This year’s Tony Award nominees for Best Choreographer reflect a variety of theatrical dance styles. Directors and choreographers such as Susan Stroman (“New York, New York”) and Casey Nicolaou (“Some Like it Hot”). But there are also choreographers who reflect other backgrounds, such as Stephen Hoggett (“Sweeney Todd”) and Jennifer Webber (“& Juliet,” “KPOP”).
Lead theater critic Jesse Greene joined dance critic Brian Seibert and contributor Elizabeth Vincenteri in discussing the changes in choreography they’ve noticed in musical theater. Below is an edited excerpt of the conversation. Thing.
jessie green There have been a bewildering variety of moves on Broadway this season. In “New York, New York,” Susan Stroman appeared to introduce the great post-war film choreographers. In “Sweeney Todd,” Stephen Hoggett had the thronging masses of Victorian London hanging out on stage and regurgitating. On “Shucked,” Sarah O’Gleby devised her Rockettes-style kickline for corn cob. And, of course, there was the revival of ‘Dancin’, constructed as a ‘pure dance’ tribute to Bob Fosse.
Elizabeth Vincentelli We also add styles that come from the world of pop, music videos, and TikTok, as demonstrated by two Tony Award nominees, Jennifer Weber, for “& Juliet” and “KPOP.”
green There are also strong movements in theater, such as the karaoke scene in “Fat Ham” choreographed by Darrell Grand Multrie. A cyclone of stage action, “Life of Pi” sometimes looked like a puppet show. (The movement and staging of the puppet show is the work of Finn Caldwell and Scarlett Wildelink.) Is it unusual to see such a wide variety of theatrical dances? And what does it tell us about the role of dance in storytelling and vice versa?
Vincenteri Over the past few seasons, it has been a rare opportunity to see choreography from different generations and representatives of each style.
Brian Seibert Also, the various influences that choreographers have on their works. The role of director and choreographer is still alive and well. Casey Nicolaou from Strowman and Some Like It Hot.
green Strowman and Nicolaou led the show, a deliberate throwback. Nicholaw showed us five minutes of her high-speed chase her ballet, apparently a reference to Jerome Robbins’ “Bathing Beauty” number in his 1947 “High Button Shoes.” It’s an homage. He has choreographed many Fred Astaire films. Their show was set in those times, or even before, so it makes sense.
Vincenteri The styles of the directors and choreographers, going back to Robbins, Michael Bennett, and of course Fosse, are so strongly tied to pre-1980s Broadway that it feels frozen in time. Even if the show is set now.what would be interesting to see Keone and Mari Madrid Britney Spears’ musical ‘Once Upon a One More Time’ begins previews on May 13th. Music videohip hop, street dance, never period.
Saybert Agree. But he has two parts to it. One is program control. Shows of directors and choreographers tend to flow like dances, with dance transitions (slides and glides) between scenes. That’s true for these cases. But then there’s the matter of style, the personal stamp, and of course Fosse had that, but these choreographers don’t. , they use some version of the period style.
Vincenteri Brian, why do you think the current director-choreographer lacks a personal stamp? is a bit more formal. My favorite show of hers is “Scottsboro Boys” From 2010, when storytelling and movement were beautifully integrated. However, it wasn’t a success and she seems to have gone back to something safer and flashier.
Saybert you may be right about that. “Scottsboro Boys” was great. But having both jobs is also very difficult. To me, the styles of both the “New York, New York” and “Some Like It Hot” eras feel perfunctory and a bit numerical. It does the job rather than stand out for its own brilliance and invention.
green I don’t know: the tap dancing on the Margaret Bourke-White photo-inspired girders was pretty original! That invention alone isn’t enough. Take ‘Dancin” for example, all the styles are beautiful and yes. However, the intention of the production, directed and reprized by Wayne Cilento, was to assert Fosse as a pantheon of pure dance geniuses like Robbins, as if the storytelling was an impurity.
Saybert That was very strange and not the case with Fossey’s gift. Instead of pure dance, they substitute strange “scenarios”. This is an incomplete story, an excuse to insert classic Fosse bits and preconceptions.It’s going to be like the dance version of the jukebox musical and has many of the same problems. Fosse parody number “Do We Shock You?This Season of “Shumigadoon”: The dancers continue to shock us, but what they do is no longer shocking, so all we have to do is try.
