TAKE THE LEAD musical in development

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 2/13/24 at 10:36am

TAKE THE LEAD Musical Gets Developmental Workshop (broadwayworld.com)

The project is being produced by Diane Nabatoff & Eva Price Directed by Christopher Gattelli, with choreography by Christopher Gattelli, Maria Torres, Jennifer Weber, book by Robert Cary and Jonathan Tolins, and music and lyrics by Elliah Heifitz & Zeniba Now.

Take the Lead was a 2006 American drama dance film directed by Liz Friedlander and starring Antonio Banderas as dance instructor Pierre Dulaine, the founder of Dancing Classrooms. It also stars Alfre Woodard, John Ortiz, Rob Brown, Yaya DaCosta, Dante Basco, Elijah Kelley, and Jenna Dewan. 

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 3/25/24 at 10:09am

TAKE THE LEAD World Premiere & More Set for Paper Mill Playhouse 2024-25 Season (broadwayworld.com)

Take the Lead

March 29–April 27, 2025

Book by Robert Cary & Jonathan Tolins
Music & Lyrics by Elliah Heifetz & Zeniba Now
Based on the New Line Cinema film written by Dianne Houston, by special arrangement with Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures
Co-choreographed by Jennifer Weber & Maria Torres
Directed & Choreographed by Christopher Gattelli
Music Production by !llmind

Set in the pulsating heart of New York City, Take the Lead is a joyful new musical based on the 2006 dance film that starred Antonio Banderas. This electrifying tale is the true story of Pierre Dulaine, a former professional dancer who, against all odds, brought the art of ballroom dance into New York City public schools. This world-premiere musical spotlights a dynamic fusion of ballroom and hip-hop in its music and choreography with a book by Robert Cary and Jonathan Tolins (Schmigadoon!) a score by Elliah Heifetz and Zeniba Now, with music production by !llmind.. Take the Lead will be co-choreographed by Jennifer Weber (& Juliet) and Maria Torres (So You Think You Can Dance) and directed and choreographed by Christopher Gattelli (Newsies).

[quizking101]

Posted: 3/25/24 at 11:14am

I know someone involved in production who workshopped it and he told me the choreography is INSANE.

I’m a simp for great choreography and I’ve loved Webber and Gatelli so I’m excited for this.

[akhoya87]

Posted: 3/25/24 at 12:28pm

I was just saying to a friend that the theatre is ready for a good ballroom-dance-inspired musical.  Take the Lead is a great choice -- looking forward to this.  I wonder if they'll bring in folks with experience in choreographing ballroom dancing -- or even cast ballroom dancers.  

This is an incredibly niche pet peeve, but I've seen several shows where the characters are supposed to be dancing some ballroom dance (usually a waltz, tango, or Viennese waltz), and their technique is Broadway good, ballroom bad.  Maybe 80% of theatre-goers won't notice, but I do think it hurts the quality of the presentation/show.  I'm guessing that's why Burn the Floor (which isn't theatre theatre, I know) brought in the casts of Strictly Come Dancing/Dancing With the Stars...

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 5/30/24 at 9:18am

FIRST IN THE BRIEFING: 
Take the Lead will have a private reading today with a cast featuring Adrienne Bailon-Houghton, Ivan Hernandez, Vincent Jamal Hooper, and Savy Jackson, along with Giuseppe Bausilio, Brandon Borkowsky, Nella Cole, Stephanie Gomerez, Kenneth Goubran, Ellen Harvey, Kevyn Morrow, Natalia Nieves, Kevin Perdido, Matthew Risch, Rashidra Scott, Grace Slear, Salome Smith, and Darien Van Rensalier. The musical features a book by Robert Cary and Jonathan Tolins, based on the New Line Cinema film written by Dianne Houston, by special arrangement with Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures, and a score by Elliah Heifetz and Zeniba Now, with music production by !llmind. Take the Lead will be co-choreographed byJennifer Weber and Maria Torres, and directed and choreographed by Christopher Gattelli. 

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 1/28/25 at 9:08am

BROADWAY NEWS EXCLUSIVE: “Cast set for Broadway-aimed ‘Take the Lead’ musical at Paper Mill Playhouse” by Broadway News’ Michael Abourizk - “The cast will be led by TamMutu as Pierre Dulaine, Adrienne Bailon-Houghton as Arianna, Vincent Jamal Hooper as Rock, Savy Jackson as La Rhette and MatthewRisch as Alan. Rounding out the company will be Eric Ascione, Megan Elyse Fulmer, Gaelen Gilliland, David Jennings, Dillon Lehman, Natalia Nieves, Justin O’Brien, Kevin Trinio Perdido, Ryan Raffloer, Deon Releford-Lee, Cristian Rodriguez, Kiki Rodriguez, Jonalyn Saxer, Tatiana Seliverstova, SeQuoiia, Grace Slear, Salome Smith, Stephani Sosa, Christian Whan and Zoë Zimmerman. Casting is by the Telsey Office.

Also newly announced is the creative team for “Take the Lead,” which will include scenic designer Paul Tate DePoo III, costume designer Jen Caprio, Tony-winning lighting designer JustinTownsend and lighting designer Nick Solyum, Tony-nominated sound designer Walter Trarbachand hair, wig and makeup designer Earon ChewNealey. Bill Sherman will serve as music supervisor and Geoffrey Ko will be music director; the pair will also jointly provide orchestrations and arrangements. Molly Meg Legal will serve as production stage manager.”

[Melissa25]

Posted: 4/3/25 at 1:40pm

 

[Owen22]

Posted: 4/5/25 at 11:12am

It's weird how good  Adrienne Bailon-Houghton is in that first song and how HORRIBLE she is in the second!!!

