VideoWatch Kiss Me, Kate's Corbin Bleu Teach Ryan Seacrest to Tap DanceThe High School Musical alum discusses his latest starring role on Broadway.
By
Ruthie Fierberg
March 26, 2019
On March 25, former High School Musical star and current Broadway hoofer Corbin Bleu visited Live With Kelly & Ryan to talk about his latest Main Stem role in Roundabout Theatre Company’s Kiss Me, Kate.
Bleu plays Bill/Lucentio in the show-within-a-show alongside stars Kelli O’Hara, Will Chase, and Stephanie Styles. Kiss Me, Kate choreographer Warren Carlyle (Hello, Dolly!) wanted to put Bleu’s skills to work.
“There are certain numbers that my character never used to be in, but they added me in just because there is so much dancing,” Bleu told host Ryan Seacrest and guest host Lisa Rinna. For example, Bleu’s solo “wasn't always done as a tap number, and I said to Warren, ‘That’s where I live; that’s really my home and my love,’ and so he turned it into a tap number.
“Where the set is, we built bars on the top of it, so I jump onto the bars and I tap on the railing and then I pull myself upside down and I get to tap on the ceiling. It's a really fun number to do, it's also terrifying,” he admitted.
Bleu made his Broadway debut in In The Heights, but put his tap dancing to use in the more recent Holiday Inn. The actor has been dancing since he was two years old. “My parents tried everything with me. They put me in sports and they put me in taekwondo,” he said. “They gave me my first pair of tap shoes and I was happy.”
