The All Night Strut!
A delightful romp through the dance and music of the 1930s and '40s.
Show Essentials
4
Roles
PG
Rated
2
Acts

Full Synopsis

The All Night Strut! is a musical celebration of the 1930s and 1940s in America. The concept is simple. The book of the show is the lyrics. The attitude of the characters to these lyrics and the staging is the realization of this concept in active terms. The piece is performed with four actor/singer/dancers: two men and two women. They are a soprano, an alto, a tenor and a baritone. There is also a band, either onstage or in a bandstand. The script includes direction on how to do the show with minimal production values, as well as with more elaborate production values. The songs are done in the following order:

Act One

"Chatanooga Choo Choo"
"Minnie the Moocher"
"Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?"
"In the Mood"
"Gimme a Pigfoot and a Bottle of Beer"
"A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square"
"Crazy Rhythm"
"Java Jive"
The War Medley: "G.I. Jive" / "Shoo Shoo Baby" / "White Cliffs of Dover" / "Rosie the Riveter" / "You're a Lucky Fellow, Mr. Smith" / "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition" / "Lucky Fellow" / "Wing and Prayer" / "I'll Be Seeing You"

Act Two

"I Get Ideas (When We Are Dancing)"
"Ain't Misbehavin'"
"Operator"
"Dream"
"Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar"
"A Fine Romance"
"Tuxedo Junction"
"Jukebox Saturday Night"
"As Time Goes By"
Finale: "Hit That Jive Jack" / "Billie's Bounce" / "It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing"
"Lullaby of Broadway"

Casting
← Back to The All Night Strut!
Cast Size: Small (Up to 10 performers)
Cast Type: Ensemble Cast
Dance Requirements: Standard

Character Breakdown

Man 1
Romantic, a leading man, lovable and relatable.
Gender: male
Age: 20 to 40
Vocal range top: Bb5
Vocal range bottom: F3
Man 2
Proud of his past. Always ready to tell a story.
Gender: male
Age: 20 to 40
Vocal range top: Bb4
Vocal range bottom: D2
Woman 1
A "Broadway Baby" and party girl. Excitable, sweet, jazzy.
Gender: female
Age: 20 to 40
Vocal range top: Bb5
Vocal range bottom: F3
Woman 2
A down-home girl with lots of soul. Passionate, soulful, and grounded.
Gender: male
Age: 20 to 40
Vocal range top: Ab5
Vocal range bottom: D3
Full Song List
The All Night Strut!: Minnie The Moocher
The All Night Strut!: Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?
The All Night Strut!: In The Mood
The All Night Strut!: Gimme A Pigfoot And A Bottle Of Beer
The All Night Strut!: A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square
The All Night Strut!: Crazy Rhythm
The All Night Strut!: Java Jive
The All Night Strut!: World War II Medley
The All Night Strut!: I Get Ideas (When We Are Dancing)
The All Night Strut!: Ain't Misbehavin'
The All Night Strut!: Operator
The All Night Strut!: Dream
The All Night Strut!: Beat Me, Daddy, Eight To The Bar
The All Night Strut!: A Fine Romance
The All Night Strut!: Tuxedo Junction
The All Night Strut!: Juke Box Saturday Night
The All Night Strut!: As Time Goes By
The All Night Strut!: Finale
The All Night Strut!: Lullaby Of Broadway (Finale Part 2 and Bows)

Show History

Inspiration

The All Night Strut! is a revue of American music of the 1930s and 1940s. Fran Charnas, a veteran theatre director, saw the enigmatic state of the country near the end of the 1970s and wanted to harken back to a time when the United States was also in a mood of uncertainty. As a residual effect, she would hope that bringing this music to the American stage once again would both inspire nostalgia amongst the older generations and educate the younger generations about this certain style. The music was rearranged slightly to accommodate four-part harmony for a rounder sound.

Productions

The All Night Strut! premiered in a peanut shells-on-the-floor joint on the banks of the infamous Cuyahoga River in the industrial flats of Cleveland, Ohio. The club was named Pickle Bill's and its owner was a wild and crazy, generous and wonderful Irishman, Jerry Powell. The previous tenants were an improvisational show and some Irish rovers. Next, the show was whisked uptown to the grandeur of the art deco muraled State Theatre of Playhouse Square. This revue played to over 100,000 people in less than eight months.

