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What's your favorite "dance number" of a musical? — Page 2

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#26

re: What's your favorite 'dance number' of a musical?

Posted: 8/26/05 at 6:05pm

"You Can't Stop The Beat"--Hairspray
"La Vie Boheme"--RENT (is that considered a dance song?)
"Rich Man's Frug"--Sweet Charity (I do the Fosse movements and everything)
"They're eating her and then they're going to eat me. OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!" -Troll 2
#28

re: What's your favorite 'dance number' of a musical?

Posted: 8/26/05 at 6:07pm

^ Agreed, Wonderyboy.
I thought most of the movie choreography was not nearly as thrilling and fantastic as Ann Reinking's choreo in the style of Fosse. It's obvious Marshall dumbed down a lot of choreography for Renee.

Anyway.

ALL THAT JAZZ - from the Chicago revival along with other Chicago revival dance numbers are among my favorites.

Updated On: 8/26/05 at 06:07 PM

#30

re: What's your favorite 'dance number' of a musical?

Posted: 8/26/05 at 6:18pm

Pretty much all of West Side Story
Mein Herr (loved the version on the Fosse DVD)

And please don't shoot me, but I also kind of liked Dancing Through Life
#31

re: What's your favorite 'dance number' of a musical?

Posted: 8/26/05 at 6:23pm

I'm so glad someone mentioned Shakalaka Baby from Bombay Dreams... Chaiyya Chaiyya is also a fave!

Ditto "You can't stop the beat" & "The Jellicle Ball"

Also "La Cage Aux Folles", and actually "Another Pyramid" from Aida were quite fun as well.

"Candy is dandy but liquor is quicker" -- Willy Wonka
#32

re: What's your favorite 'dance number' of a musical?

Posted: 8/26/05 at 6:47pm

Well in terms of songs I want to get up and dance to(when I'm listening in my house, not in the theatre...) the three I love to do that with is:

You Can't Stop The Beat(Hairspray)
La Vie Boheme(Rent)
Hey Big Spender(Sweet Charity)-kinda made my own hooker dance..hehe

The numbers as seeing them performed in the show
From West Side Story:

Prologue(one of the most amazing 10 min in theatre--you're given all the background info you need without a word being spoken)

Dance at the Gym: Everything is perfectly conveyed here--the tension between the sharks and jets in Mambo, Cha-Cha and meeting scene convey the beauty and romance of Tony and Maria's love at first sight

America: I agree I do like the movie better but this conveys the whole feelings of newcomers to the country, and the music and dancing is just amazing, when done really well, it looks AMAZING

Cool: Again, perfectly conveying the nervousness and tension w/ the combination of the great Bernstein and Robbins-again, when done well, amazing dancing can be viewed

The Rumble: In what other "dance number" is one of the most important aspects of plot are made? The idea of a whole fight being "danced", being choreographed to blend perfectly with the music? Again, this number ends up looking/sounding genius.

Not biased towards a certian show, i swear...
"If there was a Mount Rushmore for Broadway scores, "West Side Story" would be front and center. It snaps, it crackles it pops! It surges with a roar, its energy and sheer life undiminished by the years" - NYPost reviewer Elisabeth Vincentelli
#33

re: What's your favorite 'dance number' of a musical?

Posted: 8/26/05 at 10:02pm

Two Susan Stroman masterpieces:

Best large scale dance sequence: I got Rhythm from CRAZY FOR YOU.

Best intimate dance sequence: "When It All Comes True" - the pas de deux in AND THE WORLD GOES ROUND - originally performed by Karen Ziemba and Jim Walton. First of all, the musical arrangement was brilliant - it used little exceprts from about a dozen Kander & Ebb songs - everything from "Cell Block Tango" from CHICAGO to "Married" from CABARET - and the choreography had everything from ballet to a challenge tap to a tango to a waltz to the man running up the wall and doing a flip like Donald O'Connor in SINGING IN THE RAIN (and doing it successfully, unlike the guy in The Full Monty!).

For those of you who love CRAZY FOR YOU but never saw WORLD GOES ROUND, think of the "Shall We Dance" pas de deux and then make it three times as long and ten times as exciting!

Updated On: 8/26/05 at 10:02 PM

#34

re: What's your favorite 'dance number' of a musical?

Posted: 8/26/05 at 10:06pm

hmmmmm...I love Cool from WSS and the barn raising dance number in Seven Brides...
-Anyone want to turn anarchist with me?

"Bless you and all who know you, oh wise and penguined one." ~YouWantItWhen????
#35

re: What's your favorite 'dance number' of a musical?

Posted: 8/26/05 at 10:17pm

I have a few:
Oklahoma - "The Dream Ballet" and "Many A New Day"
West Side Story - "Dance at the Gym", "Cool" and "America"
Millie - "Thoroughly Modern Millie", "The Speed Test" and "Forget About the Boy"
Fosse - "Sing, Sing, Sing!"
Chicago - "All That Jazz", "Cell Block Tango" and "The Hot Honey Rag"
The Music Man - "Marian the Librarian" and "Shipoopi"
Hairspray - "You Can't Stop the Beat"
A Chorus Line - "One"
#36

re: What's your favorite 'dance number' of a musical?

