Review: American Repertory Theater's DIARY OF A TAP DANCER is Illuminating Look at Dance History

Remember the name Ayodele Casel.

Get a ticket, if you still can, to her illuminating and immensely entertaining new play “Diary of a Tap Dancer” – being given its world premiere production by the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge through January 4, 2025 – and you’ll never forget it.

Performer, writer, and choreographer Casel (“Ayodele Casel: Chasing Magic”) began developing this autobiographical show about her experiences as a Bronx-born, Puerto Rico-raised tap dancer in 2018 when she was Harvard ArtLab’s first Artist-in-Residence, and continued in 2019 during her time as a Radcliffe Institute fellow. The A.R.T. subsequently commissioned Casel to create the current full-length version of “Diary of a Tap Dancer,” now at the Loeb Drama Center.

When it comes to the long history of tap, it’s too often men’s names that are best remembered, evidencing a long pattern of tap being a male-dominated art form. That’s why so many of us are familiar with the work of tap dancers like Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, the Nicholas Brothers, Sammy Davis, Jr., Arthur Duncan, Gregory Hines, and Savion Glover, but may never have heard of Lois Bright, Louise Madison, Alice Whtman, the Whitman Sisters, Cora Laredo, Jeni Le Gon, Juanita Pitts, or even the contemporary Boston-born Dianne Walker, considered by some to be “America’s First Lady of Tap.”

As Casel has said, “I was called to write ‘Diary of a Tap Dancer’ to amplify our voices, family stories, and artistic lineages and to reflect the multitude of languages that we use to uplift and honor our cultural histories.” And she’s doing just that, thought-provokingly and with deep respect, in both spoken word and dance, for the artists who came before her.

It is the story of her life and the lives of earlier tap dancers relegated to the sidelines of history by a mix of misogyny and racism. In the first act, we meet a young, tentative Casel in an NYU tap class. By the second act, Casel – joined by her fellow dancers – is ready to roar in a powerful group dance that pulsates like a forcefully choreographed protest march. Kathleen Freer’s perfectly executed projections trace tap from slavery through minstrel shows to the chitlin’ circuits of Black Vaudeville and beyond.

In a production that showcases Casel’s inventive and original choreography and is seamlessly directed by her longtime collaborator and wife Torya Beard, a company of gifted dancers including Casel, Naomi Funaki, Afra Hines, Quiynn L. Johnson, Funmi Sofola, Liberty Styles, Annaliese Wilbur, and Ki’Leigh Williams pay warm homage to the all-but-forgotten female artists, who are finally given their due. Casel, who is open about her love for Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies of the 1930s and ‘40s, also touches on the impact of white female tap dancers such as Shirley Temple, Eleanor Powell, and Ruby Keeler.

Savion Glover, a 1996 Tony Award winner for Best Choreography for “Bring in ’da Noise Bring in ’da Funk,” receives no mention by name. Casel’s two years as the only female in Glover’s Not Your Ordinary Tappers Group does, however, appear to be the basis for an intriguing segment depicting challenges she faced when she entered the boys’ club that is tap dancing.

Any door that Casel opts to knock on should be thrown wide open, because her talents are impressively vast. Indeed, her book for this show is richly detailed and very well written, and her line delivery is both measured and compellingly emotional. And when she brings it all together in dance, it’s something to behold.

Tatiana Kahvegan’s multi-level scenic design is complemented by Brandon Stirling Baker’s carefully calibrated lighting design, while Camilla Dely’s deceptively simple costumes are perfectly paired with Earon Chew Nealey’s fine hair, wig, and make-up design.

With ”Diary of a Tap Dancer,” Casel – tap choreographer on the 2022 Broadway revival of “Funny Girl” – has crafted a meaningful paean to the past, a thoroughly researched and thoughtfully presented lamentation and indictment, for sure, but also a forward-focused celebration. She firmly establishes herself here as a terrific writer, actor, choreographer, and cultural historian whose work matters and whose name should be remembered.

Photo caption: Ayodele Casel, center, and the company of the American Repertory Theater world premiere production of “Diary of a Tap Dancer.” Photo by Nile Scott Studios/Maggie Hall.

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