Swango (musical)
Encyclopedia
Swango is a dance musical
conceived and choreographed by Mariela Franganillo and Robert Royston, with a script by Rupert Holmes
.
The original production played in the off-Broadway
Swing 46 jazz club in 2002 and moved to the Helen Hayes Theatre in Nyack, New York
in 2003. It received mixed reviews. In both productions, Franganillo and Royston played the lovers. It played at theatres in White Plains, New York
and Queens, New York in 2005.
-type story loosely based on West Side Story
. A girl from the Argentine Tango
world meets a boy from the West Coast Swing
crew. A bartender narrates the conflict as the two groups compete to take over a new dance club in a converted warehouse. When the lovers come together, they create the fusion of Tango
and Swing
suggested by the title.
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
conceived and choreographed by Mariela Franganillo and Robert Royston, with a script by Rupert Holmes
Rupert Holmes
Rupert Holmes is an American-British composer, singer-songwriter, musician and author of plays, novels and stories. He is best known for his number one pop hit "Escape " and the song "Him", which reached the number 6 position on the Hot 100 U.S. pop chart in 1980...
.
The original production played in the off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
Swing 46 jazz club in 2002 and moved to the Helen Hayes Theatre in Nyack, New York
Nyack, New York
Nyack is a village in the towns of Orangetown and Clarkstown in Rockland County, New York, United States, located north of South Nyack; east of Central Nyack; south of Upper Nyack and west of the Hudson River, approximately 19 miles north of the Manhattan boundary, it is an inner suburb of New...
in 2003. It received mixed reviews. In both productions, Franganillo and Royston played the lovers. It played at theatres in White Plains, New York
White Plains, New York
White Plains is a city and the county seat of Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located in south-central Westchester, about east of the Hudson River and northwest of Long Island Sound...
and Queens, New York in 2005.
Plot
A Romeo and JulietRomeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
-type story loosely based on West Side Story
West Side Story
West Side Story is an American musical with a script by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and choreographed by Jerome Robbins...
. A girl from the Argentine Tango
Argentine Tango
Argentine tango is a musical genre of simple quadruple metre and binary musical form, and the social dance that accompanies it. Its lyrics and music are marked by nostalgia, expressed through melodic instruments including the bandoneon. Originated at the ending of the 19th century in the suburbs of...
world meets a boy from the West Coast Swing
West Coast Swing
West Coast Swing is a partner dance with roots in Lindy Hop. It is characterized by a distinctive elastic look that results from its basic extension-compression technique of partner connection, and is danced primarily in a slotted area on the dance floor...
crew. A bartender narrates the conflict as the two groups compete to take over a new dance club in a converted warehouse. When the lovers come together, they create the fusion of Tango
Tango (dance)
Tango dance originated in the area of the Rio de la Plata , and spread to the rest of the world soon after....
and Swing
Swing (dance)
"Swing dance" is a group of dances that developed with the swing style of jazz music in the 1920s-1950s, although the earliest of these dances predate swing jazz music. The best known of these dances is the Lindy Hop, a popular partner dance that originated in Harlem and is still danced today...
suggested by the title.