NY Times on unimaginative Tap numbers on Broadway

[Trish2]

Posted: 5/15/18 at 11:24pm

Brian Seibert astutely dissects the lack of originality and versatility of the Tap choreography on Broadway. Bingo!

"....By having a supporting character, some sort of misfit (perhaps gay — the sexual orientation of Squidward has long been a subject of internet debate) do a boilerplate tap number, a choreographer can give the audience a little old-time Broadway without risking ridicule by straightforwardly expressing devotion to show tunes and time steps. Especially if the number is presented in quotation marks or as fantasy, or both.

In one sense, it works. At the performances I attended, audiences roared in approval, seemingly happy to show some love to an underdog and maybe to an idea of what Broadway used to be. (Mr. Nicholaw and Mr. Gatelli have been nominated for Tony Awards, as have Mr. Henson and Mr. Lee.)

But the creativity in these shows isn’t in the tap numbers, which aren’t good enough to be good or bad enough to be enjoyed as camp. The ambivalent satire of “Turn It Off” has weakened into a gimmick, a crutch, a dodge. This don’t-take-it-seriously attitude certainly isn’t good for tap in Broadway musicals, but it’s probably not great for Broadway musicals period. Maybe this trend should stop."

Ridiculous! Fabulous! On Broadway, Tapping in Quotation Marks

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 5/15/18 at 11:30pm

Wow, thank you for posting this, Trish. One of the most fascinating reads in a while. 

"The ambivalent satire of 'Turn It Off' has weakened into a gimmick, a crutch, a dodge. This don’t-take-it-seriously attitude certainly isn’t good for tap in Broadway musicals, but it’s probably not great for Broadway musicals period."

Sadly, I couldn't agree more.

[Trish2]

Posted: 5/15/18 at 11:43pm

Sure thing, BroadwayConcierge. It's nice to know that someone at the NY Times ( aside from dance critics) can actually notice the lack of authenticity in creating a true tap dance--let alone being able to decipher it. Good for him!

[RippedMan]

Posted: 5/15/18 at 11:47pm

I blame Casey N. for this. He's done it in almost every show. The big, splashy tap number that does nothing to propel the show. It worked well in "A Musical" in Something Rotten, but then he kept doing it and doing it and doing it and it got stale. 

Having just seen Me and My girl, that tapping was electrifying. 

[latitudex1]

Posted: 5/16/18 at 12:14am

^

Well, to be fair to SpongeBob, at least, Squidward has had fantasy performance sequences in the cartoon as well.

From what I've read of the plot, it seems like they framed it as a reward for the character and the audience.

I also see it as a sort of reward and freedom for the character in The Book of Mormon.

But, alas, that doesn't mean it isn't overused in general.

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 5/16/18 at 12:22am

Exactly, RippedMan. I understand why people are saying Mean Girls was fun and splashy, but I thought Nicholaw's direction and choreography were almost offensively bad. It just showed a complete and total lack of restraint on his part. Movement on stage doesn't have to be explosive every F'ing second, and making the "Stop" song a big tap production number was beyond unnecessary, in my opinion. You could feel the creative team sitting around going, "Oh, here's where we'll throw in a tap number."

"A Musical" in Rotten!, by contrast, was the perfect example of a good way to "throw" a tap number into a show. The song was an homage to Broadway past, and how do you do something like that without some killer tap and a kickline? But then continuing to always have a tap number in every single show just crushes the authenticity of tap as a form. 

[dramamama611]

Posted: 5/16/18 at 5:39am

Those tap numbers in TBV AND OOTI really felt out of place.  (Tried to add a winky face.)

Updated On: 5/16/18 at 05:39 AM

[Kad]

Posted: 5/16/18 at 9:58am

I love that the writer called out the near carbon-copy nature of "Stop" and "Turn It Off"- something that is so obvious and even flagrant, yet something I don't recall any major review pointing out.

In a post-Producers and Urinetown musical comedy world, where most musical comedies have varying degrees of irony and self-awareness, tap is only used as a kitschy throwback trope and is certain to garner as much rote applause as a kickline.

