Date: Fri 18-Sep-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: CAROLL

Quick Words:

Swingtime-Canteen-Cabaret

Full Text:

(rev "Swingtime Canteen" @Downtown Cabaret Theatre)

THEATRE REVIEW: Slight Plot, But Lots Of Period Music Makes "Swingtime

Canteen" A Nostalgic Evening

(with cut)

By Julie Stern

BRIDGEPORT -- Steven Spielberg's smash hit Saving Private Ryan touched a chord

in most viewers, not only because it was a great war movie, but because in the

characters of Captain Miller and the squad of rangers who go with him to find

the last surviving Ryan brother, it summons up memories of a time when

Americans were willing to make real sacrifices, for their country and for each

other. In this self-serving age in which we now live, that nostalgic myth

makes us feel better.

The Downtown Cabaret's production of Swingtime Canteen fits right in with that

nostalgia, albeit from the distaff angle. The premise is a quintet of women

singer-musicians, perform to an audience of servicemen in 1944 London as the

first stop on a tour of military bases in Europe and the Pacific.

There is some interplay among the characters. Marian Ames is the slightly

over-the-hill movie star who serves as the group's leader. Topeka Abotelli,

the tough Rosie-the-Riveter piano player, was "fixin' the toilet in the ladies

room when I heard them puttin' the group together so I joined..."

Lilly McBain, the slinky blonde trumpeter; Jo Sterling, the hard boiled

drummer who has spent her career as understudy for her friend Marian; and

Katie Gammersflugel, Marian's mousy niece, who has hoer own reasons for

wanting to come on the tour, round out the quintet of performers.

However, the plot is slight. The show is simply a vehicle for stringing

together a concert of two dozen musical numbers from the era. The first half

is long on the novelty pieces, with catchy medleys of "Accentuate the

Positive" and "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition," and a great Andrews

Sisters medley that includes "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy," "Bei Mir Bist Du

Schon," and so on.

In the second act, as the lights flicker while bombs fall on the city, the

tone becomes more somber. The women articulate their reasons for wanting to go

on the tour: the brothers, the husbands, the lovers, the cousins, the

friends... all of whom are somewhere out in harm's way.

Here the haunting ballads predominate -- "Sentimental Journey," "I'll be

Seeing You," "How High The Moon," and more.

The really good musicals all have some underlying element of pathos to give

them substance. In the campy first act that element was noticeably missing,

although the company is bursting with comic and musical talent. The second

half really picked up and captured the mixture of innocence and courage and

patriotism of the time.

( Swingtime Canteen continues through November 1. Downtown Cabaret Theatre is

at 263 Golden Hill Street in Bridgeport. Call 576-1636 for curtain times and

ticket information.)