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Carlsen Center Event: In the Mood
Johnson County Community College
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2/9/09
Story by Peggy Graham
Get ‘In the Mood’ at the Carlsen Center
“Baby won’ you swing with me?” was the lyrical question on everyone’s lips when In the Mood hit No.1 on the charts in 1940.
Now almost 70 years later, In the Mood, a big band theatrical swing revue, will take audience members on a retro toe-tapping trip back to the 1940s at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 15, in Yardley Hall of the Carlsen Center, Johnson County Community College. Featuring the In the Mood Singers and Dancers and String of Pearls Big Band Orchestra, the centerpiece of the show is music that moved a nation’s spirit — music by Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, Harry James, Erskin Hawkins, The Andrews Sisters, Frank Sinatra and more.
The music, arrangements, choreography and costumes are authentic to the ’40s, a time when the combination of up-tempo big-band instrumentals and intimate, romantic ballads set the mood for a future filled with promise, hope and prosperity.
Much more than a concert, In the Mood takes a look at the life and times of America’s greatest generation in the 1940s. Through radio, theaters and ballrooms, the big bands were drawing record crowds. Vocal groups and soloists sang a repertory of great songs, and, for the last time in the 20th century, the entire country shared a common popular music. This body of song did much to sustain national morale during World War II.
The National Archives in Washington, D.C., brought In the Mood to audiences as part of their commemoration of the 50th anniversary of World War II, and the response was extraordinary, with crowds lining up for hours before curtain time. In 1993, the Archives presented a repeat performance, out-of-doors on Constitution Avenue. Thousands attended, and many stayed to dance the night away. As a result, In the Mood, in affiliation with the USO (United Service Organizations), began a series of tours which played to audiences across the United States during the 50th Commemoration of World War II. The show's association with the National Archives and the USO was altogether appropriate, for much of the underpinning research was drawn from resources of these organizations.
Bud Forrest is the In the Mood producer and the late Vic Schoen the arranger.
As the Glenn Miller song says, “Don’t keep me waitin’ when I’m In the Mood.”
In the Mood tickets are $25 and $35, available by calling the Carlsen Center box office, 913-469-4445, or online at www.jccc.edu/CarlsenCenter.
