JOPLIN, Mo. —
Cecie Fritz doesn’t just listen to swing music. She feels it.
The sound of the big band era resonates with her. It triggers cherished memories and pleasant thoughts. It sounds, just, happy.
“I was raised with it,” Fritz said. “We played it around the house. My parents both loved it. It was on our record player. I’ve been involved with the big band sound my whole life.”
Fritz has poured her love of the big band sound into a musical production she directs at Joplin LIttle Theatre. “Let’s Swing!” is a tribute to the music of the 1940’s and features six singers performing familiar favorites.
Medley after medley will feature classics, from “In the Mood” to “Blues in the Night”; from “Chattanooga Choo-Choo” to “Take the ‘A’ Train.” The show also includes a tribute to U.S. troops.
The cast includes theater veterans Rebecca Luebber, Tamara Barnett, Becky Seidl, Chet Fritz, Jim Lile and Kenny Timbrel.
Joined by bassist Jerry Holcomb and drummer Damon Graue, Fritz will do what she did back in her youth: Play swing music on piano.
“I played piano when I was 13 for a dancing school in Webb City,” Fritz said. “I played every evening and that gave me my start in keeping regular time, and playing that kind of music.”
In college, Fritz played with a dance band at the Golden Door in Carthage. After marrying Chet, the two opened the Tropics night club and featured swing. They played that music in their club from the ‘60s until deep in the disco era of the ‘70s.
Before Glenn Miller and Duke Ellington helped the big band era explode, the music got its start as an offshoot of jazz. The 17 to 20-piece bands would tour across the country, filling up dance halls and other venues.
“Entertainment in the country was so different back then,” Fritz said. “We didn’t have TV, so bands had to go out and travel.”
Once the U.S. got involved in World War II, many big bands used the genre’s happy, energetic sound to lift the morale of troops around the world. Once the war ended, big band music was as much a symbol of American patriotism as the bald eagle and apple pie.
The era is revived once in a while, most recently with the advent of smaller bands such as Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and the Squirrel Nut Zippers, and movies such as “Swingers.”
“I think about every 20 years or so big bands get a resurgence,” Fritz said. “What I think is absolutely amazing is that one of the biggest bands, the Glenn Miller Orchestra, is still performing. People out there still love the sound.”
That includes the cast members, whom Fritz sad haven’t wanted to stop rehearsing the show. The energy that the cast puts in, combined with her love of the source material, make the whole experience gratifying, Fritz said.
“This has taken a couple of years,” Fritz said. “It’s been a lot of work, but a lot of fun. To see it come about on stage puts a grin on my face.”
Want to go?
“Let’s Swing!” will be presented from Wednesday to Sunday, Feb.12, at Joplin Little Theatre.
Tickets, details: 417-623-3638.
Lifestyles
Related Photos
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The cast of "Let's Swing!" rehearses Monday. The revue featuring '40s big band music opens next week. Globe | T. Rob Brown
Discussion
Love of big band era leads to creation of musical revue
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