Wrapped in dazzling costumes and backed by a soaring orchestral score, the cast of award-winning dancers and singers tap their way aimlessly over decades of styles from Broadway and big band to world music and pop/rock.
Wondering what’s on tap for entertainment this week at Symphony Hall in Springfield?
How about “Tap: The Show” on Saturday night?
“The title gives us away. We’re totally and completely a tap dance show,” said Maria Logan, singer, dancer, choreographer and company manager for the show.
“Tap: The Show” – fueled by a non-stop explosion of rhythmic energy – celebrates the artistry of tap dance from around the world. Wrapped in dazzling costumes and backed by a soaring orchestral score, the cast of award-winning dancers and singers tap their way aimlessly over decades of styles from Broadway and big band to world music and pop/rock.
“We go through the entire history and range of what tap is in our entertainment and cultural lives, starting with old school “42nd Street” Broadway tap, which is most known by everyone, then cross over into the movie musical,” Logan said.
Each section of the show brings to life iconic tap moments from the past, while creating new moments of joy to further mesmerize audiences. Included in the tap extravaganza are recreations of all-time favorite numbers by Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, Broadway showstoppers, smooth and sultry soft shoe, flamenco, tribal, Irish step and more.
“We take the audience to places you wouldn’t think of as tap dance, starting with an African tribal number, which is more about rhythm and dance as communication and cultural expression, then go into Irish step dance and flamenco. So, we really do cover the whole genre that tap dance can be expressed in,” Logan said.
“One section that people tend to like a lot is when we do a medley from the movie ‘Singin’ in the Rain.’ People will recognize ‘Good Morning’ and ‘Moses,” two classic, iconic numbers from the movie,” she added.
Creator-writer-director Scott Seidl, who for many years taught theater and music at the University of Wisconsin, is leading the “Tap” creative team. He has appeared in numerous shows from “Annie Get Your Gun” to “Man of La Mancha” and from “Lee Greenwood’s Portrait of America” to “Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede.” As a director, he has overseen productions from “42nd Street” to “Annie” to “Godspell.”
During 2005 and 2006, he served as road manager to Steven Tyler and the iconic rock band Aerosmith, and as a composer and arranger has his own pieces being performed in shows across the country. His song “Go Red” was used by the American Heart Association to promote their “Go Red for Women“ campaign.
Co-creator and choreographer Mike Minery is considered by many to be one of the finest tap dancers and choreographers working today. He has been named the 1997 World Tap Champion and was a recipient of a Princess Grace Dance Fellowship Award. He toured the world as a soloist with the internationally acclaimed Manhattan Tap company, and has been featured at The Supper Club on Broadway and in the ’40s revue “This Joint is Jumping.”
Minery has created his own tap company, Tapaholics, which debuted at the famed Duke Theatre in New York City and has performed in countless theaters and on television. He has also choreographed pieces for Manhattan Tap, New Jersey Tap Ensemble and North Carolina Youth Ensemble, as well as numerous companies and studios around the world. In addition to choreographing “Tap: The Show,” he is director and choreographer of SLIDE, a tap workshop and Off-Broadway show.
“I was so inspired by the old and great tap dancers like Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire. Now there is a generation of tap dancer who are trying to keep the art alive to whom a lot of taps look up to like Mike Minery, our primary choreographer,” Logan said.
Logan grew up dancing, singing and listening to music from the time she was born. Now a New Yorker, she called Nashville home for most of her life and went to school at Belmont University where she received a bachelor of music in musical theater. She has played Brooke Wyndham in “Legally Blonde” at the Westchester Broadway Theater, Miss Dorothy in “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” and was a featured performer in the tour of “Red Hot Hollywood.”
“I stared dancing when I was about the age of five. Much like our other cast members when they were learning dance as youngsters, I began with ballet, jazz and tap. Then you eventually break off into what strikes your fancy,” Logan said.
“I never had the natural body or feet for ballet, so tap really made sense for me, and since I grew up in a musical family, the musicality of tap drew me in,” she added.