|
‘Carolina Shag’ celebrates the ‘swing of the South’
By JOHN NORTH
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
HENDERSONVILLE — Flat Rock Playhouse’s performance of its “Carolina Shag!” tribute show brought the beach to the mountains during its recent run.
The show ran June 1-10 as part of the Music on the Rock series at FRP’s downtown Hendersonville stage. The June 2 show filled about half of the venue’s 200 seats.
The show, which celebrated the musical phenomenon that developed in the early 1950s on the coasts of North and South Carolina, featured Carolina beach music, with songs from such bands as The Embers, The Tams, General Johnson & the Chairmen of the Board, and the Drifters.
Shag, a dance genre that is a modification of the jitterbug, is sometimes referred to as the “swing of the South,” as it reportedly was developed when military personnel from the North showed it to their Southern counterparts, who slowed it down and smoothed it out.
Many of the audience members enthusiastically accepted the invitation by the trio of singers to join in the party — and danced to the hits.
FRP’s “Carolina Shag” was fronted by three talented vocalists — Alfred Jackson, Sha’Leah Stubblefield and Anthony Jowan — who also provided choreographed swinging and swaying to the music that made the show a musical and visual treat.
The stellar band included George Wilkins, music director and keyboards No. 1; Andrew Rogelberg, keyboards No. 2; Daniel Iannucci, bass; Casey Cramer, guitar; and Phillip Bronson, drums.
Jackson and Stubblefield previously appeared in FRP’s production of “Motown Summer Nights” in 2017, while Jawan made his FRP debut in “Carolina Shag.”
The show opened with The Embers’ “I Love Beach Music,” followed by The Catalinas’ “Summertime’s Calling Me” and The Drifters’ “You’re More Than a Number in My Little Red Book.”
Other first-set songs included The Temptations’ classic, “My Girl,” as well as “My Guy,” “Girl Watcher,” “Cooling Out” and “Be Young, Be Foolist, Be Happy.”
The second set opened with General Johnson & the Chairmen of the Board’s “Beach Fever,” followed the Isley Brothers’ “This Old Heart of Mine” and Maurice Williams & the Zodiac’s “Stay.” Other second-set songs included “Hey, Baby,” “I’d Rather Be in Carolina,” “Sixty-Minute Man,” “With This Ring,” “Baby, I Need Your Loving,” “Stand By Me” and “Higher and Higher.”
As the band launched into “Girl Watcher,” Mountain Shag Club officer Morgan Teague was called to the stage to dance with the trio of singers — to the delight of the crowd.
|
