Exclusive: Dancer Colt Prattes on Bringing Broadway Magic to THE MERRY GENTLEMEN

Colt Prattes is no stranger to the world of dance. Having made his Broadway debut in West Side Story, the actor and dancer has performed worldwide on tour with pop superstar P!nk, played the coveted role of Johnny Castle in ABC's Dirty Dancing, and is currently appearing on Broadway in Disney's Aladdin.

Now, the Broadway alum is lending his dancing skills to The Merry Gentlemen, a new holiday movie just released on Netflix. The film follows New York dancer Ashley (Britt Robertson) who returns to her hometown after the sudden loss of her holiday gig. Once home, she decides to put her dancing abilities to a different use by staging an all-male, Christmas-themed revue in an effort to save her parents’ failing performing venue.

The male ensemble includes Prattes' Troy, who, in addition to his bartending job, also has a few groovy moves up his sleeves. BroadwayWorld sat down with Prattes to discuss his time working on the film, his own experience as a dance teacher, and the best advice he ever received from a director. 

This interview has been condensed for clarity and length.

Firstly, I’d love to hear how you got involved with the project.

I auditioned while I was on the national tour of Aladdin. We were out West Coast and I sent in a self-tape. I found out that I got it when I was walking into the show one night, which was amazing. I would wake up every morning and I'd drive up to Los Angeles and rehearse all day, and then I'd go back down to Orange County and do the show at night. It was a big secret; I hadn't told anybody yet. And then, we closed the tour on a Sunday, I moved up to LA, and on Tuesday we started shooting. It was just that quickly.

You kind of just touched on this, but I was going to ask where it was filmed because it definitely has that small-town feel.

It was filmed out in Los Angeles- on location for a lot of places. The team just did such an incredible job of creating that small-town feel. There is one particular lot that we used and I remember walking on set and realizing, "This has been in so many movies." They had built it into this amazing winter wonderland. 

What was it like collaborating with the choreographers on this project? Did you get any input into the choreography or the chance to bring your own style to the routines?

Christine Lakin, who is our choreographer, is incredibly collaborative. But she comes in with so much you don't need to offer that much. The best thing, and I think this is a top-down thing from Netflix, was that we always felt cared for and protected. If Christine asked us to do a move, it was because it was in the best interest of the story. As a performer, sometimes you feel kind of silly but there wasn't a lot of that on this. We just were having such a good time and there's so much heart to it.

The best note I ever got from a director was when I made my Broadway debut in West Side Story. Arthur Laurents, who wrote the book for West Side Story, was our director at 92 years old. We would have these midnight sessions after the show in the Palace Theater, which was a Broadway kid's dream come true. We were sitting there one night and, in response to a note he was giving to our Maria, he said, "It doesn't matter what you feel. It matters what we help the audience feel." And that's the storytelling that we get to do. How do we help the audience feel? I think this movie does an incredible job of doing that. 

I imagine that you developed a camaraderie and bond with the other guys as you were working on this movie together.

Oh yeah, we still have a group chat. Chad [Michael Murray] brought his family to Aladdin recently. It's very rare that you do a job and then realize, "Wow, these are lifers. We're going to be together for a while." Everybody brought such different skills and energy to the piece and that's a rarity when you bring something together like that and everybody fits together into this perfect little puzzle.

In the movie, Britt Robertson’s character Ashley transitions from performer to director. I know that you also have some experience as a dance teacher yourself. Do you approach projects differently as a performer versus as a choreographer?

I am the best performer when I have a whole slate of audition prep classes that I'm teaching that day, or when I have a whole bunch of sessions with our private students. Our company has taught at over 500 schools internationally now and we have a whole roster of students that we've helped get onto Broadway. When you put it all together and you don't separate yourself, I feel like that's when you really start to find that magic. And sometimes you do have to put on your choreographer hat but, at the end of the day, it all just makes me a better overall performer and a more appreciative performer. 

I find it interesting when an actor or dancer plays a character without the same training. When approaching a character like Troy, did you dance as you normally would, or did you approach it more like Troy might, who doesn’t have your level of dance training?

One of the things that Christine said to me early on was, "This isn't going to be that hard for you. This choreography is not that intricate." But we did decide that Troy is the person in town who loves dance and is glued to YouTube dance and music videos. That's why he is already at the bar dancing and watching "Cocktail' on repeat. So I would say he was probably the one who had planned to do some sort of dance at some point in his life. That was how I approached it. It made it easier for me to accept the suspension of disbelief.

Now that the holiday season has officially begun, do you have a favorite holiday movie or tradition? 

My wife and I are big holiday people. We put our Christmas tree up on Halloween night and decorate it with Halloween stuff. Then we watch The Nightmare Before Christmas and make a whole Sleepy Hollow vibe night out of it, and that's our transition into Christmas. And then this house is Christmas from there on.

The Merry Gentleman is now streaming on Netflix. Watch the trailer below.

Photo credit: Justin Patterson