Since that engagement, The All Night Strut! has played to great critical acclaim in theatres, concert halls and cabarets across the United States, Canada and Europe, including critical raves in Los Angeles, the record-breaking run at the Gem Theatre in Detroit and the boffo engagement at the Cabaret of the Casino De Monte Carlo. The All Night Strut! has toured with the Glenn Miller Orchestra and The Inkspots and performed with The Boston Pops. The show was also nationally broadcast on PBS in 1988.

Trivia

  • After seeing The All Night Strut! in Toronto, Ella Fitzgerald burst into the dressing room, scatting "It Don t Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing". The cast didn t skip a beat, joining her in an improvised jam.

Critical Reaction

"A bright, tuneful, totally entertaining revue... a rollicking, joyous evening!"
– St. Louis Post Dispatch



"Red hot and cracking, stimulating and irresistable!"
– Detroit Free Press



"Babe-ree-bopping pizzazz, high steppin' swing and slithering jive. It's sensational."
– The Boston Globe

After Dark Award - San Francisco

2015 - , Nominee ()

Joseph Jefferson Awards - Chicago

2015 - , Nominee ()

Los Angeles Drama Critics Award

2015 - , Nominee ()

Detroit Free Press Award Nomination

2015 - Best Play, Nominee ()

Connect

Billing

Requirements

You must give the authors/creators billing credits, as specified in the Production Contract, in a conspicuous manner on the first page of credits in all programs and on houseboards, displays and in all other advertising announcements of any kind.
Percentages listed indicate required type size in relation to title size.
THE ALL NIGHT STRUT! (100%)
 
Conceived and Originally Directed and Choreographed by
FRAN CHARNAS (50%)
 
Musical Arrangements by
Tom Fitt, Gil Lieb, and Dick Schermesser (50%)
 
Additonal Orchestrations by
Corey Allen (50%)
 

As an integral part of this license, licensee further agrees to insert in each program of the Play, the following credit line exactly as listed for each of the following compositions:

MUSICAL NUMBERS
ACT I
 
"CHATTANOOGA CHOO CHOO" (1941)
by Mack Gordon and Harry Warren; used by permission of EMI Feist Catalog, Inc.
 

"MINNIE THE MOOCHER" (1931)
by Cab Calloway, Irving Mills and Clarence Gaskill; used by permission of EMI Mills Music, Inc., EMI Entertainment World O/B/O Hi-De-Ho Man Music
 

"BROTHER, CAN YOU SPARE A DIME?" (1932)
by E.Y. Harburg & Jay Gorney; used by permission of Gorney Music, Glocca Morra Music Corp.
 

"IN THE MOOD" (1938)
by Joe Garland; used by permission of Shapiro, Bernstein & Co,
 

"GIMME A PIGFOOT AND A BOTTLE OF BEER" (1939)
by Wesley "Socks" Wilson; used by permission of MCA Music Publishing, a Division of MCA, Inc.
 

"A NIGHTINGALE SANG IN BERKELEY SQUARE" (1940)
by E. Maschwitz & Manning Sherwin; used by permission of Shapiro, Bernstein & Co.
 
 
“CRAZY RHYTHM” (1928)
by Irving Caesar, Roger Wolfekahn and Joseph Meyer; used by permission of Irving Caesar Music Corp. (Administered by WB Music Corp.), Warner Bros. Inc. & Jo Ro Music Corp.
 

"JAVA JIVE"
(1941) by Ben Oakland & Milton Drake; used by permission of Warner Bros. Music, A Division of Warners Bros. Inc. Sony/ATV Tunes LLC
 
 
"WORLD WAR II MEDLEY" (1938 - 1943)
 
 
"GI JIVE" (1943)
by Johnny Mercer; used by permission of Warner Bros. Music Corp.
 

"SHOO SHOO BABY" (1943)
by Phil Moore; used by permission of MCA Music Publishing, A Division of MCA, Inc.
 

"WHITE CLIFFS OF DOVER" (1942)
by Walter Kent & Nat Burton; used by permission of Shapiro, Bernstein & Co., Inc., Walter Kent Music Co.
 

