“All Night Strut! A Jumpin’ Jivin’ Jam” is far from your traditional musical. The Omaha Community Playhouse brings to life the “greatest music of the greatest generation,” through this most recent main stage production.

Directed by Susan Bear Collins and featuring 15 phenomenally talented individuals from the Omaha area, “All Night Strut!” takes the audience through the 1930s and 40s via the fast-paced, toe-tapping numbers as well as the emotional ballads that characterized the era.

The show began with a silent clown, of which I was skeptical. However, the performance by Anthony Clark-Kaczmarek quickly had me laughing out loud and applauding for more. Clark-Kaczmarek was very charismatic and, even without words, easily communicated with and pulled the audience into the performance with quite impressive close up magic in conjunction with mimed comedy, acting as an effective warm up for the performance as well as an interlude between major points of the performance.

While the ensemble as a whole was full of talented dancers, there were most definitely those who shined brighter than others. Throughout the production, Aaron Ellis and Rachel Busse drew my eye with their charismatic smiles and bright personalities prominent during the entire production, especially during the song “Shoo Shoo Baby.” However, the full cast dancing numbers such as “In The Mood” and “Lullaby of Broadway Reprise” remained more memorable than numbers that featured a few performers such as “Minnie the Moocher.”

The four featured singers were simply phenomenal. The quartet blended perfectly while still allowing specific voices to shine through when the others were to act as back up harmonies. The four also had incredible on stage chemistry and their passion for singing was very clear in each and every number they sang together.

Vocally, the hands down stand out from the quartet for me was Erika Hall. Each and every song she sang blew me out of the water as her voice strongly resonated throughout the audience. Her most memorable musical number came in the second half as she belted “Operator” with the support of the remaining trio of singers.

While the singing and dancing of the ensemble was phenomenal, the acting as a whole, comparatively, left little to be desired. The portion of “Moment Three: World War II” in which the cast quickly took turns performing monologues from letters written to and from soldiers during World War II.  While some of the letters performed were very well done, the overall moment left me wishing for more songs in exchange for fewer, less impressive monologues.

While both acts of the show were phenomenal and were arranged in such a way to highlight the performers that were more singers than dancers or vice versa, the acts themselves seemed disjointed. The first act told a handful of stories that followed an overall timeline of the “Jumpin’ Jivin'” era, but the second act told a much less cohesive story. The act started out continuing the trend of the 40s era music, but then took an abrupt jump to modern rhythms and styles reminiscent of the STOMP trend popular at the beginning of the 21st century. This jump left me feeling slightly confused at the end of the show, but still satisfied with the performance as a whole.

Overall, the Playhouse’s “All Night Strut” was a wonderful use of an evening. I left the production humming the numbers and wanting more. With performances every Wednesday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. from now until March 30, there are plenty of opportunities for viewing. The show is a pleasant two hours, including a 15 minute intermission. Tickets are a bit pricey at $24 for students, but there are last minute discounts available for those who choose to arrive the day of the performance. For more information on performances, call the Omaha Community Playhouse Box Office at 402-553-0800. All performances are on Hawks Mainstage of Omaha Community Playhouse located at

6915 Cass St., about 15 minutes from Creighton’s campus.