It’s Broadway awards season, and tons of our favorite dancers and choreographers are getting big-time recognition. The Tony Award nominations were announced yesterday and the Best Choreography finalists include: Andy Blankenbuehler for Bandstand Peter Darling and Ellen Kane for Groundhog Day Kelly Devine for Come From Away Denis Jones for Holiday Inn Sam Pinkleton for […]

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 […]

Lin-Manuel Miranda (as Hamilton) and the ensemble. Photo by Joan Marcus, courtesy Hamilton.   On Broadway, there’s a certain excitement that comes with old shows (or not so old shows) closing. A closed show means a newly empty theater, a space for a newer, fresher, hopefully dancier show. Yesterday, I was reminded of the Broadway […]

On the Town returns to Broadway—with a choreographic makeover. On the Town leads Megan Fairchild and Tony Yazbeck. Photo by Nathan Sayers. At first, On the Town‘s charm seems far too retro and its storyline a little too thin to make a 21st-century comeback. Take our three wide-eyed sailors, whose ship has docked in New […]

Few things are more intimidating for a choreographer than redoing a master’s work. Luckily for Joshua Bergasse, when he was first asked to update Jerome Robbins’ choreography for On the Town, he had no idea the production would become a major hit destined for Broadway. It was supposed to be a summer show in Massachusetts. […]