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A DARK BANDSTAND OFFERS 1940S SWING AND CIGARETTE NOSTALGIA
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By Alexis Reid
T
ruth be told, I half expected to see a small
gathering of MAGA hats in the Hult Center
for Bandstand, Broadway’s Tony award-
winning musical that ran Nov. 16-17. What
can I say? Romanticized callbacks to 1940s
America bring up certain images these days,
and not all of them include bumper bangs.
With book, music and lyrics by Richard Oberacker and Rob-
ert Taylor, Bandstand, in this traveling production by Theater
League, is an astounding, albeit uneasy, cry for America’s vet-
erans, and not what you might expect in an era where “for the
troops” is often politicized.
The story centers on Donny Novitski (Zack Zaromatidis), a
World War II veteran and musician struggling to make a living
in postwar Cleveland. He recruits a band of veterans to per-
form in the Tribute to the Troops competition, an old-timey
radio version of America’s Got Talent fraught with product
placement and an obvious romance with war widow Julia Tro-
jan (Jennifer Elizabeth Smith).
For better or worse, there’s a dissonance in Bandstand.
The opening number, “Just Like It Was Before,” begins in the
trenches of war, teasing “Taps” over an upbeat melody. The
weight of the battlefield doesn’t quite match the hopeful tone,
yet it’s hard not to be utterly entranced by the smoke and mir-
rors, which in this case is smoke and swing dancers.
Originally directed and choreographed by Andy Blanken-
buehler, Bandstand moves quickly and with military precision.
Dreamlike sequences fill the gaps in between scene changes
while huge instruments on wheels rotate on and off the stage
— piano, bass, drums, horns all swirling into and out of swanky
bars with high-flying dancers.
Miles Plant leads the musical direction for the incredible
musicians on stage, many of whom haven’t acted professional-
ly before Bandstand. Zaromatidis’ voice is brilliant, strong and
especially visceral in the sobering “Right This Way,” a middle
finger to the disgraceful lack of compensation for veterans.
Similarly, Smith leads the band in the dark finale “Welcome
Home,” an ironic, semi-comprehensive picture of postwar
America.
Musical prowess aside, Bandstand is most powerful in its
heavy-hitting moments: a soldier putting together, then tak-
ing apart, a glinting silver gun; the not-so-subtle metaphor of
a rigged competition; the ghosts of fallen brothers pushing an
upright piano across the stage; alcoholism, trauma and anxi-
ety.
Roxy York, who plays Julia’s overbearing and jovial mother,
sings a plaintive ballad in “Everything Happens,” a reminder
that not everything needs an explanation, even though Band-
stand seems to like neat little bows.
Thematically, Bandstand teases the road less traveled, but
because no one really likes to be beaten over the head with the
atrocities of war, we’re still served apple pie. ■
E U G E N E W E E K LY . C O M
Photo by Jeremy Daniel
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