Swinging on a Star is a musical

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...

 revue, featuring the music of Johnny Burke

Johnny Burke (lyricist)

Johnny Burke was a lyricist, widely regarded as one of the finest writers of popular songs in America between the 1920s and 1950s.-Biography:...

, with the lyrics by Burke and the music by Burke and several of his partners, such as Erroll Garner

Erroll Garner

Erroll Louis Garner was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his swing playing and ballads. His best-known composition, the ballad "Misty", has become a jazz standard...

 and Jimmy Van Heusen. The name of the revue is from the Oscar-winning song that Burke wrote with Jimmy Van Heusen for the film Going My Way.

Swinging on a Star was originally produced at the George Street Playhouse

George Street Playhouse

George Street Playhouse is a theatre in New Brunswick, New Jersey, one of the state's preeminent professional theatres committed to the production of new and established plays....

 in 1994, with an additional production at the Goodspeed Opera House. It opened on Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 at the Music Box Theatre

Music Box Theatre

The Music Box Theater is a Broadway theatre located at 239 West 45th Street in midtown-Manhattan.The once most aptly named theater on Broadway, the intimate Music Box was designed by architect C. Howard Crane and constructed by composer Irving Berlin and producer Sam H. Harris specifically to...

 on October 22, 1995 and closed on January 13, 1996 after 96 performances and 19 previews. Directed by Michael Leeds and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall

Kathleen Marshall

Kathleen Marshall is an American choreographer, director, and creative consultant.-Life and career:Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Marshall graduated from Taylor Allderdice High School and Smith College. She worked in the Pittsburgh theatre scene when she was younger, performing with such...

, it featured Michael McGrath, Teresa Burrell, Lewis Cleale

Lewis Cleale

Lewis Cleale is an American theatre actor and singer. He is originally from Houlton, Maine.A graduate of the University of Miami's Frost School of Music and of the Burt Reynolds Dinner Theatre, Cleale's big break came when he was cast in a European tour of Oklahoma!, in which he was noticed by...

, Denise Faye, Eugene Fleming, Kathy Fitzgerald, and Alvaleta Guess.

Synopsis and songs

Each segment showed a different time and place.
Act I
Speakeasy-Chicago (1920s)

• You're Not the Only Oyster in the Stew
• Chicago Style
• Ain't It A Shame About Mame
• What's New
• Doctor Rhythm

Depression-The Bowery

• Pennies from Heaven
  Pennies from Heaven (song)
  "Pennies from Heaven" is a 1936 American popular song with music by Arthur Johnston and words by Johnny Burke. It was introduced by Bing Crosby in the 1936 film of the same name...
  
  
• When Stanislaus Got Married
• His Rocking Horse Ran Away
• Annie Doesn't Live Here Anymore

Radio Show- New York City (1940s)

• Annie Doesn't Live Here Anymore
• Scatterbrain
• One, Two, Button Your Shoe
• What Does It Take To Make You Take To Me?
• Irresistible
• An Apple For the Teacher

USO Show-The Pacific Islands

• Thank Your Luck Stars and Stripes
• Personality
• There's Always the Blues
• Polka Dots and Moonbeams
• Swinging On A Star
  Swinging on a Star
  "Swinging on a Star" is an American pop standard with music composed by Jimmy Van Heusen and lyrics by Johnny Burke. It was sung by Bing Crosby in the 1944 film Going My Way, winning an Academy Award for Best Original Song that year, and has been recorded by numerous artists since...
  
  
• Stars and Stripes

Act II
Ballroom

• Don't Let That Moon Get Away
• All You Want to Do Is Dance

You Danced With Dynamite

• Imagination
• It Could Happen To You

Road To...

• Road To Morocco
  Road to Morocco
  Road to Morocco is an 1942 American comedy film about two fast-talking guys tossed up on a desert shore and sold into slavery to a beautiful princess...
  
  
• Apalachicola
• You Don't ave To Know The Language
• Going My Way
• Shadows On The Swanee
• Pakistan
• Road To Morocco (Reprise)

Supper Club (1950s)

• But, Beautiful
• Like Someone In Love
• Moonlight Becomes You
  Moonlight Becomes You (song)
  Moonlight Becomes You is a popular song, composed by Jimmy Van Heusen with lyrics by Johnny Burke. The song was written for the Paramount Pictures release Road to Morocco and published in 1942 in connection with the film...
  
  
• If Love Ain't There (It Ain't There)
• Sunday, Monday Or Always
• Misty
• Here's That Rainy Day
  Here's That Rainy Day
  "Here's That Rainy Day" is a popular song with music by Jimmy Van Heusen and lyrics by Johnny Burke, published in 1953. It was introduced by Dolores Gray in the Broadway musical Carnival in Flanders...
  
  
• Pennies From Heaven (Reprise)
• Swinging On A Star (Reprise)

Source: "Swinging on a Star: The Johnny Burke Musical" (1996), Johnny Burke, Joe Bushkin, Michael Leeds, pp.4 and 7, ISBN 0822215233

Awards and nominations

Tony Award

Tony Award

The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...

• Best Musical (nominee)

Drama Desk Award

Drama Desk Award

The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...

• Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical

Lewis Cleale (nominee)

Michael McGrath (nominee)

• Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical - Kathy Fitzgerald (nominee)
• Outstanding Choreography (nominee)

Theatre World Award

Theatre World Award

The Theatre World Award, first awarded for the 1945-46 season, is an American honor presented annually to actors and actresses in recognition of an outstanding New York City stage debut performance, either on Broadway or off-Broadway.-History:...

• Michael McGrath

External links

• Internet Broadway Database listing
• New York Times review of George Street Playhouse production, May 1, 1994