Lyric Theatre brings summer entertainment with musical ‘Swing!’; shows play through Saturday

Lyric Theatre continues the 2008 summer season of musicals today with “Swing!,” a Lyric premiere that answers the hit television show “Dancing With The Stars.” This all-dancing, all-singing production celebrates that uniquely American music and dance style that’s sure to put audiences “in the mood.” “Swing!” plays today through Saturday.
Requiring only joyful enthusiasm and a ready partner, swing dancing exploded out of pre-World War II Harlem’s hotbed of youth culture, swept the world and continues to enjoy a global resurgence that began more than a decade ago. Swing music shattered ethnic and cultural barriers, generated dance styles like the traditional Lindy Hop, and spawned specialty styles such as Jive, Latin Swing, Hip-Hop Swing, West Coast Swing, which nods to disco, and Rock ‘n’ Roll Swing, which utilizes acrobatics.
A collaboration of singers, dancers, and musicians, “Swing!” harnesses the spirit and joy of dance into a Broadway musical. It opened on Broadway in 1999.
Lyric veterans Vince Leseney, Mandy Jiran and Barb Schoenhofer join Broadway actor Christopher L. Morgan in providing the vocal soundtrack to this show. They perform swing standards that range from the comic to the nostalgic to the romantic and include favorites such as “It Don’t Mean A Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing),” “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy,” “In The Mood” and “Stompin’ at the Savoy.”
Swingin’ their hearts out to these tunes are dancers Barry Busby, Joshua Buscher, Cassie Chesnutt, Brooke Gebb, Glenn Giron, Sasha Hutchings, Lauren Linville, Con O’Shea-Creal, Alfie Parker Jr., Lanae Rhodes, Melissa Steadman, Alex Michael Stoll, Addie Tomlinson, Richard Riaz Yoder and professional ballroom dancers David Hyer and Shelby Rothell.
“Swing!” is being performed at the Civic Center Music Hall in downtown Oklahoma City. Tickets range from $27 to $52. Show times are 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday with an additional 2 p.m. matinee Saturday. For tickets, go online to www.lyrictheatreokc.com, call (405) 524-9312 or 1-800-364-7111 or go to Lyric at 1727 NW 16th St., Oklahoma City.
The 2008 season continues with productions of “Seven Brides For Seven Brothers” and “Urinetown, the Musical.”