What better way to end the season than with the sounds and joy of the big band era. The Howard College Theatre and Music Departments proudly produced a delightful show last week complete with an orchestra, a solo performance of “You Make Me Feel So Young,” and swing dancers doing the Lindy Hop.
The production, designed by Theatre Director and French horn player April Langehennig, was prefaced with a video montage of jazz greats while the audience took their seats in what was reminiscent of a 1940s dance hall—setting a tone that recalled the exuberance of patriotism and support for the wartime effort.
It was a time when young people danced to the sounds of big brass bands like Henry James and Glenn Miller, Cab Calloway and Louis B. Armstrong. When the girls wore dresses with petticoats and bobby socks and the guys wore suits and fedoras.
Leading the orchestra was Mark Watt, who began the night with “Peroxide Swing,” followed by the solo performance by Calvin Oglesby. An homage to Duke Ellington followed, with Langehennig’s troupe of talented actors proving their versatility in song and dance.
Theatre student Robert Fiero offered a sweet rendition of “Swingin’ on a Star,” a big hit for its time and an Academy Award winner for Best Song in 1944. Audience members laughed while comical cartoons of a donkey, a pig, and a monkey played out on the projection screens that adorned each side of the black box theatre.
Next on the program was “Sing, Sing, Sing,” which led into a lively skit of “Sister Sadie,” in which the students acted out the lyrics of the song depicting a scuffle after one young man distracts the attention of another’s date during a dance. Luckily, no one was seriously hurt and the would-be rivals made a friendly exit—much to the dismay of the forgotten object of their row.
A Glenn Miller medley followed—always a crowd favorite and skillfully performed by the orchestra. The medley was a wonderful segue into Kaydence Norwood’s joyful solo of “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.”
To round out the night and to say goodbye to the graduating theatre students, soloists Matthew Aceves and Makaila Vanslyke sang an emotional “We’ll Meet Again” as roses were presented to the ladies in the audience by the performers.