Friday, January 15, 1999

Show guided by its creator

By LAURA STEWART
NEWS-JOURNAL FINE ARTS WRITER

DAYTONA BEACH — Bob McDowell is no stranger to area audiences. It's been six years since he became a regular in Seaside Music Theater summer seasons, seated at the piano or conducting the orchestra at shows like Fiddler on the Roof" and "Children of Eden."

But when "Swingtime Canteen" opens tonight at the Ormond Beach Performing Arts Center with McDowell as musical director, audiences also will see a different side to McDowell.

Not only did the New York-based musician arrange and orchestrate music for the musical when it toured and then opened off-Broadway several years ago, he also included a fresh opening for its SMT debut.

It's all part of the "domino effect" that all along has characterized "Swingtime Canteen," a peppy, dramatic revue of vintage tunes and rhythms set in a 1944 USO canteen in London.

"It has totally changed from the time I first developed it. And as it's changed, I've kept the best of it, I hope, while adding new material," McDowell said after his lunch special at a family diner late last week in Daytona Beach, taking a short break from rehearsals and unwinding. But unwinding just a little.

McDowell will be at today's opening. Then, first thing Saturday, he will be on his way to South Carolina to begin rehearsals on another show, "Gypsy," as choreographer. "Just so I can keep my life schizophrenic enough," he said of his typically frenetic theater life.

He has his own band at home and will return to New York after "Gypsy" opens to record a new album.

He'll direct, choreograph and brainstorm on shows in the city and on the road, he'll work on new material for the band and for shows and, as he has throughout the past four years, he'll refine "Swingtime Canteen."

"It's been through various mutations" he said. "It was a showcase production off-off-Broadway, where it was called Home Fires.' It was produced in Texas and by Bay Street, a regional theater on Long Island, and finally opened off-Broadway. All that time, Swingtime' was sort of collecting its professional staff.

"There's a bombing in the show, but that didn't come in until it was at Bay Street before that, the dramatic tension had been among the cast members," said McDowell. "I realized, though, that we had a little trouble giving it an energized beginning, that the number we'd been opening with wasn't much of an opening.

"We just needed a boffo opening number. In hindsight and in this line of work, hindsight is really 20-20, because you're always so caught up in getting the show opened each time that it's only in hindsight that you realize this isn't working quite right' I decided what to do while I was talking to the producer before coming down here to Daytona Beach."

What to do was arrange a new opening number, "In the Mood," and introduce it at rehearsals to the cast Elizabeth Murff as Marion Ames; Denise Davidson as Jo Sterling; Cristin Hubbard as Lilly McBain; Karen Oster as Topeka Abotelli; and Catherine Motley as Katie Gammersflugel. He also presented his revisions to director Chuck Hoenes and choreographer Penny Ann Maas, who will leave town as soon as "Swingtime" opens to appear in Broadway's "Cabaret."

The results are boffo, and add to the complexity that has been increasing as "Swingtime Canteen" has evolved. From beginning to end or, at least, to the end that opens tonight in Ormond Beach it's been fun.

"But the stakes are so high when you're constantly revising," said McDowell. "We've got it done for now; we've hit on a show that really works, so it's easier now. This is the best of it, with new material."

"Swingtime Canteen" opens at 8 tonight and runs through Feb. 7. Presented by Seaside Music Theater, it is staged at Ormond Beach Performing Arts Center, 399 N. U.S. 1, Ormond Beach. Shows are 8 p.m. today and Saturday plus Jan. 21-23, 28-30 and Feb. 4-6, with matinees at 2 p.m. Sunday plus Jan. 24, 31 and Feb. 7. Tickets are $22-20, $12 for students and $10 for children younger than 18. For more information, call (904) 252-6200.