SUNDAY SHOWSTOPPER SNIPPET … Bandstand

HAPPY SUNDAY! THE END OF ANOTHER WEEK (or the start, depending on how you look at it), and another installment of SUNDAY SHOWSTOPPER SNIPPETS.

This week brought the sad announcement that “Bandstand,” the new musical set in 1945, and focusing on the emotional and economic struggles of the GIs returning home and those waiting for them, has announced that it will be closing its Broadway run on September 17. That’s the VERY sad news. The good news, you STILL have time to go see it!! This show is truly a gem – it’s not just a bouncy, jump swingin’ musical medley of 1940s-sounding songs; it’s a gut and heart-wrenching journey to normality and reassimilation told through the lives of 6 young musicians, all returning from the war, and a young widow, still heartsick and floundering after the loss of her husband who didn’t make it home. It’s a quick, but potent, look into PTSD, and how banding together, facing your demons, and music can heal the soul.

Bandstand will have only played 166 regular performances when it closes in September. This is a TREMENDOUS show, with an exceptionally talented cast (they are quad threats – they act, sing, dance AND play their own instruments on stage!). It’s been a EXTREMELY crowded Broadway season (good for audiences, horrible for shows and investors) – this show SHOULD have been a huge hit, IMHO. It’s shows like this that make me passionate about getting on a plane to experience theatre, wherever it is, as early in the run as I can – few are video/recorded for posterity, and not everything gets a national tour. Theatre brings more Life to My Years than anything else.

There are quite a few ‘clips’ from the show floating around the internet, but only one full musical number, so this is a gem, to be sure. Enjoy Andy Blankenbuehler’s Tony-Award winning choreography in this lively performance from Laura Osnes, Corey Cott and the rest of the Bandstand cast on GMA.