The Old--And New--Razzle-Dazzle.

Even though last season was a bumper one at the box office, original musicals for the upcoming Broadway season are as rare as overnight stardom. Saturday Night Fever, coming to the Minskoff, directed and choreographed by Arlene Phillips, is new, although it's based on the 1977 Paramount movie and has been imported from London, where it's still running. James Carpinello, who has some off-Broadway experience, was tapped for the role portrayed on film by John Travolta after he was spotted at a cattle call. Paige Price (Footloose) also heads the talented but little-known cast. Saturday Night Fever seems aimed at the Footloose crowd, as does Swing, which takes advantage of the jitterbug revival now popular in dance clubs and ballrooms [see page 50]. Featuring songs of the swing era, the musical is set for an early December opening. Lynne Taylor-Corbett has galloped in to direct and choreograph under Jerry Zaks's supervision. Singer Ann Hampton Callaway stars, and Ryan Francois and Jenny Thomas lead the dancers.

Among the more enterprising revivals due to bow is Kiss Me, Kate, starring Brian Stokes Mitchell and Marin Mazzie (both of Ragtime). Michael Berresse, a bright light in the otherwise dismal The Gershwins' Fascinating Rhythm and an excellent song-and-dance man, has the Bill Calhoun-Lucentio role. Kate marks the Broadway debut of choreographer Kathleen Marshall (Rob Marshall's sister), known for her work with City Center's popular Encores/series, which she artistically supervises and occasionally choreographs. Hanya Holm choreographed the original Kate (1948), and, it may be remembered, the 1953 MGM version featured a certain Bob Fosse, who was permitted to choreograph his own very brief section dancing with Carol Haney in "From This Moment On'--a debut of a rare talent.

Putting It Together, a musical "review," as the publicity punningly puts it, of Stephen Sondheim songs, features a stellar cast headed by Carol Burnett and George Hearn. Even rehashed Sondheim is better than none, although there's no dancing in it. The indefatigable Graciela Daniele [see page 64] is directing and choreographing Marie Christine, based on the Medea legend brought up-to-date, which will begin a limited run at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont on November 17.

Also at Lincoln Center, the Mitzi Newhouse Theatre will offer an intriguing theater-dance piece called Contact, which has been put together by choreographer Susan Stroman and writer John Edgar Weidman. Developed in workshop during the year, it is an unusual, danced-through show--a musical with no singing, a play with a plot that is mostly danced, although there's also dialogue in the three stories that make up the evening. The last, and major, tale involves the (nondancing) actor Boyd Gaines as a successful but suicidally depressed TV executive who feels that there's nothing much left for him in life. He's drawn to a swing club, where he becomes obsessed with a beautiful dancer (Deborah Yates) who is hotly in demand. He's the only one present who can't dance, and she's impossible to approach. Yates, who danced in Dream on Broadway, was also seen in last season's Encores/production of Ziegfeld Follies. She looked particularly promising in the workshop I attended. Also in the cast is Karen Ziemba, who dances out a woman's fantasy in the unlikely setting of an Italian restaurant in Queens. The other story is a sexy interpretation of Fragonard's painting The Swing.

Obviously, when it comes to new shows on Broadway, there's such a dearth of original material--and money for anything but the tried and true--that the trend is to bring in fresh faces to revitalize a running show. Cabaret and Chicago are regularly following this revolving-door approach. Enter Charlotte d'Amboise, the svelte and sassy daughter of former NYCB dancers Jacques d'Amboise and Carolyn George, doyens of what one might call America's Royal Family of Dance. Jacques, who was given the Dance Magazine Award this year and is the recipient of numerous other honors, now runs the National Dance Institute. Son Christopher is a former New York City Ballet dancer currently free-lancing as a choreographer. Charlotte attended the School of American Ballet, taking part in all the Balanchine works that included children. Being "disco oriented," she rejected ballet in favor of Broadway and appeared in Song and Dance, Jerome Robbins' Broadway, Carrie, and, early on, in Cats, where she met her husband, actor Terence Mann. Having played Chicago's Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly at various times, she was happy in the national tour playing Roxie when she was suddenly called to replace Sandy Duncan, who had broken her foot in rehearsal. She and Ruthie Henshall, a star from the London production of Chicago; took over the leads at the Shubert Theatre last July, wowing the critics, who had been invited back especially to see them.

For d'Amboise, there is a particular joy to performing on Broadway (recently as Lola in Damn Yankees). She relishes the role of Roxie although she admits, "It's one of the hardest I've ever undertaken. Everyone loves the `Me and My Baby' number, but oddly for me that one's a breeze. `Roxie' is freer but as much as it's the best, it's much more challenging. I put a lot of my own choreographic stuff in it.

"It's like putting your soul out there eight times a week. When it works, I'm doing just that, being there 100 percent, showing my insides. And when I'm the mood and really feeling it and the audience is there with me, there's nothing better in the world."

D'Amboise left in mid-August to open the Las Vegas production, but with the reviews she's been getting, she's expected back on Broadway in Chicago early next year.

Hilary Ostlere is a senior editor of Dance Magazine.