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Dearly Beloved: More Never Gonna Dance Casting Announced
By Kenneth Jones
22 Jul 2003
Never Gonna Dance, the new musical that will bring Jerome Kern songs back to Broadway, has plucked Peter Gerety, Deborah Leamy, Philip LeStrange and Ron Orbach, who'll join Noah Racey, Nancy Lemenager, Peter Bartlett and David Pittu in the cast.
With music by Jerome Kern, book by Jeffrey Hatcher (Scotland Road, Three Viewings), direction by Michael Greif (Rent) and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell (Hairspray, Gypsy), Never Gonna Dance borrows plot elements from the classic RKO picture, "Swing Time" (and a story by Erwin Gelsey) and tells it with a collection of beloved Kern show tunes representing collaborations with lyricists Dorothy Fields, Oscar Hammerstein II, Ira Gershwin, Johnny Mercer, Jimmy McHugh and Otto Harbach.
Like the hit Thoroughly Modern Millie, which used newcomers to good effect, Never Gonna Dance will feature fresh faces Racey and Lemenager in roles made famous by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
The show opens at the Broadhurst Theatre Dec. 4, 2003, following previews from Oct. 27.
According to production notes, "the story of Never Gonna Dance begins with John 'Lucky'
Garnett, a professional dancer, coming to New York in order to prove his worth to his fiancée's father by attempting to earn $25,000 by any means except dancing.
Inspired by the energy and rhythms of the city, he, of
course, can't keep still, and goes on to dance his way through hilarious adventures with his fine new romance, the dance teacher, Penny Carroll."
The score offers a treasure chest of theatre and movie songs: "Pick Yourself Up," "The Way You Look Tonight," "The Waltz in Swingtime," "A Fine Romance," "Bojangles of Harlem," "Never Gonna Dance," "I Won't Dance," "I'm Old Fashioned," "Dearly Beloved" and "Who," among others.
Never Gonna Dance is produced by Weissberger Theater Group/Jay Harris, Producer, Edgar Bronfman Jr., James Walsh and Ted Hartley/RKO Pictures.
Gerety was The Butcher in Suzan-Lori Parks' Fucking A and is now performing in Henry V; Leamy has performed nationally in Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat (with Donny Osmond) and The Phantom of the Opera (Meg) and appeared in the original cast of Fosse; LeStrange has performed in Dinner at Eight, Six Degrees of Separation and The Front Page; Orbach acted in Dance of the Vampires, Laughter on the 23rd Floor as Ira Stone (and as Max Prince in the Chicago premiere, 1994 Jeff nomination; national tour; ACT and Seattle).
For more information, visit www.NeverGonnaDance.com.
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