In part one of this post, I gave you a bird’s eye view of tap dance in musicals up until 1960. In this second half, I’ll do the same for 1960 until present…Enjoy!

Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967)
This musical comedy, originally a movie starring Julie Andrews, was also later turned into a stage production. Either way, it’s got some toe tapping stuff in it:

42nd Street (1980)
This musical, which opened on Broadway in July 1980, based on an earlier movie, is called the Grandfather of tap dance musicals by some. In fact, the show opened to reveal a line of 40 tap dancers hoofing away, as you can see in this clip:

The Tap Dance Kid (1983)
This Tony Award-winning musical tells the story of a boy who dream of being a dancer, even though his father does not want him to be. This clip is a TV performance of Fabulous Feet from the musical:

Stepping Out (1991)
This musical is actually about a group of 8 students beginning a tap dance class. The plays tells the story of the unique individuals all striving to learn the steps they need to to do the finale dance number.

Crazy for You (1992)
This musical is based on songs by Ira and George Gershwin, and debuted on Broadway in 1992. This musical tells the story of what happens when the man sent to foreclose on a theatre falls in love with the theatre owner’s daughter…

Bring in ‘Da Noise, Bring in ‘Da Funk (1996)

Michael Flatley and RiverDance
Michael Flatley’s shows, Riverdance, Lord Of The Dance, and Celtic Tiger, are p[erhaps not technically musicals (Michael Flatley called them dance extravaganzas), but they are very similar, as they do use dance and song to tell a story. Plus, Riverdance was actually a Broadway show for a time. One could also argue that the Flatley shows were not actually tap dancing, as they actually used Irish Step Dancing. However, Hardshoe Irish Step Dancing and Tap Dance are very closely related cousins, and much of the dancing in these shows uses moder tap dance shoes, not the traditional wooden or fiberglass Irish hard shoes.

The title dance from Lord Of The Dance:

Note how the dance starts off with soft shoe dancing, then progresses to hard shoe (tap). For those of you who may not be familiar with the show, the male solo tap dancer is Michael Flatley. Interestingly enough, Michael has help multiple Guinness World Records as the fastest tap dancer. His last record was 35 taps per second, but that record was broken by James Devine (who has toured with Lord Of The Dance), who tapped at 38 taps per second.

Hoofers, or tap dancers, have been part of Broadway, West End, and musical theatre for a very long time. Put on your tap shoes and join me as we shuffle and flap our way through a few famous shows and performers that used tap dance!

Pre-Tap
Tap dance per-se, with metal taps shoes did not exist until the early 1900’s, but forms of tap dance were used before then in musicals. The 1866 show “The Black Crook“, considered by many to be the first real musical, used forms of clogging and minstrel dancing. Ned Wayburn, a famous choreographer of the early 1900’s, is credited with the first commercial use of the phrase “tap dance”, in a musical in 1902.

George M. Cohan
George Cohan marked a turning point in musical theatre. He was a vaudeville performer, and was one of the first men to do any substantial dancing in a musical, as up until then most dancing was done by women. Cohan’s breakthrough musical was Little Johnny Jones (1904), which he wrote and starred in. It was this musical that contained his hits “Give My Regards To Broadway” and “I’m A Yankee Doodle Dandy”. The songs were great, but it was Cohan’s dancing that made the show and many of his subsequent hits.

Fred Astair And Ginger Rogers
Easily the most well-known tap dancing duo in musical history, Fred and Ginger got their start in Flying Down to Rio (1933), right during the “Golden Age Of Musicals”. Fred And Ginger made a total of 10 musicals together, including The Gay Divorcee, Roberta, Top Hat, Follow the Fleet, Swing Time, Shall We Dance, and Carefree. Fred and Ginger each made films without the other, also. Fred could also play piano, apparently.

Fred Astair had a eclectic dance style, which including tap, ballet, and other forms. He was (and still is) known for his grace and lightness on his feet during dance numbers. One of his most famous dance scenes was his “dance on the ceiling routine”, which (unfortunately) was not a tap dance:

Ginger was also an excellent dancer - according to her fans, she did everything Fred did, just in high heels and backwards.

