Theater: Bernard B. Jacobs / 242 West 45th Street, New York, NY, 10036
Synopsis:
Set in 1945, THE BANDSTAND tells the story of musician Donny Novitski who is about to take on the mission of his life: leading his band of fellow veterans into competition for America’s next swing band sensation. However, complicated relationships, the demands of the competition and the challenging after-effects of war may break these musicians. The original score is strongly influenced by authentic 1940s swing music, much of which is played onstage by the characters and band members. When Donny meets a beautiful, young singer named Julia, he finds the perfect harmony in words and music that could take this band of brothers all the way to the live radio broadcast finale in New York City. But to succeed, it will require every ounce of talent, stamina and raw nerve that these musicians possess.
Directed and choreographed by Tony Award® winner Andy Blankenbuehler (Hamilton), and starring Tony nominee Laura Osnes (Cinderella) and Corey Cott (Newsies), THE BANDSTAND is the high-stepping musical about love in full swing.
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“Bandstand,” an openhearted, indecisive new musical, wants you clapping your hands and clenching your fists, tapping your toes and blinking back tears. It is both a peppy celebration of can-do spirit and a more somber exploration of what American servicemen experienced when they marched home from World War II.
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At a time when the future of federal arts funding is in serious jeopardy, the high-powered new Broadway musical “Bandstand” serves as an urgent testimonial to the healing and restorative power that the arts (in this case, an informal neighborhood jazz band) can have for those who have endured economic or emotional hardships.
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The resonant original musical Bandstand dances a delicate line between nostalgia and disillusion. What it seems to promise, and often delivers, is Broadway escapism: a tale of soldiers returning from World War II into a lively world of big-band music, boogie-woogie dancing and a booming American economy. Donny (the very engaging Corey Cott) assembles a music combo composed entirely of fellow veterans, hoping to win a competition in New York and earn a shot at Hollywood. Sounds like a happy old movie, right? But these soldiers, we soon learn, have trouble getting into the swing of things. Try though they may—through work, repression, copious drinking—they can’t shake off the horror of war.
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From its title and marketing campaign, you’d think the new musical Bandstand would simply be an exuberant paean to the joys of big-band swing. But there’s a gloominess hanging over this thematically ambitious show, written by Broadway newcomers Richard Oberacker and Rob Taylor. And why shouldn’t there be, since its troubled main characters include six World War II veterans and the widow of a man killed in combat. Uneasily attempting to be simultaneously a feel-good, swinging musical and a serious depiction of post-traumatic stress, Bandstand is at war with itself.
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The band in question is the one that Donny Novitski (Corey Cott of Broadway’s “Gigi”) puts together when he returns home to Cleveland, following his combat service in World War II. Once a young hotshot on the music scene, Donny finds, contrary to the title of the opening song, that it’s not “just like it was before.” There are no prime gigs for this composer-pianist vet, as he repeatedly hears the empty refrain from those intent on only looking forward: “But we thank you for your service.”
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