Man Dance Company San Francisco, a seven-member all-male dance company, will perform reinvented crowd-pleasing Broadway scenes in its risk-taking show.
Their groundbreaking show “On Broadway” will be a 70-85
minute concert, which explores an LGBTQ perspective on Broadway productions from the 1950’s to the present including popular dance and song numbers from: West Side Story, Fiddler on the Roof, Victor-Victoria, Cabaret and Chicago. Man Dance Company will reinterpret famous scenes from these earlier Broadway performances with an emphasis on the underlying queer themes subtly expressed in the original famous shows.
Man Dance Company has been formulating this concert since September of 2011. To choose the distinct pieces composing "On Broadway", Artistic Director Byron Heinrich executed extensive research and propositioned input from the company’s supporters, donors, ambassador committee and advisory board. The artistic direction of the show ultimately utilizes a narrative approach that tells an entertaining story with a great deal of energy.
The show also explores a diversity of other pieces,
including Victor/Victoria and Kiss of the Spiderwoman, which will openly express queer nuances. The Man Dance Company will perform these breakthrough pieces along with acclaimed female guest artist Connie Champagne, who will be appearing as Judy Garland in a re-casting of “Get Happy” from Summer Stock and “Le Jazz Hot” from Victor/Victoria.
"There is nothing else like these pieces,"exclaims Heinrich. "The pieces explode on the stage. I have choreographed the dances and songs to captivate the audience. It promises to be an exciting show!”
“On Broadway” is thrilled to combine the music from the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony and the San Francisco LGBT Freedom Band with the talented dancers.
Man Dance Company suspects that the show’s audience will be initially comprised of the Bay Area’s LGBTQ community, musical theatre community, dance enthusiasts and musicians’ friends and families. However, this production is intended to appeal to audiences of all backgrounds and the Man Dance Company welcomes a plethora of people to watch their hard-work on stage.
Last year’s production “It Takes Two to Tango” was performed only once, but this year, Man Dance Company intends to hold more shows after a strong response from the community.
“On Broadway” combines ballet, musical theatre, modern
dance, and contemporary dance art forms in order to accomplish a well-rounded queer interpretation of classic Broadway moments. The production will rehash and contemporize the taboo material from the McCarthy period of show business, a time in which it was risky for LGBTQ people to freely express their sexual orientations.
By presenting these Broadway vignettes in present-day 2012 San Francisco and re-adapting these famous pieces from a modern viewpoint, Man Dance Company
will successfully bring-to-light the suppressed queer undertones of old Broadway shows.
Bios of the talented dancers and singers are available upon
request.
Who: The Man Dance Company
What: “On Broadway” dance and music performance
Where: San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 50 Oak Street, San Francisco, CA, 94102
When: Friday August 10, 2012 8pm and Saturday August 11, 2012 8pm
Tickets: Tickets range from $25.00 to $45.00 Sponsorship available upon request.
Info:Online at www.mandance.org ; select
the icon marked Box Office.
