mediocre.
The story revolves around fading Hollywood film icon Marian Ames (MaryJo Alexander). Marian, who is dumped by Hollywood, decides to volunteer at the Hollywood Canteen, where she links up with a group of other gals to form an all-female band. As the show opens, the girls are entertaining the Eighth U.S. Air Force in London in 1944.
Marian’s “girls” include comely Rachel Maria Anderson as the flirtatious Lilly McBain, who is not above stealing someone else’s beau, and Lisa Marie Schueller as clever Jo Sterling, Marian’s best friend and sidekick. Schueller’s real-life pregnancy is put to good comic use in her cowboy number “Don’t Fence Me In.”
Borrowing from one of the early numbers, “Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive,” the cast fares better as an ensemble than as soloists, in such group efforts as an Andrews Sisters-style medley, and an entirely pleasing “I’ll Be Seeing You” with Jo and company.
In the original 1995 off-Broadway production, some of the actors, in addition to singing and soft-shoeing, also played musical instruments. In this tailored adaptation, the actors sit or stand around much of the time, which feels static.
The shorter and better second act picks up some steam. The song “Sentimental Journey” sums it up. Toward the end, those sentiments turn serious. A sudden air raid (good sound and lighting effects by A. Neil Thackaberry) reminds us what war is really about.
The show is awash in patriotism. Thackaberry’s set is draped with the Union Jack, the Stars and Stripes, and the French flag. The glamorous costumes, all variations on a theme of red and black, reflect costumer Alexander’s never-ending wellspring of creativity.
The interactive program includes a sing-a-long, impromptu dancing, and free donuts and coffee for the select few sitting in the frontlines.
Judging by the almost sold-out house at the preview, “Swingtime …” is definitely for audiences old enough to remember the Second World War.
Coming off a roster of such memorable productions as “Proof,” “Born Yesterday” and “Golda,” this season’s finale proves a letdown.
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