One of their Fred’s most well-known movies was Top-Hat, which did contain some great tap dancing:

The Little Colonel (1935)
While not actually a musical, this movie featured the famous “up-the-stairs” tap dance by Bojangles Robinson and Shirley Temple:

Anything Goes (1935)
This musical tells the story of what happens belowdecks on a cruise ship headed from New York to London. The characters range from GI’s to gang members to evangelists. Here is a video clip of Patti Lupone and the Broadway revival cast performing the title song from Anything Goes on the Tony Awards:

Gene Kelly
Probably best known for his role in Singin’ In The Rain, Gene Kelly was a talented tap dancer, and tap danced in many of his movies. Another of Gene’s well known musicals was Anchors Aweigh, which he co-starred with Frank Sinatra in. A lesser known, but still wonderful musical with Gene at the front was Brigadoon, which had some great hoofing, plus some super scottish/irish dancing.

Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
This musical tells the story of George M. Cohan, and includes “clips” from many of his musicals including the songs “Give My Regards To Broadway”, “I’m A Yankee Doodle Dandy”, “45 Minutes From Broadway” and others. It also includes several great tap numbers. James Cagney shines as an actor and dancer in this film.

Ziegfeld Follies (1946)
The Ziegfeld Follies was a film based on the series of Broadway shows called by the same name. The film was full of top talent, including both Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire. In fact, they did a tap dance number together in the film:

The Lullaby Of Broadway
This movie musical, made in 1951, starred Doris Day, has no lack of tap dancing in it. The musical tells the story of the pretty singer Melinda Howard, her alcoholic mother (who is hiding from her), a kind Broadway show producer, and a romantic young tap dancer.

It Was The Hey-Day Of Tap
Tap Dance arguably saw it’s peak in musicals during the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s, when stars such as Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, (see a comparison of Gene and Fred) Ginger Rogers, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Ginger Rogers, and Eleanor Powell hoofed their way onto the screens of America. Never since have there been big movie stars like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers who it seems tap dance in almost every movie they make.

But recent years have seen some powerful tap dancing shows, too…I’ll highlight some of those in part two of this post…

Resources

• Buy Fred Astaire Musicals On DVD
• Buy Yankee Doodle Dandy (Two-Disc Special Edition)
• Buy Singin’ in the Rain (Two-Disc Special Edition)
• Buy The Lullaby of Broadway On DVD

Who else loves the song Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious? After all, what other word is there that can save your aching nose, get you asked out to tea, make you sound precocious, and get you a wife?!

Well, just for you Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious fans, here are two super-you-know-what videos!

Enjoy!

Bessie Cursons From Britain’s Got Talent:

The London West End Cast:

Two completely different performances of the song…both simply amazing!

Resources:

• Buy Mary Poppins Tickets On Broadway
• Buy Mary Poppins (40th Anniversary Edition) DVD
• Buy Mary Poppins (2005 Original London Cast) CD

If you’re going to see a musical on Broadway, you can often times get tickets at substantial discounts. There are several ways to get discount Broadway tickets, but I discovered and used this great method this spring to get discount tickets…

How To Get Discount Broadway Tickets In Four Easy Steps

1. Go to Ebay
2. Search for the name of the musical you want tickets for + coupon. i.e. “Mamma Mia coupon”
3. Buy the best coupon
4. Buy your discount tickets

The seats I got using this method were great, so no worries there. You should only need to buy one coupon - you can use the same coupon to buy multiple tickets.

As far as I can tell, the tickets are from coupon clubs which give out coupons to many different shows. Often times you can get coupons for theatre district restaurants also.

What’s better than a night on Broadway? A night on Broadway that doesn’t bust the bank!!!

When I get a chance to visit Prince Edward Island, I know exactly what the first thing I’ll do is: catch a performance of the musical Anne And Gilbert. This show is a quasi-sequel to the musical Anne Of Green Gables, and tells Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe’s love story.

Unfortunately, I have yet to see the musical (I’ve never been to PEI, and it’s quite a ways from here), but I have the Cast Recording, and it’s easy to follow the story if you’ve read the books (which I have).

The story starts with Gilbert as the schoolmaster at the Avonlea schoolhouse. Anne and Gilbert are friends, and gilbert loves Anne. Anne, however, is too busy with her ideals of love to realize that she loves Gilbert. Throw in college, Josey Pye chasing Gilbert, a few good presbyterian women, and the “perfect” romantic suitor for Anne (Roy), and you have the story of Anne and Gilbert!

The music is charming, in a word. One of the best songs is You’re Island Through and Through (Click here to hear a clip or click here to read the lyrics), a celebration of the quirky traits of the characters in the story.

Anne And Gilbert is only showing in two theatres, one on PEI, and one in Ontario, so I doubt I’ll get to see the show soon. But in the meantime, the soundtrack is great fun. You can buy the cast recording CD from Amazon. If you’re fortunate enough to live near one of the productions of Anne and Gilbert, check out the show and tell me what you think!