Review Roundup: Broadway-Bound GOTTA DANCE Opens in Chicago - Updating Live!

The pre-Broadway World Premiere of GOTTA DANCE officially opened last night, December 28, and will now play through January 17, 2016, at Broadway In Chicago's Bank of America Theatre (18 W Monroe St, Chicago), before opening on Broadway in the Fall of 2016.

The GOTTA DANCE team includes Tony Award nominee André De Shields, five-time Emmy Award nominee Georgia Engel, television and film icon Stefanie Powers (in her Broadway debut), Tony Award-winner Lillias White, Haven Burton, Lori Tan Chinn, Joanna Jones (NBC's "Sing Off"),Nancy Ticotin, Alexander Aguilar, Adinah Alexander, Sydni Beaudoin, Holly Ann Butler, Paula Caselton, Murphy Cross,Madeleine Doherty, Tracy Jai Edwards, Ari Groover,Colby Lewis, Lenora Nemetz, Lance Roberts, Elise Santora, Jonalyn Saxer, Austin Scott III, Kay Walbye, and Virginia Ann Woodruff.

GOTTA DANCE brings together an all-star creative team that includes a book by Tony Award- nominee Chad Beguelin (Aladdin) and Tony Award-winner Bob Martin (The Drowsy Chaperone), music by Tony and Emmy Award nominee Matthew Sklar (Elf) and lyrics by Tony Award-nominee Nell Benjamin (Legally Blonde), with additional music by Marvin Hamlisch (an Emmy, Grammy, Tony and Oscar winner) and direction and choreography by Tony Award-winner Jerry Mitchell (Kinky Boots), with co-choreography by Nick Kenkel.

Let's check out what the critics had to say...

Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times: Think of "Gotta Dance" as "A Chorus Line" reconfigured for the AARP set and freshly sealed with a "light and lively" label. In fact, that is all you really need to know...A sweet, mostly light-hearted, entirely predictable feel-good show, it is infused with many of the familiar messages that boil down to "you're only as old as you think you are," and (to paraphrase the lyrics of a song) "you can't go backward, but you can go on." That's about as deep as it gets...the most beguiling aspect of "Gotta Dance" is its casting...But it is Engel, as the girlishly prim but clearly eccentric kindergarten teacher who dances to an inner Tupac beat, who will wow you. Everything she does is hilarious, true and unexpected...

Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune: ...Mitchell and his co-choreographer, Nick Kenkel, have assembled an engaging, wholly likable team of legitimate veteran hoofers led by Andre De Shields, Stefanie Powers, Lillias White and the show-stopper Georgia Engel, the best hop-hop dancer of the bunch and - who knew? - a pretty decent rapper to boot.It's the latest life-affirming, feel-good musical directed without patronizing by Jerry Mitchell, Broadway's reigning populist entertainer. And, if the work gets done, embrace it they will...."Gotta Dance" really does have great potential to change the face of the dance musical while still delivering a fun night out. But at this juncture what it needs most is to fully commit to being about what it really wants to be about: a celebration of the older dancer...Haven Burton's Tara, feels mostly flat and underwritten even though she's clearly a hip-hop homage to Michael Bennett's Cassie....badly needs fixing...."Gotta Dance" has to deal with the common structural problem of a show in which the plot relies on the dancers only becoming great at the very end of Act 2...Martin and Beguelin have written some lovely scenes of memory and loss, and the show works well when we get away from the day-glo gymnasium of a David Rockwell set (lit by Kenneth Posner) that clearly was designed to evoke the pumped-up atmosphere of the NBA...the score is generally a pleasing suite of songs, albeit still lacking a real hip-hop tour de force.

Alan Bresloff, Around the Town Chicago: What makes this show so very special is the talented cast of seniors (and near seniors) that tell the story- they are amazing and as high in energy as any other ensemble in any other theater in Chicago (or probably anywhere). Georgia Engel, a TV character actress that we have all seen over the years, is one amazing talent...The entire troupe of dancers (all ten) are special characters that will delight you and expose you to things as they were compared to how young people view them today...This is truly a show not to be missed.

Michael J. Roberts, Showbiz Chicago: Based on the true story of an over 60 hip-hop dance troupe, Gotta Dance has an incredibly memorable and energetic score with music and lyrics by Matthew Sklar and Nell Benjamin, which effectively moves Chad Beguelin and Bob Martin's humane, funny and relevant book. Cast with some of the greatest stage and television icons that rest in our collective memory...Gotta Dance, is a testament on how the human spirit through friendship can overcome the social stigma of growing older. Moreso, with major nods to A Chorus Line, this vibrant musical teaches us how we can reinvent ourselves to post-middle aged relevancy. It is in this atmosphere that Jerry Mitchell shines best as he can connect a direct line of artistic vision merging actor, dance, movement and truth through his choreography.

Misha Davenport, BroadwayWorld.com: Director/Choreographer Jerry Mitchell ("Kinky Boots") has become the go-to guy for crowd-pleasing shows and he succeeds again here. Along with co-choreographer Nick Kenkel, Mitchell has managed to blend the sometimes overtly sexual hip hop moves with more traditional forms of dance that don't feel quite as uncomfortable. It's wholesome, but still manages to somehow keep a bit of its street cred.

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