We Dance. Or Try!

Once On This Island,

with music by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens

opened on Broadway in 1990,

with LaChanze as Ti Moune (in red above).

It was based on the book

My Love, My Love, or The Peasant Girl

by Rosa Guy,

and it's set in the French Antilles. 

 Nominated for lots of Tonys, 

but they came home empty handed.

More success awaited the show in the West End,

with an Olivier Award for Best New Musical (1994).

The reviews called it

"half Romeo and Juliet, half Little Mermaid"...
and it's back on Broadway RIGHT NOW!

We'll hear "We Dance".

 And while we're dancing,

let's give Merry Old Finland an opportunity

with the Fisch Schappling Dance

from Monty Python's Spamalot,

Best Musical Tony winner of 2005.

Patti LuPone would have had a problem with 

Spamalot's pre-show announcement

to "let your cellphones and pagers ring willy-nilly"

throughout the evening!

 "Tough Act To Follow"

from Curtains (2007)

with Jill Paice and David Hyde-Pierce

offers a one-on-one dance lesson,

including a big staircase finish.

The music of Kander and Ebb...

 "Shaking The Blues Away",

that's what Ann Miller does in

Easter Parade.

Above with co-star Fred Astaire,

and below in yellow, then red.

Released in 1948, with the music of Irving Berlin,

Parade was both Judy and Fred's 

most financially successful flick.

 Cyd Charisse was slated for the role

of Nadine Hale,

but she had to bow out due to a knee injury.

Ann "took over!" :)

Costumes by Irene.

 We'll also hear Georgia Engel

and Edward Hibbert 

with "Love Is Always Lovely In The End"

from The Drowsy Chaperone (2006).

Yup, Georgette from The Mary Tyler Moore show.

And Edward played the director in

Curtains (small Brdway world!).

Music by the songwriting team of Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison.

Five Tony Awards for this show,

including one for Best Original Score.