| Contact | |
|---|---|
 Opening Night Playbill cover | |
| Music | Various |
| Lyrics | Various |
| Book | John Weidman |
| Productions | 1999Off Broadway 2000Broadway 2002West End 2003 U.S. tour |
| Awards | Tony Award for Best Musical |
Contact is amusical "dance play" that was developed bySusan Stroman andJohn Weidman, with its "book" by Weidman and both choreography and direction by Stroman. It ran bothOff-Broadway and onBroadway in 1999–2002. It consists of three separate one-act dance plays.
Contact premiered at theMitzi E. Newhouse Theater,Lincoln Center, on September 9, 1999 (after 1999 workshop productions of parts of the show),[1] then moved toBroadway at theVivian Beaumont Theater, Lincoln Center, on March 30, 2000, and played for 1,010 performances there.[2]
The show was received with critical acclaim[3] and won the 2000Tony Award forBest Musical (among others).[2] The award was controversial becauseContact contains no original music or live singing, and in response, a new award forBest Special Theatrical Event was introduced the following year.[4]
AWest End production opened at theQueen's Theatre in October 2002, and closed on May 10, 2003.[5] The musical toured from May 2001 to June 2002, and started again in November 2002 in Toronto.[6]
Theoriginal cast album was released on March 6, 2001.PBS included the show's final performance in its programLive from Lincoln Center on September 1, 2002.[7] It won thePrimetime Emmy Award forOutstanding Classical Music-Dance Program.[8]
Among regional productions, the musical was presented by the Virginia Stage Company (Norfolk, Virginia) in April 2006. This was the first regional theater in the US to presentContact after the Broadway, national tour and London productions and was directed by Tome Cousin, an original cast member (who was chosen by Stroman to direct).[9]
The show was produced at the North Shore Music Theatre (Beverly, Massachusetts) in June 2008, withJarrod Emick and Naomi Hubert and directed by Tomé Cousin.[10] In conjunction with the Sarasota Ballet, the Asolo Repertory Theatre's October 23 – November 22, 2009 at the Mertz Theatre in Sarasota, Florida starredShannon Lewis, Feltcher McTaggart, Sean Ewing, Nadine Isenegger, Ariel Shepley, Steven Sofia, and Wilson Mendieta. Directed by Tome' Cousin
The featured SIMPLY IRRESISTIBLE section was presented February 28, 2011 during the Vineyard Theatre's Susan Stroman Gala "STRO" at the Hudson Theatre NYC. Directed / staged by Tome' Cousin
The featured SIMPLY IRRESISTIBLE section was presented numerous times by the American Dance Machine For The 21st Century at New York City's City Center and also during its Joyce Theater November 11 – 16, 2014 engagement.
The musical was produced by Mupa Budapest at the Madách Theatre in Budapest, Hungary in 2009, with choreography by Tome Cousin, and featured leading ballet dancers of the Hungarian State Opera and members of KFKI Chamber Ballet.[11]
The show was produced in theWest End at theQueen's Theatre starting on October 3, 2002 (previews) and officially on October 23.[12][13] It closed on May 10, 2003.[14]
The musical was produced in Lodz, Poland at the Opera Lodz in 2010. Directed / Choreographed by Tome' Cousin
The Musical Theater Academy of Shanghai, China presented the musical on December 19, 2014, and a revival in April 2015 Directed / Choreographed by Tome' Cousin
In 2010/2011 and again in 2017 the musical was produced in Seoul, Korea by the OD Musical Company. Both versions starred Joo Won Kim, Homin Kim, Kyoung Hoon Choi, Ji Sun Kim, Dong Ju Kang, and Sam Jin Lee. Directed by Tome' Cousin
According to a 1999Playbill article, the musical was inspired by an experience that Stroman had "when she visited a dance club in the Meat Market district. There she witnessed a fascinating woman in a yellow dress who took turns dancing with different partners throughout the night. Watching from the sidelines, Stroman thought, 'she's going to change someone's life tonight.'"[15][16]
Robin Pogrebin wrote inThe New York Times in 1999 of Stroman visiting a swing club and noticing a dancer in a yellow dress. "The woman would step up to the dance floor as a song was beginning and nod or shake her head at the various men asking to be her partner. Then, after holding everyone's attention with her nervy grace, she would disappear into the crowd. What came out of this wasContact... "[17]
The same origin was related in an article inThe New Yorker, written byJohn Lahr in 2014: “'Into this sea of dark fashion stepped a girl in a yellow dress,' Stroman recalled. 'You couldn’t help but notice her: it was a very bold color to wear at night—lemon yellow—the same color you find on a traffic light. When she wanted to dance, she would step away from the bar and some man would ask her to dance.'"[18]
Contact is made up of three separate dance pieces, each set to pre-recorded music, including fromTchaikovsky,Stéphane Grappelli, theSquirrel Nut Zippers,Royal Crown Revue, andThe Beach Boys. In each story, the central character expresses a longing to make a romantic connection.[19]
All three stories concern "contact", or its lack.[20]
Sources:Amazon.com;[22]Internet Broadway Database[23]
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Source: Internet Broadway Database[24][25]
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Mary Ann Lamb (replacement)
Ben Brantley, in his review inThe New York Times of the production at the Newhouse, wrote: "...Stroman... aided by the dramatist John Weidman and a dream ensemble of dancing actors and acting dancers, has created the unthinkable: a new musical throbbing with wit, sex appeal and a perfectionist's polish. Brimming with a sophistication that is untainted by the usual fin-de-siecle cynicism,Contact restores the pleasure principle to the American musical. It's the kinetic equivalent of Rodgers and Hart."[26]
