RJ Higton and the Company (Photo: Christopher Duggan)
Gotta Dance! With American Dance Machine
UPDATE: APRIL 2026
By Julia Polinsky
Need an anti-depressant? Take two seats at Gotta Dance! and you’ll feel better immediately.
This greatest-hits compilation of superb, iconic dance numbers from Broadway and Hollywood musicals has just opened at Stage 42. Thank you, American Dance Machine for the 21st Century, for putting this gorgeous dance out where we can see it again.
When Theaterscene.com reviewed Gotta Dance! in its uptown iteration at the York last fall, we reported that the show was “Conceived by Nikki Feirt Atkins, with music direction by Eugene Gwozdz and co-direction by Atkins and Randy Skinner… the production brings together a cast of … the most extraordinary New York dancers working today to breathe new life into these classic, unforgettable pieces, re-staged from the original source material…”
The Company (Photo: Christopher Duggan)
All still true. What’s different: some casting, and room for the company to be able to breathe, in Stage 42’s larger space. Scenic design from Noah Glaister, new projections from Brian C. Staton, lighting from Ken Billington and Anthony Pearson, and Peter Brucker’s sound design all make the ensemble look smashing in this larger house.
But the dances! Oh, those dances! And oh, those choreographers! Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen. Jerome Robbins. Fosse. Randy Skinner. Susan Stroman. Joey McKneely, Lynne Taylor-Corbett, Billy Wilson, Christopher Wheeldon, and of course, Michael Bennett.
RJ Higton and Deanna Doyle (Photo: Christopher Duggan)
From Singin’ in the Rain to Gypsy to Pippin to Smokey Joe’s Café to Contact to Bubbling Brown Sugar to An American in Paris to, of course, A Chorus Line, the dynamite performances just keep coming. Huge kudos to the cast of insanely talented dancers: Keely Bierne, Brandon Burks, Anthony Cannarella, Barton Cowperthwaite, Deanna Doyle, Sara Esty, Jessica Lee Goldyn, RJ Higton, Libby Lloyd, Kate Louissaint, Drew Minard, Cole Newburg, Melody Rose, Samantha Siegel, Ahmad Simmons, Landon Winslow, and Blake Zelesnikar.
Hard to keep a smile off your face in the time you’ll spend at Gotta Dance! Go lift your spirits.
Gotta Dance! With American Dance Machine
At Stage 42
422 W 42nd St.
Running time: 100 minutes, one intermission