"ROSIE THE RIVETER" (1942)
by Redd Evans & John Jacob Loeb; used by permission of Famous Music Corp., Fred Ahlert Music Corp.
 

"YOU'RE A  LUCKY FELLOW MR. SMITH" (1941)
by Sonny Burke, Hughie Prince & Don Raye; used by permission of MCA Music, A Division of MCA, Inc.
 

"PRAISE THE LORD AND PASS THE AMMUNITION" (1942)
by Frank Loesser; used by permission of Famous Music Corp.
 

"COMIN' IN ON A WING AND A PRAYER" (1943)
by Harold Adamson & Jimmy McHugh; used by permission of EMI Robbins Catalog, Inc., Jimmy McHugh Music, Inc.
 

"I'LL BE SEEING YOU" (1938)
by Irving Kahal, Sammy Fain, L. Lee Philips, Trustee, Sammy Fain Trust D/B/A; used by permission of Fain Music Co. & Fred Ahlert Music Corp. A/C The New Irving Kahal Music Co.
 
 
ACT II
 
 
"I GET IDEAS" (1951)
by Dorcas Cochran & Sanders; used by permission of Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
 

"AIN'T MISBEHAVIN" (I'm Savin' My Love For You)(1929)
by Waller, Brooks, Razaf; used by permission of Razaf Music Company, EMI Mills, Inc., Anne-Rachel Music
 

"OPERATOR" (1959)
by William Spivery; used by permission of Conrad Music, A Division of Arc Music Corp.
 

"DREAM" (1944)
by Johnny Mercer, used by permission of Warner Brothers Music Corp.
 

"BEAT ME DADDY, EIGHT TO THE BAR" (1940)
by Don Raye, Hughie Prince & Eleanore Sheehy; used by permission of MCA Music, A Division of MCA, Inc.
 

"A FINE ROMANCE" (1936)
by Dorothy Fields & Jerome Kern; used by permission of Polygram International Publishing, Inc., ALDI Music Company
 

"TUXEDO JUNCTION" (1940)
by Erskine Hawkins, Buddy Feyne, William Johnson & Julian Dash; used by permission of Rytvoc, Inc., Lewis Music Publishing Co., Inc,
 

"JUKE BOX SATURDAY NIGHT" (1942)
by Al Stillman & Paul McGrane; used by permission of Chappell & Co.
 

"AS TIME GOES BY" (1931)
by Herman Hupfield; used by permission of Warner Bros. Music, A Division of Warner Bros., Inc
 

"HIT THAT JIVE, JACK" (1941)
by Skeets Tolbert & Johnny Alston; used by permission of MCA Music Publishing, A Division of MCA, Inc.
 

"BILLIE'S BOUNCE" (1945)
by Charlie Parker; Used by permission of Atlantic Music Corporation
 

"IT DOESN'T MEAN A THING" (If It Ain't Got That Swing) (1932)
by Duke Ellington & Irving Mills; used by permission of EMI Mills Music, Inc., Famous Music Corporation
 

"LULLABY OF BROADWAY" (1936)
by Al Dubin & Harry Warren; used by permission of Warner Bros. Music, Inc., a Division of Warner Bros., Inc.

Video Warning

In accordance with the Performance License, you MUST include the following warning in all programs and in a pre-show announcement:

ANY VIDEO AND/OR AUDIO RECORDING OF THIS PRODUCTION IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED.

Included Materials

ItemQuantity Included
LIBRETTO/VOCAL BOOK8
PIANO CONDUCTOR'S SCORE ACT 12
PIANO CONDUCTOR'S SCORE ACT 22

Production Resources

Resource
HOW DOES THE SHOW GO ON-10/CS
HOW DOES THE SHOW GO ON?
PRODUCTIONPRO-DIGITAL SCRIPT/SCORE
REFERENCE RECORDING
STAGE WRITE APPLICATION

STANDARD ORCHESTRATION

InstrumentationDoubling
BASS
DRUMSKIT , WOOD BLOCK
PIANOPIANO
REED 1ALTO SAXOPHONE , CLARINET , FLUTE
TROMBONE
TRUMPET