What do you go to a musical for? The singing and dancing, a great story, and charismatic performers, right? But this season a clutch of new musicals are flaunting something else: a moral compass—and compassion. A colleague of mine suggests that our increased awareness of this has to do with our post-election state of mind, […]

Elizabeth Earley’s path to the Great White Way was fueled by perseverance. Currently a swing and co-dance captain for Hello, Dolly!, she shared her journey with Dance Magazine. When I was a freshman at New York University’s musical theater studio, I cut class to attend a singers’ Equity Chorus Call for The Phantom of the […]

It’s mad-dash time on Broadway, as shows scramble to qualify for the June 11 Tony Awards. “It is a crazy season,” says Andy Blankenbuehler, who won last year for choreographing Hamilton. And the 10 musicals arriving in the two months preceding the deadline, April 27, “are all over the map,” he says. “So many different […]

He’s the Emmy-winning, Tony-nominated Joshua Bergasse in the playbill, but just “Josh Bergasse” (pronounced bare-GAHSS) when he affably introduces himself to the 70 people assembled at Broadway Dance Center for his advanced theater class. They know who he is, of course, and it’s the reason they’re there. Reese Snow, BDC’s associate executive director, calls him […]

As more and more stars from movies and television get their kicks doing Broadway musicals, more and more choreographers have to find steps for them to dance. Sometimes it’s not hard: Denis Jones discovered that Tony Danza had trained in tap when they worked on Honeymoon in Vegas; Spencer Liff had spent years choreographing for […]

In Broadway’s CATS, Giuseppe Bausilio exploded across the stage as the wild and rascally Carbucketty. With fiery exuberance, he transformed steps into drama, songs into lullabies, dosing out magic with his sheer joy of performing. He recently left his cat suit behind to join his fifth Broadway show, Hello, Dolly! Though he’s only 19, he […]

Kelli O’Hara and Ken Watanabe in The King and I’s pivotal “Shall We Dance?” number. Paul Kolnik, Courtesy The King and I What makes a musical magical? Anyone who’s ever been cast in a new musical will attest to the fact that there’s virtually no guarantee that it’s going to be any good. You may love […]

We’re not saying that we called it, but…okay we did. The 2016 Tony Awards were last night, and Hamilton swept up 11 of 13 possible awards, including Best Musical and Best Choreography for Andy Blankenbuehler. The smash hit was nominated for 16 awards, but with multiple nods in some categories. However, even though it was inarguably Hamilton‘s […]