Bringing back the swing

A musical in the classic mode, Bandstand transports you back to the sizzling big band era of the 1940s. Marrying a central love story with a grounded post-WW2 setting, Bandstand is a Broadway spectacular with real emotional bite. Its story follows a group of veterans who form a swing band on their return home, with the hope of hitting the big time in a national radio competition. The production won the 2017 Tony for Best Choreography, and also picked up two Drama Desk Awards.

The latest show from the Paper Mill Playhouse stable (which in recent years has also given us A Bronx Tale), Bandstand boasts electric dancing and direction from Andy Blankenbuehler, who won two Tonys for choreographing Lin-Manuel Miranda's In the Heights and Hamilton and has been nominated for two 2017 Tony Awards for his work on this production! The jazzy score is written by Richard Oberacker & Robert Taylor, much of which is played live on stage, and reprising their roles from the Paper Mill staging are two-time Tony nominees Laura Osnes (Bonnie and Clyde, Cinderella) and Corey Cott (Gigi, Newsies).

What is Bandstand About?

Donny Novitski is back from the war and unsure what the future holds. His nights are restless, with visions of the battlefield running through his mind, but perhaps music holds the key to his recovery. A once promising jazz musician, Danny's interest is peaked by a national song competition on the radio, with the winning band bagging an appearance in an MGM movie! Donny sets about putting together a band of fellow veterans, determined that their terrible past experiences shouldn't hold them back from claiming a better future.

With the band improving, Donny's luck seems to have hit an even bigger break when he finds the beautiful and talented widow Julia to be their singer. A romance begins to blossom between the two, yet the band are heading into choppy waters. Their collective pasts can't be so easily forgotten, and the tension caused by all their underlying mental stresses is threatening to break the band apart. As the competition looms closer, they must rediscover their unity if they stand a shot at glory.