Never Gonna Dance is a Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 musical

Musical theatre

Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...

 featuring the music of Jerome Kern

Jerome Kern

Jerome David Kern was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A...

. The musical was based on the 1936 Fred Astaire

Fred Astaire

Fred Astaire was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute...

/Ginger Rogers

Ginger Rogers

Ginger Rogers was an American actress, dancer, and singer who appeared in film, and on stage, radio, and television throughout much of the 20th century....

 film Swing Time

Swing Time

Swing Time is a 1936 RKO musical comedy film set mainly in New York City and stars Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Helen Broderick, Victor Moore, Eric Blore and Georges Metaxa, with music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Dorothy Fields...

. Lyricists include Oscar Hammerstein

Oscar Hammerstein II

Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II was an American librettist, theatrical producer, and theatre director of musicals for almost forty years. Hammerstein won eight Tony Awards and was twice awarded an Academy Award for "Best Original Song". Many of his songs are standard repertoire for...

, Ira Gershwin

Ira Gershwin

Ira Gershwin was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs of the 20th century....

, P. G. Wodehouse

P. G. Wodehouse

Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE was an English humorist, whose body of work includes novels, short stories, plays, poems, song lyrics, and numerous pieces of journalism. He enjoyed enormous popular success during a career that lasted more than seventy years and his many writings continue to be...

, Bernard Dougall, Johnny Mercer

Johnny Mercer

John Herndon "Johnny" Mercer was an American lyricist, songwriter and singer. He is best known as a lyricist, but he also composed music. He was also a popular singer who recorded his own songs as well as those written by others...

, Jimmy McHugh

Jimmy McHugh

James Francis McHugh was a U.S. composer. One of the most prolific songwriters from the 1920s to the 1950s, he composed over 270 songs...

, Otto Harbach

Otto Harbach

Otto Abels Harbach, born Otto Abels Hauerbach was an American lyricist and librettist of about 50 musical comedies...

, and Dorothy Fields

Dorothy Fields

Dorothy Fields was an American librettist and lyricist.She wrote over 400 songs for Broadway musicals and films...

.

It opened on Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 in 2003.

Production

The musical opened on December 4, 2003 at the Broadhurst Theatre

Broadhurst Theatre

The Broadhurst Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 235 West 44th Street in midtown Manhattan.It was designed by architect Herbert J. Krapp, a well-known theatre designer who had been working directly with the Shubert brothers; the Broadhurst opened 27 September 1917...

 and closed on February 15, 2004 after 84 performances and 44 previews. It was directed by Michael Greif

Michael Greif

Michael Greif is a stage director and producer, born in Brooklyn, New York. He has received three Tony Award nominations and won the Obie Award....

 with choreography by Jerry Mitchell

Jerry Mitchell

Jerry Mitchell is an American theatre director and choreographer.-Early life and education:Born in Paw Paw, Michigan, Mitchell later moved to St. Louis where he pursued his acting, dancing and directing career in theatre. He graduated from the Fine Arts college at Webster University in St. Louis. ...

, costumes by William Ivey Long

William Ivey Long

William Ivey Long is an American costume designer for stage and film. His most notable work includes The Producers, Hairspray, Nine, Crazy for You, Grey Gardens and Young Frankenstein.-Early life and education:...

, lighting by Paul Gallo

Paul Gallo

For the radio host of the same name, see Paul Gallo .Paul Gallo is an award-winning American theatrical lighting designer....

, and sets by Robin Wagner

Robin Wagner

Robin Wagner is an American figure skating coach. She was a competitive skater in the late-1970s and competed at the United States Figure Skating Championships at the Novice and Junior levels. She trained with Sonia Dunfield, Peter Dunfield, and Gustav Lussi....

. The cast featured Noah Racey (Lucky), Nancy Lemenager (Penny), Karen Ziemba

Karen Ziemba

Karen Ziemba is an American actress, singer and dancer, best known for her work in musical theatre.-Biography:Ziemba was born in St. Joseph, Michigan, and went on to attend the University of Akron , where she studied dance and joined the Ohio Ballet in her sophomore year.Her Broadway debut was in...

