Review Roundup: GOTTA DANCE Opens Off-Broadway at the York Theatre

The York Theatre Company and American Dance Machine are now presenting Gotta Dance, co-directed by Nikki Feirt Atkins and Randy Skinner. The production runs through December 28, 2025 at 7:00 p.m. at Off-Broadway’s Theatre at St. Jean’s. Read the reviews here!

Gotta Dance is a celebration of musical theatre dance on stage and screen, featuring reconstructions from landmark works including West Side Story, A Chorus Line, Pippin, Singin’ in the Rain, and Irving Berlin’s White Christmas. The production honors choreographers who helped shape Broadway and Hollywood—among them Bob Fosse, Jerome Robbins, Gene Kelly, Michael Bennett, Susan Stroman, and Billy Wilson.

The cast features Jessica Lee Goldyn, Brandon Burks, Anthony Cannarella, Barton Cowperthwaite, Deanna Doyle, Paloma Garcia-Lee, Afra Hines, Jess LeProtto, Kendall LeShanti, Drew Minard, Georgina Pazcoguin, Samantha Siegel, Taylor Stanley, and Blake Zelesnikar.

Gotta Dance is co-directed by Nikki Feirt Atkins, Producing Artistic Director of American Dance Machine for the 21st Century, and Randy Skinner (42nd Street, White Christmas, Dames at Sea). The creative team includes lighting design by Ken Billington, costume design by Marlene Hamm, sound design by Peter Brucker, scenic coordination by Noah Glaister, projection design by Brian Staton, and props supervision by Rich Klinger.

Brian Scott Lipton, Cititour: A production of the legendary American Dance Machine, the two-act 90-minute show, co-directed by Nikki Feirt Atkins and Randy Skinner, will serve as a pleasing exercise in nostalgia for many older patrons and a welcome education for others (especially younger folk) as it re-creates such landmark sequences as ‘Cool’ from ‘West Side Story,’ ‘One’ from ‘A Chorus Line,’ and ‘Simply Irresistible’ from ‘Contact,’ all of which remain as thrilling – and as groundbreakingly innovative -- as the day they were created.

Deb Miller, DC Theater Arts: Among the highlights are ‘Cool’ from West Side Story, with Minard and members of the company embodying the rival gangs of the Sharks and Jets, and enacting their rumble with abstract moves and sounds; the outstanding Burks and LeProtto energetically singing and tapping to ‘Moses Supposes’ from Singin’ in the Rain; the balletic ‘Pas de Deux’ from An American in Paris, beautifully danced by the lithe and graceful Pazcoguin and Cowperthwaite; and the dark ‘Manson Trio’ from Pippin, displaying the spot-on precision of Stanley, Hines, and Pazcoguin as they deliver Fosse’s groundbreaking elements of angularity, isolation, hip rolls, and turned-in knees, employ his signature hats and canes, and leave us with the famous ‘Ta Da’ moment at the end.

David Finkle, New York Stage Review: More precisely, what’s offered—with only a few exceptions—are mild facsimiles of the original numbers. Yes, the numbers are mounted but for the most part, as staged, they lack the élan, the electricity, the ebullient personality with which the original creators and, of course, the original dancers infused them. (The only original choreographer working here is Randy Skinner.)

Matthew Wexler, 1 Minute Critic: Still, Gotta Dance! lives up to its name, featuring a seven-piece band, live vocals, and an exacting attention to detail, thanks to stagers like Baayork Lee, Stephanie Pope, and Donna McKechnie, who are passing along the legacy to the next generation of dancers.

Average Rating: 70.0%