 

"

 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 4/5/25 at 12:52pm

If I remember from the movie it's basically SCHOOL OF ROCK but a high school instead of an elementary school, and instead of Jack Black it's Antonio Banderas...right?

[singer234]

Posted: 4/5/25 at 12:57pm

Sort of, but the kids in school of rock were rich-I believe this show has more of a "Freedom Writers" vibe to it. But yes for all intents and purposes.

[KevinKlawitter]

Posted: 4/7/25 at 3:01pm

Negative review from Theatremania

[PridelandsNYC]

Posted: 4/7/25 at 10:35pm

Paper Mill just posted this on their IG. These kids are DANCING. https://www.instagram.com/p/DIJjMUxOZRA/ 

[Miss10036]

Posted: 4/16/25 at 12:19am

This was in some ways a pleasant surprise, but in other ways it wasn't clicking, and those issues are pretty structural... I've got a lot of thoughts and recognize that there aren't many reports online about this one yet, so figured I'd throw a long-winded post on here.  Sorry this is incredibly long.

The premise is essentially that through a series of plot contrivances, a professional dancer (Tam Mutu) who'd been teaching ballroom on the UES ends up teaching dance class in a south Bronx high school. I understand it's based on a real guy, but based on googling it sounds like this doesn't strictly follow his true story. Adrienne Bailon-Houghton is the school's interim principal, Mutu's character has an ex, and among the students are Savy Jackson's and Vincent Jamal Hopper's characters, who are dance partners but have history between their families. Honestly, I went in pretty skeptical because the “2000s movie where person from stuffy world teaches city kids and learns about himself” concept isn’t particularly fresh. Take the Lead doesn’t totally succeed in updating or complicating that narrative and would’ve been more compelling if it did.

The positives: On balance, a strong score. While there are some weak points, there are some really good and driven songs in here. Fittingly, it's like a mix of hip-hop and dancier (for lack of a better descriptor) songs and the vocals deliver. Savy Jackson and the students have a wonderful song in the first act, the interim principal's got a fun introductory number ("Hold, Please"), and Jackson and Hopper's characters have a highly enjoyable dance number in the first act and a nice duet in the second. There are some lively ensemble numbers too, including a montage at the start of act two. Choreo's impressive and well-executed, though not innovative. Savy Jackson's got a gorgeous, poppy voice and my ears perked up whenever she opened her mouth. The students are fantastic and the actors do a great job of defining their characters—by the end of their first scene I knew each of their names and had a sense of their personalities. They land the jokes and had me laughing.

The core issue is that Mutu's teacher character is not that interesting, nor is his journey. He does a fine job with the part, but the role's underwritten. The show hints at the expected themes—opportunism, whether he's getting into teaching for selfish reasons vs. truly being in it to help the kids, etc.—and has plot beats that address those themes, but they aren't fully developed and don't feel real. Like, The Prom dealt with these themes much better. It's a savior-y premise yet we also don't see him do much helping, other than starting the class. The writing and direction commit the error of not fleshing out the teacher's relationships with the students. We don't see him learning from the students because there aren't many individual interactions where he connects with them, nor are there subtle moments to show he's getting to know them and evolving, or causing the students to involve. So whenever he talks or sings about his experience changing him, it feels unearned because he doesn't truly get introspective moments. In general, the relationships between the adult authority figures and students aren't developed. The interim principal hardly interacts with the students or gets her own clear backstory or narrative, so her bigger song in the second act (that "My Kids" number they released, one of the weaker numbers which Bailey-Houghton unfortunately delivers in pop star mode instead of interpreting it), too, feels unearned. The show needs to show us these two connecting with the kids more and being invested in them growing and learning dance, instead of broadly telling us.

The show cries out to center the students more. My two cents is that they should be elevating Jackson's and Hopper's characters, and they have untapped but available opportunities to do that. I won’t spoil the plot points, but towards the end of act one, the show hints at a conflict that could drive their characters apart, but then the actual end of act one highlights a conflict that sounds like a total non-issue and is a non-issue, involving a character who could easily be cut. It skirts around real conflict. There's enough that they could trim to make room for an increased focus on the students, who are generally winning and who you root for. The show would also benefit from showing us more action set outside the school—there's one particular stretch in act one that starts to feel stagnant because it's set entirely in one classroom—where we can learn more about the students' lives. Generally, when the plot hints at stakes, it brushes them away or shifts focus. Instead, the gist you're left with is that you have these already good, nice kids learning how to dance ballroom and having fun, while their teacher learns... something about himself. And the interim principal's there to support.

I knew who Bailey-Houghton was from her starring in the Cheetah Girls, which, for the uninitiated, was a series of Disney Channel original movies (DCOMs) in the early/mid-2000s. And if you’re wondering what the tone of this show is, it basically is a DCOM (not actually, but feels like it). Whether this works depends on what you’re looking for. It’s predictable enough, with student characters you root for and adults doing their best. There’s the mean, privileged blonde girl who isn’t that threatening. There’s a little romance. The students are witty and you enjoy whenever they're onstage. While the show alludes to the school being underserved and to some of the kids having issues outside the school, that doesn’t feel developed or lived-in. These kids don’t, and shouldn’t, have to have trauma to be compelling, but it is odd to hint at conflicts outside school with some plot-relevance and shrug them off (namely the conflict between Hopper and Jackson's characters). Take the Lead plays it safe and while you root for the characters to succeed, you don’t get taken on an emotional journey as it stands.  If the creative team plans to develop this further, I hope they won't be shy about making larger changes, because there are enough strong elements that they can maybe get this into a better place with some rethinking and refocusing.