On Thursday, January 26, students of the graduating class of the Master’s degree program in Musical Acting at JAMU presented a new production called „SWING! By the rhythm you will know us“. The musical takes the audience to the Czechoslovak post-war music café Černá perla, where American jazz and swing is played.
The story follows the fate of its operation from the perspective of a trio of female singers, Lily, Rosalie and Violeta, for whom performing on stage, swing music and men are a major passion in their lives. However, the swing enthusiasm is disrupted by the events surrounding the February 1948 coup and the incoming communist establishment, for whom American jazz and swing are ideological enemies that do not fit at all into the notion of „appropriate“ music for working class. In these difficult times, the three singers do not give up their dreams and their desire to find happiness.
Pavel Trtílek, the author of the theme and the script, who is also the dramaturge of the production and a teacher at JAMU, tells a story of love adventures, unexpected twists and turns, almost detective plots, accompanied by an unbridled rhythm, swing dance and two dozen famous swing songs, such as Girl Born to Rhythm, Crazy Day, My Love is Jazz, Swingers‘ Convention, Wandering in Rhythm, Telephone Fox, Recipe for Mood and many others.
The musical component of the musical will be performed live by a swing orchestra made up of students from the JAMU School of Music, ensuring the syncopated heartbeat of the production is right on track. The choreography of the show was assisted by swingers from the private Swing Wings dance school in Brno.
Michal Sopuch, a graduate of drama directing at the JAMU, who brings experience from the Scéna Theatre in Zlín and the Radost Theatre in Brno, and who has worked with Trtílek at the Polárka and Radost theatres.
The performance is over two hours long with a 20-minute intermission. The complete creative team and cast can be found HERE.