The only recent musical that used tap well- with no irony, to exhilarating effect, and to tell the story- was Shuffle Along (a show that I think more and more fondly of as time passes).

Updated On: 5/16/18 at 09:58 AM

[darquegk]

Posted: 5/16/18 at 10:14am

Kad, that point just calls back to the author's statement that today, tap denotes either irony or blackness. (Sometimes, as in Scottsboro Boys, it denotes both.)

[RippedMan]

Posted: 5/16/18 at 10:59am

I also find it kind of offensive that the gay character is always the one leading the tap number... that just has a lot of implications... and Casey & Co. need to chill with that. Think of a new gimmick. 

[bdn223]

Posted: 5/16/18 at 11:04am

I will say, and yes I know it’s my thumbnail. but Newsies probably is one of the most organically choreographed shows in recent memory. Seize The Day, begins with a march and building into the dance number it won the Tony for. I will say though that King of New York, is a truly solid tap number that is often overlooked. The tap dancing is very organic, and begins when Race is so happy to see his face on the front page he does a jig...that becomes contagious turning into a big tap number. Add to that the found object percussion of the spoons, chairs, and brooms, and you have a true tap number.  It also advances the plot as it depicts Katherine's initiation and acceptance into the  family of Newsies' as they both go from nobodies to the "Kings of New York". As well as what they would do with their success, before it quickly comes crashing down on them. This is opposed to Mormon, Aladdin, Margaritaville, Spongebob, and Mean Girls where all of the characters are aware they are doing a tap number, making tap a joke a meta joke.

I think the problem is that many producers/directors/writers feel like if they are selling the show as a musical comedy it’s got to have several production numbers. Instead of thinking of inventive ways to have a production number woven into the score, they are thinking how can I shoehorn in a tap number.

Choreographers and Directors need to have the production numbers match the show, and not try and find a way to shoehorn one in. For example I’d like to point out Crazy For You whose I Got Rhythm tap number is one of the best tap sequences ever staged. Does it make sense to a bunch of cowboys who just learned to dance, in Slap That Bass to suddenly know how to tap, let alone have tap shoes? No, but Susan Stroman thought why don’t we start with some found object procession by the cowboys. That eventually leads the Follies to imitate the rhythms on the mental trays. Then Bobby finally breaks out into tapping on those metal trays, and everyone else joins in. This is how you build a tap number in a musical comedy, not by making it a meta-joke.

[Ado Annie D'Ysquith]

Posted: 5/16/18 at 11:21am

I think that tap dance number are always fun to watch- and LISTEN to, as the shoes are often miked- but also agree that it's much more satisfying when it's consistent with the whole show.

Kathleen Marshall's NICE WORK and ANYTHING GOES...plus Denis Jones's choreography on HOLIDAY INN...are three recent moments that I absolutely adore. But, the astute will notice, all three of these are revivals of "old school" musicals. It's actually similar to the question I often pose on this board: is there really room in the modern Broadway scene for NEW works in this style? Maybe a random tap insert into contemporary pieces is the best we can hope for at the moment, until trends change again?

[Valentina3]

Posted: 5/16/18 at 11:47am

I agree with Ado that - "it's much more satisfying when it's consistent with the whole show."

That's why Shuffle Along, Newsies, and Something Rotten got it so right - it was organically part of the story. Shuffle Along makes tap seems absolutely necessary to the story, bdc223 explained Newsies's tap incorporation better than I ever can, and Something Rotten included it almost as a verbal/visual history lesson about musical theater. I agree it comes off gimmicky, but I don't think Casey N is phoning it in or using it as a gimmick - his work seems reverent to tap to me, enough to make sure all his shows have it in one way or the other. The execution clearly could be better but he's not actively insulting the art form, but not doing it justice either.

I read the piece and felt that the author almost had a personal vendetta against these choreographers. They barely mention Shuffle Along's success and don't really get into historical prevalence of tap while merely referencing/alluding to it. What was the actual volume of shows which were doing tap and doing it well a few decades ago? Not many shows which have truly stood the test of time seem to have tap as part of their dance vocabulary, so let's not pretend it's anything different than other art forms which have evolved based on audience and current times.

