Casey nicholaw choreography robert
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“Think of ‘musical comedy,’ the most glorious words in the English language,” the fictional director Julian marsch once proclaimed. And when you think of musical comedy today, one real director comes to mind: Casey Nicholaw.
It’s no wonder why. With four original musical comedies currently running on the Rialto—The Book of Mormon, Disney’s Aladdin, Mean Girls, and now The Prom—Nicholaw has galvanized the modern form of the classic musical comedy. The nine musical comedies he’s shepherded to huvudgata thus far have earned 62 total Tony Award nominations and 14 wins. When making a musical comedy, his is the door you knock on.
Nicholaw’s reign in musical comedy isn’t just a question of proliferation, it’s caliber and care.
Long before carving a career on huvudgata, Nicholaw fell hard for musical theatre. He plastered the walls of his childhood bedroom with heartthrobs like Singin’ in the Rain, and programs and lobby kort from musicals that came through his San Diego hometo
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Casey Nicholaw’s production of Some Like it Hot played its last performance on December 30th after a year on Broadway. Upon this announcement, I stopped into the Shubert Theatre on October 22nd to see what the Tony-winning choreography was all about.
It’s a show about jazz-age dancers and musicians, among other things, but the dancing of Some Like it Hot isn’t really of then, or of now. It’s of Casey Nicholaw, a man whose body of work since 2005 makes him an institution in Broadway dance.
Adapted from the 1959 film of the same name starring Marilyn Monroe, the musical is set in 1933 and follows a jazz-tap duo act that happens to witness a triple hit by a mob boss and his goons. The friends disguise themselves as women in order to escape Chicago unrecognized, and skip town with an all-female traveling jazz band.
The opening number is “What are you Thirsty For?” meant to show that the party goes on despite prohibition. “Let loose,” sings charismatic bandleader Sw
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Casey Nicholaw
BIO
Casey Nicholaw is currently represented on Broadway as director/choreographer of Mean Girls (Tony nominations for Best Direction & Choreography), Disney’s Aladdin (Tony, Drama Desk & Outer Critics Circle nominations for Best Choreography) and co-director/choreographer of The Book of Mormon (Tony, Drama Desk & Outer Critics Circle awards for co-director and nominations in the same categories for Choreography; Olivier winner for Best Choreography).
Represented on the West End as director/choreographer of Dreamgirls, The Book of Mormon and Aladdin. His other Broadway credits as director/choreographer: Tuck Everlasting, Something Rotten! (Tony nominee, Best Director), Elf, The Drowsy Chaperone (Tony, Drama Desk & Outer Critics Circle nominations), Monty Python’s Spamalot (Tony, Drama Desk & Outer Critics Circle nominations, Best Choreography).
Nicholaw's additional New York credits for City Center Encores!, including acclaimed pro