GOTTA DANCE Proves Director JERRY MITCHELL Is Rarified Theatre Royalty

GOTTA DANCE Proves Director JERRY MITCHELL Is Rarified Theatre Royalty 1 HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

andreHIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Gotta Dance, the latest Broadway bound musical which opened last night at the Bank of America Theatre, proves with no certain terms that Jerry Mitchell has become musical theater’s most prolific directors in decades. If Kinky Boots didn’t cement this notion, Gotta Dance certainly will.Based on the true story of an over 60 hip-hop dance troupe, Gotta Dance has an incredibly memorable and energetic score with music and lyrics by Matthew Sklar and Nell Benjamin, which effectively moves Chad Beguelin and Bob Martin’s humane, funny and relevant book.

Cast with some of the greatest stage and television icons that rest in our collective memory (including Georgia Engel, Stephanie Powers and the Wiz himself, Andre de Shields) Gotta Dance, is a testament on how the human spirit through friendship can overcome the social stigma of growing older. Moreso, with major nods to A Chorus Line, this vibrant musical teaches us how we can reinvent ourselves to post-middle aged relevancy. It is in this atmosphere that Jerry Mitchell shines best as he can connect a direct line of artistic vision merging actor, dance, movement and truth through his choreography.  Co-choreographer Nick Kenkel also must be commended of seeing Mitchell’s vision to fruition.

Gotta Dance is Broadway ready technically has well, incorporating a very fun set by David Rockwell that is terrifically lit by Kenneth Posner using Jason Lee Courson’s projection design to full effect. Greg Barnes sensational costumes through all age appropriateness out the window

Musically the show couldn’t be in better hands than with musical director Charlie Alterman, who did phenomenal work on the recent revivals of Godspell and Pippin, and spryly orchestrated by brilliant Larry Hockman.

Gotta Dance plays through January 17, 2016, at Broadway In Chicago’s Bank of America Theatre (18 W Monroe St, Chicago.

Group tickets for 10 or more are available by calling Broadway In Chicago Group Sales at (312) 977-1710. Tickets are available at all Broadway In Chicago Box Offices (24 W. Randolph St., 151 W. Randolph St., 18 W. Monroe St. and 175 E. Chestnut), the Broadway In Chicago Ticket Line at (800) 775-2000, all Ticketmaster retail locations and online at www.BroadwayInChicago.com.