BWW Reviews: THE ALL NIGHT STRUT Brings Swing-Era Glamour to The Keeton Theatre

Ginger Newman and Kate Adams-Johnson have perfected the recipe for musical success: Take three ginger-haired beauties, pair them with three dark and handsome young men and add a musical score that includes some of the best-known and most-beloved songs of the 1930s and '40s. That's the winning formula the talented duo have mixed together to grand effect in The Keeton Theatre's production of The All Night Strut, the winning musical revue that is as effervescent as a glass of champagne and as entertaining as a Manhattan Transfer concert.

Featuring the vocal stylings (is there any other way to describe what this wonderful quartet of performers do with the music?) of the multi-talented Stephanie Jones-Benton, Casey Gilbert, Chad Webb and Daniel Collins - aided and abetted admirably by the amazingly light-on-their-feet McKenna Tramel and BranDon Johnson - The All Night Strut takes its audience on a sentimental journey back to a glamorous nightclub of the swing era, evoking memories and more with a musical program that is lovingly packaged and artfully presented.

While audience members of a certain vintage might remember the songs as they were originally performed by some of the most notable vocalists of the swing era backed up by the biggest of the big bands (The Glenn Miller Band's "Chattanooga Choo-Choo," Fats Waller's "Ain't Misbehavin'" or Duke Ellington's "It Don't Mean a Thing [If It Ain't Got that Swing]"), still others recall the tunes because of their later interpretations by the aforementioned Manhattan  Transfer ("Java Jive," "Operator" and "Tuxedo Junction," for example) or Bette Midler ("In The Mood"). Yet even if they're hearing the songs for the very first time, the audience is transported to a different time and place - when smartly dressed and sophisticated couples charmed each other over cocktails in the finest of supper clubs - and the music was melodious, the lyrics clever and every night held the promise of adventure, romance and passion.

With Newman and Adams-Johnson collaborating on the direction for the piece and Adams-Johnson handling choreographic duties, The Keeton's version of The All Night Strut is a stylish confection, perfectly capturing the tone of the earlier times and showcasing the timeless qualities of the music through the terrific performances of the cast, each of whom are totally committed to reprising the look and the feel of the swing era. Newman's contributions are especially notable, thanks to her own personal history with the show: Some years ago, she memorably sang the songs designated for "The Soprano" in Tennessee Repertory Theater's production of The All Night Strut. Having that knowledge should assuage any fears or apprehensions you might have about the revue, what with the songs entrusted to performers too young to remember all those earlier renditions that remain so vividly ensconced in one's personal memory banks.

Opening with Mack Gordon and Harry Warren's ode to Pennsylvania Station and the railroad cars that comprised the "Chattanooga Choo Choo" and wending its way down memory lane through "Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?" (one of my favorite songs of all time, it's hauntingly beautiful when sung by Collins) and "Gimme A Pigfoot and a Bottle of Beer" (Gilbert shows off her way with a jazzy blues-tinged number) and including such World War II-era tunes as "White Cliffs of Dover," "I'll Be Seeing You," "G.I. Jive" and "Comin' In On A Wing and A Prayer," you can't help but find something to love in The All Night Strut.

Personally, I love all the songs on the musical program and I've long been a fan of swing and big band music - even as a teenager - and watching this ensemble only makes me want to hear those songs more. They just don't write 'em like this anymore and The Four Singers, it's wonderful to report, do each and every song justice.

Jones-Benton's carriage is so fitting to the period, her voice so exquisite and she intuitively interprets these standards of the great American songbook that you fall in love with the music all over again. Gilbert's soulful alto is perfectly suited to these songs, while Collins displays an amazingly deft ability to deliver a pleasing sound and Webb is versatile and adept. Together, their harmonies are tight and focused, each individual performance sharpened by the shared focus on true authenticity and reverence for the material.

It certainly doesn't hurt that each of the performers (including Tramel and Johnson, the two dancers) look as if they stepped out of a circa-1940s bandbox, thanks to the efforts of costume designer Laura Spencer Higgins. Performed amid the Art Deco-inspired scenic design crafted by Brad Kamer and featuring the inspired lighting design of Kelly Landry, The All Night Strut's design aesthetic pays homage to the swing era without necessarily being slavish to it.

Newman's outstanding music direction is evident throughout the production (and is more impressive given that the show is double cast, with audiences also treated to the performances of Melissa Silengo, Deborah Stolzfuls, David Williams, Anthony Nappo, Tara Carney and Dominique Howse) and her three-person combo provides the ideal musical accompaniment, sounding for all the world like a big band. Kudos to Lee Druce, Bob Marinelli and Ed Green for providing such strong support.

-  The All Night Strut. Conceived and originally directed and choreographed by Fran Charnas. Musical arrangements by Tom Fit, Gil Lieb and Dick Schermesser, with additional orchestrations by Corey Allen. Directed by Ginger Newman and Kate Adams-Johnson. Presented by The Larry Keeton Theatre, 108 Donelson Pike, Nashville. Through November 19. For details, visit www.thelarrykeetontheatre.org. For reservations, call (615) 883-8375.

 

 

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