More Theater Monday - The Tap Dance Kid

We were given free tickets to The Tap Dance Kid for review purposes. Any and all opinions expressed here are our own.

What: The Tap Dance Kid

Where: NJPAC
             1 Center Street
             Newark, NJ

Who: All ages

When: This event occured on September 13 - September 15, 2019

Me - The Tap Dance Kid was good. It's about a kid who want to be a dancer. The show was all performed by kids. I really enjoyed the story because I love tap dancing. The kids were very talented dancers. All of the dancing was excellent. The acting and singing were okay, but not as good as the dancing. Some of the kids were better singers and/or dancers than others. Two kids shared the lead role of the tap dance kid. One did most of the dancing. He was really good. The other did most of the acting. He kept forgetting his lines. The songs were good. I don't really remember them, but I would want to listen to them again. Over all, it was an enjoyable show.

Mom - The Tap Dance Kid is a very lively and mostly upbeat show. It is about a kid named Willie who aspires to be a dancer despite the vehement objection of his father who thinks that being a dancer is not an important enough ambition for a boy. Meanwhile, Willie's older sister aspires to be a lawyer like her Dad but he dismisses her aspirations because she is a girl. The show teaches an important lesson about gender equality with regard to choosing one's aspirations in life so it is surprising that it was originally produced in the  1980s before much attention was paid to the gender stereotyping of children. This lesson is imparted through a very entertaining story with really good catchy songs and lots of great tap dancing. The recent version of the show performed at NJPAC was directed by Savion Glover who got his own start in the lead role of the original Broadway production of the show which added an interesting layer of interest to this version. It is clear that Mr. Glover's forte is dance, he was also the choreographer,  because that is where the show really shined. The cast, which was made up entirely of young performers, were extremely talented dancers. The young boy who shared the lead role of the tap dance kid with another boy but performed most of the dancing in the role was especially good. The acting and singing were not up to to the same calibre as the dancing as though not as much attention was paid those skills either in casting the musical and/or directing it. Some of the acting was good, however and some of the singing voices were nice. In case, the show was definitely worth seeing since it is such a fun show that is rarely produced.

And that's our view. Tune in tomorrow for Tips for Tuesday.