Interview: Casey Nicholaw Can Do It All - the Director/Choreographer Talks His Three Shows on Broadway

Tony Award-winning director and choreographer Casey Nicholaw currently has three shows on Broadway - Some Like It Hot, The Book of Mormon, and Aladdin! In addition to these three shows (two of which- The Book of Mormon and Aladdin- rank among the longest running Broadway shows in history), Nicholaw's incredible list of credits include The Prom, Mean Girls, The Drowsy Chaperone, Spamalot, Something Rotten, Elf, and more.

BroadwayWorld spoke with Nicholaw about his love for musical theatre, his choreographic process for Some Like It Hot, his experience temporarily stepping into an onstage role in the show, and much more!

You currently have three shows on Broadway right now: Some Like It Hot, THE BOOK OF MORMON and ALADDIN. What does it feel like to know that your work has had such staying power?

I mean, it's great! You just think about the beginning, we had no idea about The Book of Mormon, we thought we were going to get picketed, there were threats, we had no clue. And I think the work spoke for itself, and people loved it, and here we are in its 12th year. And Aladdin just celebrated their 9th anniversary two weeks ago! It's awesome.

You are known for so many things but particularly for directing and choreographing musical comedies. What is it about the musical comedy that speaks to you, and why do you think your work, your creativity, flourishes in this genre?

I think it's just the one I love the most. I love telling stories through dance, and I just love comedy, period. And it's such a hard, yet fun and rewarding, style to do. It's just what I was always drawn to. Some of the old ones, I sort of like to take material that might be on the newer side, and have it fit in a retro box. I think that's part of what makes The Book of Mormon great, it was in a traditional musical theatre box, even though it was a contemporary satire.

Your most current show on Broadway is Some Like It Hot. What was it like adapting and updating this 1950s film for modern audiences?

It sort of started with Matthew Lopez, who was on board as the writer, and his big idea for Daphne, which was to have one of the two guys actually end up feeling comfortable in the dress. As opposed to the joke at the end of, "I'm a man and nobody's perfect," taking that and changing the last line so that it resonates now. And what I've been blown away by is that every age group seems to love it, for the people that love it. It's like someone will come and say, "I came with my dad, and my wife, and my son, and everybody had a great time." And I love that, because I'm all about entertaining everyone without setting out to entertain everyone, having something that feels relatable to all people who come to see it.

Can you tell me about your process choreographing for this show?

It's crazy because a show starts revealing itself as you're working on it, and I knew there was going to be one tap number in this, and that was going to be the number with the two guys. We were all talking about it, Marc, and Scott, and Matthew, and we were like, "Oh, these guys should be hoofers, and then they happen to witness this," So that we give them reasons to not just be musicians, but also want to be headliners. So, that was the first number. Then suddenly, Take It Up a Step started being about Daphne teaching others to tap, and then all of a sudden, the whole band is tap dancing. It just ended up being the vocabulary of the show, bit by bit. And then they write a song and it's like, "Some Like It Hot should be a tap number." [Laughs] And it just kept growing.

Then we did the lab of it, the big chase scene in act 2 with the doors, it was just a big chase scene, it took me forever to do the Tetris of it all, and figure out what fits where, and how to wrap up all the stories in one number. Which, at first, I was like, "Damn you!" but I loved the idea and the challenge of it. And then in between the first lab and the second lab I thought, "We should have that be tap too!" And so, I ended up choreographing that whole chase with tap. And I am so proud of it, and I love it, and I love the response the audience gives. It's just one of those things you think, "Does an audience really want to sit through a five-minute tap number toward the end of the show when they're looking at their watches ready to go home?" And people just totally dig it, the response has been so thrilling.

You recently stepped into Some Like It Hot as a performer, what was that experience like?

Oh my god, it was surreal. I hadn't been on stage and said a line in 20 years. And we had four guys out, and three guys were the principals who were out. Mark Lotito was out, Christian Borle was out, and Adam Heller was out, and I kind of had to step in. I didn't want to have cut shows, there was talk about putting my associate in, and he was like, "No, I'm not doing that!" [Laughs]. I was like, "Well, I guess I could step into Mark's track because I don't have learn much new," and I thought I knew it pretty well-until I actually looked at everything! [Laughs]

But, you know what, it was really fun. I didn't expect it to be, I was nervous as hell the first two nights, and then I ended up having a really good time being with the company. One of the hardest things for me when I'm doing a new show is when you're done with creating it, and opening night happens, you're then kind of... not done, but you've birthed this baby, and then everyone else grows up and doesn't need the director anymore. Everyone is doing their own thing, and I'd get so blue about it. So, to go back and actually be in it with them felt like it was extending that fun part again for a little while. And that was great, I really loved it.

It was so much fun to be backstage and see it from a different perspective. I had no idea Mark Lotito ran so much backstage! I was so out of breath after the chase scene, I was like, "Oh my god! You don't see that from the house!" I thought the chase would be the hardest part, but it ended up being the easiest part because I choreographed it. So, I sort of knew it inherently, even though I didn't know the backstage traffic. The stage managers, it was like La Guardia back there, "Come this way, go that way, come this way!"

On that note, you're the director/choreographer, you went on as a performer- what has it been like working with this company?

They're seriously the best, they're so fantastic, they're so game for anything. My hat's off to everyone who manages to get these shows going, the stage managers, the dance captains, during Covid, and everything else. It feels like there is less people to cover these days and more people out, just because things have changed. And everyone is working really hard to keep the shows going, and so my hat's off to everyone. It can be really tricky and rewarding. You know, soon I'll be dressing someone backstage [laughs]. I've got to do everything!

Do you have any final thoughts you'd like to share?

I just love doing it, I love creating, I just love musical theatre. I always did, since I was a kid, and I feel as excited about it as I ever have been. What can I say, I just love it, I love the art form. And so many people love it as much as I do, and that's what this cast has been like. They love doing it. And as hard as it is, they just love it, their heart and souls are really in it, and it makes me really happy.