A Toe Tapping Good Time

We had a great time. We went with another couple to Fort Atkinson, Wi. to the Fireside Theatre yesterday. We left at 9 AM and didn't get home until it was getting dark. We had read about this show in the newspaper and called our friends to see if they would like to join us. The musical was called "Swing on a Star." It was a tribute to the big bands of a time during and after WW ll. This is the write up online telling about this theatre and the production. It was a time of great changes, great stars, great promise, and great music. It was the time when swing was king! It was the time of Sinatra, Crosby, the Andrews Sisters, the Marx Brothers, Abbott and Costello, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Jimmy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, and so many more. And you can return to that wonderful time in this new edition of The Fireside’s wildly popular original, musical extravaganza. It’s all there - the sights, the sounds, the laughter, the dancing, and most especially the music. Young and old alike will cheer as this immortal era is brought to life again by a spectacularly talented cast of performers including The Fireside’s own LIVE Big Band!

We were taken back to our youth. During and after the war the radio was our entertainment in our homes. I can remember my Mom listening to all of the songs that I heard yesterday. She played them over and over...probably the reason that I know every word to most of the music we heard yesterday. She would hear Glen Miller or Eddy Duchin start to play and she would do a little "che, cheche, che" and jitter bug around our kitchen. She loved piano music and could play a boogie woogie that would knock your socks off.

Well, back to our day...we arrived and looked around at all the shops. Each shop has such unique things...things that you don't see anywhere else. We were given a reasonable amount of time to shop. We were promptly called to lunch. The service was wonderful. Fresh soup, homemade breads, tenderloin of beef, potato gratin, string beans, harvard beets, and a wonderful date and nut cake, with a bourbon sauce and vanilla bean ice cream. We didn't have to wait for a thing. The waitress was there at our elbow whenever we needed something. After "lunch" we went into a big area surrounding a fireplace. There we sat and visited, while people were lining up to go into the theatre. We were escorted to our seats. There isn't a bad seat in the theatre. We looked around theroom and saw that many people were our age...some even older. In a short time the show began.

We were thoroughly entertained, with big band music, a wonderful troupe of singers and dancers. They came down the aisles to get on the circular stage. They performed singly and in groups.The band was in the center of the stage and the stage went up and down as the scenes changed. They wore so many different costumes appropriate for the songs that they were singing and dancing to. Young people...full of energy.... Jitterbugging and waltzing around the stage...we almost could have touched them. My particular favorite was when the three girls portrayed the Andrew Sisters. As I looked around the theatre, I could see so much joy in the people's faces as they were transported back to this time in our history.People lost their inhibitions for a time and moved with the music in their seats. You couldn't keep your feet from tapping.

Balisha