Betsy Struxness has done a bit of everything as a musical-theater performer. Now, she’s returning to an old dream: becoming a pop singer.

Unlike lyrics or lines preserved in scores and scripts, a show’s movement is ephemeral, passed from body to body with every new cast. Ensuring that the choreography and staging stays true to the original is crucial to the integrity of a show. Such is the task of Wicked’s associate choreographer Corinne McFadden Herrera, who has been with the production from its inception in 2003.

His brilliant dancing and magnetic presence wowed Broadway in “Ain’t Too Proud”; landed him the lead (which he eventually relinquished) of “MJ: The Musical”; and will be on display in the title role of Tony Goldwyn and Savion Glover’s reimagined “Pal Joey” at New York City Center this month. But ask Ephraim Sykes for his story and he starts with, “My mother and father fell in love…” 

Unexpected collaborations, women-led ballets, superstar choreographers turning their talents to opera and musical theater, singular dancemakers wrestling with issues of labor, environmental justice, and more—here’s what our contributors are looking forward to most as the 2023–24 season gets underway.

Puppets can do things that people can’t, such as move their legs preposterously quickly or fill space 15 or 20 feet above the stage. But they require skilled and agile human bodies to do so, making puppetry and dance a natural pairing.

Eclectic festivals and outdoor offerings, a Broadway transfer and a rare London tour—and, of course, more than a handful of brand-new works pulling from an intriguing array of source material. Here’s what we’re looking forward to as summer winds to an end.

Choreographing both the performers and the audience members—who continuously move throughout the space and occasionally learn a few moves themselves—is a big job, but one that Annie-B Parson is ready for.

For musical theater dancers, the question isn’t “if” you should join the Actors’ Equity Association—it’s “when.”