In the Mood at the Lobero Theatre

Do you remember what it was like before the iPod, when Walkmans were the next big thing? Consider the time when the radio was the only way to listen to music-or when music could only be heard live. This week, the Lobero plays host to In the Mood, a big band theatrical swing revue that brings us right back to the 1940s. It’s a “nostalgic, patriotic, jazzy, sentimental, and romantic” show, as producer Bud Forrest describes it, that transports its audience back to that classy Swing Era. The show is on a national tour through April 8, but will be hitting Santa Barbara this Sunday with an orchestra, singers, and swing dancers that promise to bring that ’40s spirit into the new millennium.

Forrest calls In the Mood a “retrospective of music of the 1940s,” a generation defined by the Second World War that was all about the Andrews Sisters and Frank Sinatra. After making its much-lauded debut in the 1920s, jazz music was on an upward trend, and by the 1940s the genre entered the Swing Era with a zing of bebop. Though jazz music continued to evolve, the ’40s most definitely marked “the last time in the 20th century the entire country shared a common popular music,” Forrest explained. Still, we can remember swing as the music that beat itself to death to uphold American morale. Forrest founded In the Mood 14 years ago in an effort to recapture that spirit; a hopefully contagious one given today’s national spirits. With 23 people on board-including four technicians, the String of Pearls Orchestra, and six singers and dancers-the show will visit 14 cities over the course of this year’s spring tour. (As many recall, the group performed at the Granada Theatre last year to a huge turnout.) And, Forrest promised, “Everyone will walk away feeling good about themselves and our country.”

This year, In the Mood will come to the Lobero Theatre (33 E. Canon Perdido St.) on Sunday, March 8 for a single 4 p.m. matinee performance. Tickets can be purchased by calling the box office at 963-0761 or visiting lobero.com.