In the theater world, a performer who is a true triple threat – one with the ability to perform at the highest levels as an actor, singer, and dancer all at the same time – is rare. Luckily, Signature Theatre’s Associate Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner (Signature’s Passion and Billy Elliot) and Tony Award-nominated Choreographer Denis Jones (Broadway’s Tootsie, Signature’s Crazy for You) managed to find an entire stage full of these unicorns, gifting the audience with an intimate production of the iconic musical that will leave you feeling as if each of the characters is a personal friend who you desperately want to get the job.
Jones’s ministrations give a new vigor to “I Can Do That,” the athletic song for ball-of-fire Mike (Trevor Michael Schmidt) and a balletic flow to “The Music and the Mirror,” the big solo accorded Cassie (Emily Tyra), the humbled, sidelined star trying to earn her way back into the business. And the sprawling centerpiece coming-of-age song, “Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen, Hello Love,” reveals anew in gawky gestures and herky-jerky shuffles the endless awkwardness of adolescence.
