Saturday night I went to the Frued Playhouse at UCLA to see the Reprise! production of Rogers and Hart's "On Your Toes," which debuted on Broadway in 1936. The show made a name for Ray Bolger, who starred as the music-professor-who-is-a-dancer-at-heart and George Ballanchine, who choreographed the show and introduced ballet as a means to move the storyline forward.
Despite the Rogers and Hart pedigree I didn't think it was such a great show. The music and songs weren't memorable to me at all. But the dancing was excellent.
The bad news of the evening is that Jason Alexander has taken over as the Artistic Director of Reprise! The audience had to sit through a LONG taped message from Alexander declaring his excitement over his future ambitious plans to expand Reprise's mission. (For more than the last decade Reprise! has presented three rarely seen, older musicals a year.)
I predict Alexander's plans to increase the number of shows presented by Reprise! and to "take it on the road" will ultimately collapse and he'll either walk away disappointed or leave the organization bankrupt.
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