Vincenteri As with the score, I don’t think the choreography necessarily has to drive the story or the characters. So what if the number or song doesn’t have a good reason, if it looks and sounds good? Some of my favorite figures are little bubbles.
green Elisabeth, you and I often disagree on that point, but I will admit that in certain musicals you can only expect bubble moments. I didn’t think much of “Shucked,” but the moment O’Gleby let the cast create his line in the chorus with those bumps was sublime. Otherwise, that dance seemed weak and decorative, unrelated to the character. My problem with “New York, New York” was basically the opposite. The dance was powerful and effective in propelling characters who would otherwise be too peripheral to demand it. And the “Dancin'” story just seemed gross, no matter how well it was danced.
Vincenteri I never hated the show as much as you did, but I felt the production was neutered aerobics without Fosse’s sexiness. It’s all very mechanical. Am I the only one who feels that way?
Saybert No, I agree.
green me too. But has there ever been a show where Dance has really succeeded in doing what Elisabeth doesn’t have to say: moving the central story forward?
Saybert I think Hoggett’s choreography in both “Sweeney Todd” and Neil Diamond’s biomusical “Beautiful Noise” fits the bill. He comes out of the physical theater and uses gestures. His style can be called gentle expressionist. Alone, it probably wouldn’t work well for an overall central focus, but it does help these shows.
Vincenteri I tend to enjoy Hoggett’s work, and his contribution to “A Beautiful Noise” was brilliant in an organic way, without being overly flashy. As understated as a diamond can be, it created an interesting inconsistency in the show.
green Such subtlety and emotional expressiveness cannot be expected from such material. The song “Forever in Blue Jeans” provided an incredibly sexy star turn for Robin Harder as Diamond’s proud and angry second wife.
Saybert Hoggett has no background in technical dance. Harder looks like her character is dancing.
Vincenteri Can we talk about the revival of the ensemble? “A Chorus Line” was groundbreaking in changing the focus from ensemble to individual and better storytelling.
Saybert Music videos, pop concerts too. As more and more shows are based on that music, there is more dance to go with it, not just Weber’s work, but Madrid’s as well. Especially exciting are the dancers who come with us. The percussiveness and freestyle of street dance is gaining momentum. “Broadway Her Style” dancing tends to be corny and, as Elizabeth said, mechanical.
Vincenteri was fun Weber’s contribution to ‘KPOP’ It was like the visual geometry was happening in real time. K-pop bands are always in motion when playing a song, so the individual members have to be constantly in motion to bring the next soloist to the fore. She also had to incorporate a “point dance”, part of the choreography her fans could do in her home.Weber choreo room to help her devise those formations.
Saybert New tools, same old challenges. Weber also told me he was inspired by Hoggett and his emphasis on storytelling.
Vincenteri The downside is that we may be missing out on the triple threat of the new generation, especially among men. I’m having a hard time coming up with something for Norbert Leo ButtsHe’s not a trained dancer, but he’s fully committed to his character’s physicality. Otherwise, it’s really slim picking. I’m not going to give you Sutton Foster.
green Does all of this suggest a new direction for dance as storytelling on the show? Fewer stars, nobler ensembles, greater abstractions, wider points of reference? , there is Imelda Marcos’ disco bio-musical “Here Lies Love” choreographed by Annie B. Person, which you recently saw in David Byrne’s “American Utopia.” I loved that show’s combination of dance “purity” and storytelling, neither looking down on the other.
Vincenteri When I saw ‘Here Lies Love’ in public, I found the movement very effective and beautifully integrated into the immersive concept. I love how the bridge between the pop and Broadway worlds is being strengthened, often via “downtown” artists.
Saybert That coming and going is for good. Dancing on Broadway becomes more flexible as creators grapple with the age-old question of what a Broadway musical is—what it should sound like and how it should move.
green Also, as their stories change. That’s why I loved Moultrie’s dance stage in “Fat Ham”. The characters discovered the truth through so-called diegetic movements. They were actually dancing in the story while lip-syncing to karaoke at the party, but they were touching on something bigger about themselves and the world around them.
Saybert Well, that’s one gold standard: dance that goes deeper into character and emotion than words or music can do in isolation. can do.
green Also a kick line with a cone.