 (Mabel) and Peter Gerety

Peter Gerety

Peter Gerety is an American actor.Gerety began acting while a student at Boston University, participating in productions at the Charles Playhouse. In 1965, he joined the Trinity Square Repertory Company, a resident theater company in Providence, Rhode Island where he appeared in over 125...

 (Alfred J. Morganthal).

Synopsis

John "Lucky" Garnett is a dancer in vaudeville. His fiancee's father does not think Lucky can make a living without dancing. Lucky is determined to prove that he can earn a living without dancing, and so goes to New York on a bet with his lucky quarter to make $25,000. There he meets and falls in love with Penny Carroll, a dance teacher. They enter a dance contest. Meanwhile Penny's friend Mabel finds romance with a down-on-his-luck stockbroker, Alfred.

Songs

Act I

• Dearly Beloved (Lyrics By Johnny Mercer) — Lucky Garnett and His Charms
• Put Me to the Test (Lyrics By Ira Gershwin) — Lucky Garnett
• I Won't Dance (Lyrics By Oscar Hammerstein II, Jimmy McHugh, Otto Harbach and Dorothy Fields) — Lucky Garnett and The Company
• Pick Yourself Up — Penny Carroll and Lucky Garnett
• Pick Yourself Up (Reprise) — Mabel Pritt and Alfred J. Morgenthal
• Who? (Lyrics By Oscar Hammerstein II and Otto Harbach) — Ricardo Romero and the Rome-Tones
• I'm Old Fashioned (Lyrics By Johnny Mercer) — Penny Carroll
• She Didn't Say Yes, She Didn't Say No (Lyrics By Otto Harbach) — Spud and Velma
• The Song Is You (Lyrics By Oscar Hammerstein II) — Mabel Pritt, Alfred J. Morgenthal and Waitresses
• The Way You Look Tonight — Lucky Garnett and Penny Carroll

Act II

• Waltz in Swing Time — The Company
• Shimmy With Me (Lyrics By P. G. Wodehouse) — Mabel Pritt and The Company
• A Fine Romance — Penny Carroll, Lucky Garnett, Mabel Pritt and Alfred J. Morgenthal
• I'll Be Hard to Handle (Lyrics By Bernard Dougall) — Spud and Velma
• I Got Love — Mabel Pritt
• The Most Exciting Night (Lyrics By Otto Harbach and Dorothy Fields) — Ricardo Romero and the Rome-Tones
• Remind Me — Penny Carroll and Lucky Garnett
• Never Gonna Dance — Lucky Garnett and Penny Carroll
• Dearly Beloved / I Won't Dance (Reprise) — The Company

Response

Reviews were mixed. For example, The New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

 deemed it a "pleasant" but "spiceless" production. A review by The Village Voice

The Village Voice

The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...

 was more positive, citing a convoluted plot and some miscast actors, but praising the musical numbers as "reassuringly good".

Awards and nominations

Never Gonna Dance was nominated for two Tony Awards: Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Karen Ziemba

Karen Ziemba

Karen Ziemba is an American actress, singer and dancer, best known for her work in musical theatre.-Biography:Ziemba was born in St. Joseph, Michigan, and went on to attend the University of Akron , where she studied dance and joined the Ohio Ballet in her sophomore year.Her Broadway debut was in...

) and Best Choreography (Jerry Mitchell

Jerry Mitchell

Jerry Mitchell is an American theatre director and choreographer.-Early life and education:Born in Paw Paw, Michigan, Mitchell later moved to St. Louis where he pursued his acting, dancing and directing career in theatre. He graduated from the Fine Arts college at Webster University in St. Louis. ...

). The musical also received nominations for two Drama Desk Award

Drama Desk Award

The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...

s: Outstanding Choreography (Mitchell) and Outstanding Orchestrations (Harold Wheeler

Harold Wheeler

Harold Wheeler is an orchestrator, composer, conductor, arranger, record producer, and music director. He has received numerous Tony Award and Drama Desk Award nominations for orchestration, and won the 2003 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Orchestrations for Hairspray.-Biography:Wheeler was named...

).