Theatre Horizon will present Holiday Show at the Swing Club at the Centre Theatre at 208 DeKalb Street December 11th - 31st, weaving stories from local senior citizens into the plotline of this original new musical set in the 1940s.

Artistic Director and actress Erin Reilly discovered the true meaning of the phrase "it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing" while conducting research for the new show. "I interviewed seniors at the Kennett Area Senior Center about their memories of the big band era and how they celebrated the holidays back then," said Reilly, who is helping to write the script for the original musical. "They shared a lot of memories, but the most unforgettable moment was when one elderly gentleman jumped up, grabbed my hand, and twirled me around the room in a full-out swing dance. He was in his eighties, but I could barely keep up!"

"These folks have vivid and heart-breaking memories of the horrors of World War II, but also of the music and dances that gave their lives hope back then," says Reilly. Set on New Year's Eve, 1943, Holiday Show at the Swing Club stars a classy cast of nightclub crooners and swing dancers who gather for one last performance before their dashing band leader, Jimmy Goodshaw, heads off to World War II.

The show was conceived by critically-acclaimed Artistic Director Matthew Decker, who founded Theatre Horizon in King of Prussia seven years ago, but who also takes time out to direct theatre projects at venues like Ardmore's Milkboy Coffee, and, on a larger scale, New York's HERE Arts Center and Philadelphia's Arden Theatre. Reilly has previously written and produced two musicals, and maintains a busy acting schedule with Theatre Horizon and local companies like the Walnut Street Theatre and InterAct.

For Holiday Show at the Swing Club, Decker and Reilly team up with jazz composer and arranger Sam Heifetz to give new life to jazz standards and holiday favorites from the swinging days when Glenn Miller, Ella Fitzgerald and Judy Garland ruled the radio. "This era was such a tough time for America and a booming time for American music and culture," says Decker. The nation had come together to win a war, and people were sacrificing and suffering for that. So they relied on movie and radio stars to lift their spirits and get them through each day."

Musical numbers include Duke's Place, Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, I'll Be Seeing You, Why Don't You Do Right, The Man I Love, You Made Me Love You, and It Don't Mean a Thing if It Ain't Got that Swing. The cast includes Philadelphia actors and Theatre Horizon favorites Rachel Camp, Ryane Studivant, Erin Reilly, and newcomer Ted Powell.

Holiday Show at the Swing Club marks the opening to Theatre Horizon's fourth season of professional plays and musicals. Theatre Horizon's mission is to create community through theatre. Past productions have included Once on This Island, The Violet Hour, The Laramie Project, The Velveteen Rabbit, The Devil and Billy Markham, Grease, You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown, and Book of Days.

Holiday Show at the Swing Club runs December 11 - 31 at the Centre Theatre, 208 DeKalb Street, Norristown. Tickets to Holiday Show at the Swing Club are available at www.theatrehorizon.org, or by calling (610)283-2230. Adult and senior citizen tickets are $25 and $21 if purchased by December 3rd. Child/student tickets are $18. Preview tickets are $15. Group rates available.