Listen to the Score
About the show
"One – two – a-one, two, three, four!" Evelyn LaFayette counts off the band, and the resulting wall of sound propels the vocal from deep in her gut out to the dance floor where it moves the crowd into a frenzy of dancing.
The time:
1943. America is over a year into World War II.
The place:
the Jim Crow South.
The band:
a swing band typical of the era – typical, that is, except that Evelyn and the players are all young women of color.
Inspired by true stories of all-female big bands from the era, Sweethearts of Swing is the story of survival in a hostile world. Can this “international” band of African American, Latina, Native American, Chinese American -- and even one white woman -- survive while touring the Jim Crow South?
By exploring the intersection of race, gender and privilege, Sweethearts reminds us of music’s power to bridge even the deepest divides between us.
SWEETHEARTS is a collaboration by Nat & Kat, with a book by Natalie Wilson, and original music, lyrics and arrangements by Kat Sherrell.
Click here to learn more about the show, its creators, and the history that inspired it.
What's happening
Over the summer of 2017, the SWEETHEARTS creators had a residency with The Lark to further develop the show, which culminated in a staged concert reading at the Rockefeller Estate in Tarrytown, NY where the public got to meet the full Sweethearts band for the first time! Here is a demo reel of rehearsal and performance footage:
The residency and presentation were supported in part by the The Lark, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and the national Fund for New Musicals, a program of National Alliance for Musical Theatre, with funding from The Alhadeff Charitable Foundation.
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