The La Salle College High School Theater Department will be performing the critically acclaimed song and dance show Swing! for the 2013 Spring Musical. Dates for the musical will be March 21-24, 2013. Auditions for the show will be held in December 2012.
Swing! is a musical conceived by Paul Kelly with music by various artists. It celebrates the music of the Swing era of jazz (1930s-1946), including many well-known tunes by artists like Duke Ellington, William "Count" Basie, Benny Goodman and others.
Swing! combines high energy dancing, singing and acrobatics. There is no dialogue in the show, and the story is told entirely through music and dance. The show tries to recreate the swing style of jazz, which used large bands, fixed musical arrangements and solo-driven improvisations. Together with the development of the music, various forms of swing dancing emerged, varying by geographic regions, such as the Lindyhop or Jitterbug in Harlem or the Whip in Houston.
The show includes music and dance styles from early swing, West Coast, to other jazz styles, and even hip-hop (as shown as in an all-male version of "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy").
Some of the songs have new lyrics, but most are well-known swing-era hits, including "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)"; "Sing, Sing, Sing", "Jumpin at the Woodside"; and "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy (of Company B)".
For the 2012 Fall Drama, the theater program will be performing Neil Simon's "Barefoot in the Park." Click here for more information about the fall drama.
The theatre program at La Salle has been in existence since 1969 and now some forty years later, integrates the talents of over 100 students each year including female performers from our sister schools, Gwynedd Mercy Academy and Mount Saint Joseph's Academy, as well as a variety of other surrounding schools, both public and private.
For more information about the La Salle Theater Program, visit: http://www.lschs.org/theater.