[Playbill_Trash]

Posted: 5/16/18 at 12:22pm

I would say that Bullets Over Broadway's use of tap from Susan Stroman would fit into the "use of tap organically - not a gimmick or meta moment of musical theatre" in Cheech's song, T'aint Nobody's Business If I Do as well. 

The tap is used to move the story of the scene along and showcase the characterization of Cheech and the other gangsters. They're showing their hostility and disregard for the law through the lyrics of the song which escalates into stomping their feet at first to assert dominance/anger. This then escalates from stomping to a full intricate tap number that shows how, with the right motivation, they can take their hostility (stomping) and bend the rules to achieve a certain task their given (all of them tapping in unison to the same steps) or do whatever they want (the choreography switches to a section of solos where different gangsters do a series of unique tap tricks). Tap is not used as a pastiche of show business here, but rather a language to convey the tone of the characters.

I'm glad the meaning of tap is being discussed instead of just dismissed entirely. 

At the end of the day I think the more tap the better because it's an education of a Broadway staple regardless. It doesn't have to be all serious. Something Rotten said it best, "Does it advance the Plot? No. Advance Character? No. Then why do it? Because, it's entertaining!" And don;t we all go to the theatre to be entertained regardless? I like tap either way. 

[bdn223]

Posted: 5/16/18 at 12:23pm

I think part of the issue is also that many see Tap as a form of dance in the choreographers playbook, when in actuality its a part form of percussion that should be part of the orchestrators playbook.

When tap works organically its because the dancing rythms are emulating sounds earlier in the number. Its not that the languae of Tap doesn’t fit into a contemporary setting of a modern show, its that choreographers and orchestrators aren’t thinking of ways to build the sound into a tap number. Mean Girls could easily use the sounds of a classroom to build a fantasy tap number, just look at how the film version of Hairspray built classroom sounds into the introduction for The Nicest Kids in Town. A ticking clock, builds into a person tapping their pencil, then someone else has restless leg syndrom, someone else is turning pages of a book loudly.....all the while a character is singing their internal monologue eventually leading to a tap number.
Margaritaville could of began with their tap number with Brick or another character playing with coconuts or opening beer bottles to find the rythm.

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 5/16/18 at 12:26pm

Tony Yazbeck chiming in to add that "The Right Girl" was on Broadway this season. He's right (and he was fantastic).

Updated On: 5/16/18 at 12:26 PM

[lilac3]

Posted: 5/16/18 at 12:44pm

I have been reading these boards for a while and this discussion has made me bite the bullet and join. As a dancer (including tap!) myself this is very important to me. I feel like a lot of the tap numbers I've seen in shows have felt rather "Let's throw a tap number in there", even when the rest of the show is very well choreographed. I always say to people who say that tap is boring (of which there seems to be a lot) that tap isn't boring at all, they've just only ever seen/done boring tap. Tap can be done in such a creative manner and it's a shame that so often basically the same thing is being done in completely different shows, seemingly just for the sake of having a tap number.

[ggersten]

Posted: 5/16/18 at 5:40pm

This may or may not add to the discussion, but I think it's fun.....

 

[sdrick]

Posted: 5/18/18 at 6:34pm

BroadwayConcierge said: "Exactly, RippedMan. I understand why people are sayingMean Girlswas fun and splashy, but I thought Nicholaw's direction and choreography were almost offensively bad. It just showed a complete and total lack of restraint on his part. Movement on stage doesn't have to be explosive every F'ing second, and making the "Stop" song a bigtap production number was beyond unnecessary, in my opinion. You could feel the creative team sitting around going, "Oh, here's where we'll throw in a tap number."

"A Musical" in Rotten!, by contrast,was the perfect example of a good way to "throw" a tap number into a show. The song was an homage to Broadway past, and how do you do something like that without some killer tap and a kickline? But then continuing to always havea tap numberin every single showjust crushes the authenticity of tap as a form."

Offensively bad?  What were you specifically offended by?  Would others be offended by it as well, or is it just your sensibility that was damaged.