Posted: 8/26/05 at 10:25pm

whatever lola wants, shoeless joe from hannibal 'mo, who's got the pain- damn yankees movie
the speed test- millie
brotherhood of man- how to succeed movie
all that jazz, hot honey rag, i can't do it alone- chicago revival
"Grease," the fourth revival of the season, is the worst show in the history of theater and represents an unparalleled assault on Western civilization and its values. - Michael Reidel
#37

re: What's your favorite 'dance number' of a musical?

Posted: 8/26/05 at 11:25pm

Dancing thru life-wicked
C'mon everybody-asu
scene from an italian restaurant-Movin' out
.. i forget which one from Sweet Charity.

and many others
A dancer might dream to see her name in lights and mean it, but all she really dreams is to make someone else feel the way she did when she first saw a dancer. And that is so beautiful-Anonymous
#39

re: What's your favorite 'dance number' of a musical?

Posted: 8/26/05 at 11:37pm

Allyk, I'm sooo glad you mention "Cell Block Tango", which is my ultimate favorite. I mean it's hot, maybe it's the fishnets, but let me tell ya, watchin' those girls, he definitely "had it comin". HOT HOT HOT!!!! And I have to say the opening from Chorus Line, which I think every musical theatre person knows by heart. Cause we all "hope we get it", it's our way of life.
I think I'll try . . . defying gravity.
#40

re: What's your favorite 'dance number' of a musical?

Posted: 8/26/05 at 11:42pm

"I Want to be Happy" tap dance in the revival of NO NO NANETTE

Cast albums are NOT "soundtracks."
Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!

I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com

#42

re: What's your favorite 'dance number' of a musical?

Posted: 8/27/05 at 12:01am

im a little new to musical theatre, so im gonna hav to say some of the songs in movin out. theyre just so upbeat and fun. same with songs in mamma mia, like voulez-vous.
Bob: "there is a chance, albeit a microscopic one, that our baby at some point in his or her formative years will get lodged in a tree" ~Related~
#43

re: What's your favorite 'dance number' of a musical?

Posted: 8/27/05 at 1:08am

My favorite is Dryers Breakdance from caroline or change, wow chuck could dance




Or not. I wish there was some crazy dance number in it. Not really the singing is wonderful enough. Um definitely the dance in the gym from west side and at least two of the major dances in La cage DEFINITELY, sad it wasnt mentioned.
edit; how can i forget the opening of a chorus line? I hope I get it is amazing as well as the speed test from millie

Updated On: 8/27/05 at 01:08 AM

#44

re: What's your favorite 'dance number' of a musical?

Posted: 8/27/05 at 1:35am

personally, i am obsessed with the title song from singin' in the rain. the last pro production i saw was in australia about three and a half years ago, and it was classic. a flawless piece and so much fun; plus the pouring rain on stage was an added effect bonus!

"La Cage Aux Folles", because i know how gruelling that number is

The music and the mirror - chorus line. love it. makes me cry.

also, i find it hilarious that hardly anyone has mentioned songs from 42nd street. it's supposed to be the ultimate dance musical, right? wrong.

chrous line wins
hands down

---desperately waits for revival!
"...But Kungurtseva reels off multiple fouettes and the tape is stopped so she can take a bow. The Jester, an abomination introduced to Swan Lake in Soviet times, extorts applause from the audience. The cuts don't help the storytelling, the production is bare bones and they go for the '50s-style happy ending. The audience cheers like mad at the end. It's the Russian ballet, after all..."
#47

re: What's your favorite 'dance number' of a musical?

Posted: 8/27/05 at 2:22pm

"Dancing Man" from Fosse" ~ ehtanbrat
"Fosse - "Sing, Sing, Sing!" ~ allyk

You people are breaking my heart! Those are from Bob Fosse's DANCIN'. There were no original numbers in that show really ("Fosse's World"). Some of the transition music was taken from songs and the movement was all Fosse movement.
"For me, THEATRE is an anticipation, an artistic rush, an emotional banquet, a jubilant appreciation, and an exit hopeful of clearer thought and better worlds." ~ an anonymous traveler with Robert Burns
#49

re: What's your favorite 'dance number' of a musical?

Posted: 8/27/05 at 4:12pm

"Me and My Baby" from Chicago. I love the staging of Roxie with the two boys. I have to add that this number is not original to the revival of Chicago. I'm not sure if this number was choreographed the same way in the original production, but I saw Chita Rivera perform this number in 1986 in a "Chita Plus Two" act, and the choreography was very similar.
#50

re: What's your favorite 'dance number' of a musical?

Posted: 8/27/05 at 4:25pm

Wow, so many good ones have already been mentioned, but my votes go to:
"La Cage Aux Folles" - Yes! The Cagelles are amazing!
"The Rumble" and "America" from West Side Story.
"Macavity" and "Mongojerry and Rumpleteaser" from Cats.
"Step In Time" Mary Poppins
"Magic To Do" Pippin (Remember how terrific Ben Vereen was?)
"And the postman sighed as he scratched his head, you really rather thought she ought to be dead..."

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