Swing town

Sean Cercone remembers glancing at members of his extended family while they watched "Swing" on Broadway.

"They were all like this," said Cercone, leaning forward in his seat and snapping his fingers. Three generations were bouncing to the beat of a music style that captured America's imagination in the Depression and has since enjoyed several revivals.

"It's music we all know," said Cercone, who is directing "Swing" for Chanhassen Dinner Theatre. "We hear it at weddings, at the Super Bowl [Big Bad Voodoo Daddy in 1999], with the Brian Setzer Orchestra. It's a great American fusion that crosses genders, cultures and generations."

"Swing," a musical revue that ran for 14 months on Broadway, opened a nine-week run on the Chanhassen main stage last weekend. It's a departure from the usual book musicals that Chan is known for -- "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" and "Cats" the recent exceptions.

Director/choreographer Paul Kelly conceived the piece, and the original production was overseen by the well-known Jerry Zaks ("La Cage aux Folles," "Little Shop of Horrors"). It was nominated for a Tony for best musical in 2000.

There's no dialogue in "Swing" -- the ultimate platter of song and dance. At Chanhassen, the George Maurer Group drives the music, and Cercone has assembled a cast of singers and dancers that includes a few ringers from New York.

Cercone is artistic director of the Carousel, a dinner theater in Akron, Ohio. He and Chanhassen artistic director Michael Brindisi met two years ago at the New Musical Festival in New York and Brindisi went to Akron last winter to direct "The Odd Couple."

"We think of ourselves as a theater, not a dinner theater," said Cercone.

A native of the Bronx, he was working in New York theater after getting a master of fine arts degree at West Virginia University when he applied at Akron.

"I was 27," he said. "I think they were crazy, but they hired me."

He restructured the company ("They did bad shows and had bad food") and brought in more New York talent. Because Akron is only a 45-minute flight away, New York provides 100 percent of his casts.

The culture at Chanhassen is quite different, of course. Brindisi rarely goes outside the Twin Cities, largely because there is a significant stable of actors, singers and dancers here.

"Everybody here is so game for stuff," Cercone said of his Twin Cities cast.

He explained that New York dancers will occasionally shy away from a risky move because they fear it could affect their careers. Not that Twin Cities performers are more reckless about potential injury, but "there's more daring here," he said.

Some of the faces in "Swing" are familiar. Singers include Fred Steele of the famous Steeles family group and Sean Nugent, a regular at the dinner theater. Timotha Lanae, who performed in "Respect," and choreographer Michael Matthew Ferrell are in the dance ensemble.

Cercone's post-"Swing" plans are vague, but he has criteria: "I want to create and pay my bills. As long as I can spend all day at the theater, I'll be happy."

Graydon Royce • 612-673-7299