Cabaret Scenes Theatre Review

Like Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy last summer, Burn the Floor could be the extravaganza to see in Las Vegas or on a cruise ship. Directed and choreographed by Australia's Jason Gilkinson, the show never takes a breath. It sizzles, it flashes, it features intense, limber, impossibly trim dancers in gauzy strips called costumes glittering with sequins. Further firing up the eroticism, there is enough smoke to occasionally choke the first few rows. Also a disco ball. And omigod! They're dancing in the aisles — "What if someone grabs me to dance!" No fear, no audience participation, this is not Hair. This dancing is tough stuff, not only demanding terpsichorean technique, but gymnastic proficiency; it threatens muscle tears and bone fractures.

Burn the Floor, could be considered So You Think You Can Dance or Dancing with the Stars comes to Broadway's Longacre Theatre stage, minus the "competition," and those spicy, occasionally enlightening judges' comments. It also skips Broadway's traditional must-haves, like plot and music that fits the story. Remember Movin' Out, another dance driven musical, was steered by Billy Joel's songs that worked as a narrative. Without this point of view and driven mainly by pulsating intensity, there evolves a mechanical sameness.

In this show that has been touring worldwide for a decade, Gilkinson delivers a non-stop salute to a variety of ballroom dances from the quickstep and Viennese waltz to jive. While there are nods to Fred and Ginger in "Let's Face the Music and Dance" and Benny Goodman's, "Sing, Sing, Sing," Latin is the language here, with much of Act II devoted to dances of Spain and south of the border.

What magnetizes Burn the Floor are 18 fit, well-trained international dancers twisting, swerving, lifting, leaping with gazelle-like grace and speed. They boast impressive lines and feet flashing like lightning. Surprisingly, some personalities emerge through the pounding rhythm, like statuesque Peta Murgatroyd and red-hot Giselle Peacock. ABC's Dancing with the Stars, Maksim Chmerkovskiy and fiery Karina Smirnoff were the first crowd-pleasing guest stars. Chmerkovskiy has a brusque authority although it was his fiancée, Karina Smirnoff who set off the first explosion of applause when she shimmered across the stage in a silver sequined mini. Smirnoff's fire sparked with the rest of the cast and she had no problems playing to the audience. Together they burned the floor with "Burn for You." When they left the show on August 16, So You Think You Can Dance vets, Anya Gamis and Pasha Kovalev, shimmied in to replace them. Familiar TV personalities always raise the box office temp, but whether in duos, ensembles or with the entire cast, there is fierce dedication here in every vivacious performer.

Ray Klausen's smoky set features a band with smokin' percussion rhythms to enhance the taped music. Melodies are not the point in this show, but Ricky Rojas and Rebecca Tapia handle the Spanish and English vocals effectively. The provocative energy builds right through the finale of "Proud Mary" and "Turn the Beat Around." Lighting by Rich Belzer and Janet Hine’s costumes, based on designs by John Van Gastel, certainly help the oomph factor.

Pictured Peta Murgatroyd and Damian Whitewood. Photo by Joan Marcus.

Elizabeth Ahlfors
Cabaret Scenes
August 3, 2009
www.cabaretscenes.org



	Burn the Floor Longacre Theater New York, NY
Like Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy last summer, Burn the Floor could be the extravaganza to see in Las Vegas or on a cruise ship. Directed and choreographed by Australia's Jason Gilkinson, the show never takes a breath. It sizzles, it flashes, it features intense, limber, impossibly trim dancers in gauzy strips called costumes glittering with sequins. Further firing up the eroticism, there is enough smoke to occasionally choke the first few rows. Also a disco ball. And omigod! They're dancing in the aisles — "What if someone grabs me to dance!" No fear, no audience participation, this is not Hair. This dancing is tough stuff, not only demanding terpsichorean technique, but gymnastic proficiency; it threatens muscle tears and bone fractures. Burn the Floor, could be considered So You Think You Can Dance or Dancing with the Stars comes to Broadway's Longacre Theatre stage, minus the "competition," and those spicy, occasionally enlightening judges' comments. It also skips Broadway's traditional must-haves, like plot and music that fits the story. Remember Movin' Out, another dance driven musical, was steered by Billy Joel's songs that worked as a narrative. Without this point of view and driven mainly by pulsating intensity, there evolves a mechanical sameness. In this show that has been touring worldwide for a decade, Gilkinson delivers a non-stop salute to a variety of ballroom dances from the quickstep and Viennese waltz to jive. While there are nods to Fred and Ginger in "Let's Face the Music and Dance" and Benny Goodman's, "Sing, Sing, Sing," Latin is the language here, with much of Act II devoted to dances of Spain and south of the border. What magnetizes Burn the Floor are 18 fit, well-trained international dancers twisting, swerving, lifting, leaping with gazelle-like grace and speed. They boast impressive lines and feet flashing like lightning. Surprisingly, some personalities emerge through the pounding rhythm, like statuesque Peta Murgatroyd and red-hot Giselle Peacock. ABC's Dancing with the Stars, Maksim Chmerkovskiy and fiery Karina Smirnoff were the first crowd-pleasing guest stars. Chmerkovskiy has a brusque authority although it was his fiancée, Karina Smirnoff who set off the first explosion of applause when she shimmered across the stage in a silver sequined mini. Smirnoff's fire sparked with the rest of the cast and she had no problems playing to the audience. Together they burned the floor with "Burn for You." When they left the show on August 16, So You Think You Can Dance vets, Anya Gamis and Pasha Kovalev, shimmied in to replace them. Familiar TV personalities always raise the box office temp, but whether in duos, ensembles or with the entire cast, there is fierce dedication here in every vivacious performer. Ray Klausen's smoky set features a band with smokin' percussion rhythms to enhance the taped music. Melodies are not the point in this show, but Ricky Rojas and Rebecca Tapia handle the Spanish and English vocals effectively. The provocative energy builds right through the finale of "Proud Mary" and "Turn the Beat Around." Lighting by Rich Belzer and Janet Hine’s costumes, based on designs by John Van Gastel, certainly help the oomph factor. Pictured Peta Murgatroyd and Damian Whitewood. Photo by Joan Marcus. Elizabeth Ahlfors Cabaret Scenes August 3, 2009 www.cabaretscenes.org

Burn the Floor

Longacre Theater New York, NY

Longacre Theater
New York, NY