Here's the REAL Dr. Don Shirley in rare 2001 concert footage performing George Gershwin's The Man I Love. He's played by Mahershala Ali in the movie "Green Book" with Viggo Mortensen as his driver Tony Lip.  His choice of music reminds us of one of Jitterbug's themes: how the Depression and Prohibition threw people of all colors and faiths together to make musical magic and magical dance. In the dancical. two young Jewish songwriters, Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler, are writing hit songs for the mob-ran Cotton Club's new 1931 revue, Rhyth-mania. Cab Calloway and his Orchestra are performing them with black performers. We also use Gershwin's Liza, the go-to number used by Chick Webb to "cut" any band that had the temerity to challenge his Savoy Ballroom house band in a Battle of the Bands. Only in America. 

So, going by these stats compiled into this Infographic by Ken Davenport of The Producer's Perspective, Jitterbug! has the potential for greatness by sharing 7 of the following attributes of the 20 Top Broadway Musicals:

1. 40% have only one word as the title. Yes, Jitterbug! fits a marquee better than its original title: Once Upon A Time in Harlem. And that exclamation point can't hurt either.
2. 40% are American.
3. 35% are Period.
4. 8 are based on movies (Jitterbug! is based on a screenplay).
5. 4 have books attached (the Jitterbug! textbook comes with free Educator Manuals based on the National Core Arts Standards in Music (Composition and Ensemble strands), Dance, Theatre, Literature, and History/Social Studies) with sections on Empathy.  There is also a truncated Radio Version available (Once Upon A Time In Harlem). 
6. 3 are "Jukebox Musicals," ie, the music isn't original to the libretto but is harvested from hit songs assembled to tell the story. Jitterbug! uses 17 from The Great American Songbook, ranging from The Buck Dancer's Lament (1907) to Ornette Coleman's The Artist in America (1972) with all Performance Rights secured. That said, Jitterbug! differs from a jukebox musical in that it's a realistic drama first. None of the main characters break out into song but they are required to dance really, really good. Hence the term coined by Jazz Dorsey, Dramaturg and Founder of the African American Playwrights Exchange (AAPEX), to describe this drama with music and dance: Dancical.
7. Only 1 is original (unless Jitterbug! gets made into a movie first).

Getting Julie Taymor or any of those other directors might be a stretch but finding a tap dancing dog that can jitterbug too may be equally difficult. We'll see.

The Jitterbug, the Lindy, and the vernacular jazz dance steps that happen during the dances' break, are still alive, They're celebrated around the world with annual dance contests. There's even a swing dance camp in Herräng Sweden that's been around for 32-years and is booked solid for five weeks every summer. So, yes, Virginia, there is an audience for Jitterbug! and it's very big.

And wait till they get a load at that climatic Jitterbug! dance contest scene at the Savoy, little girl. They-- all audiences, even those who know little to nothing about the music and its dances-- will never be the same. 

*FB stats for this video.