Liza Gennaro’s New Book 'Making Broadway Dance' Now Available for Purchase

Liza Gennaro’s New Book ‘Making Broadway Dance’ Now Available for Purchase

Now available for sale, Broadway choreographer Liza Gennaro’s Making Broadway Dance landed the #1 position on two of Amazon’s key book charts – Dance Hot Releases and Music Hot Releases – in December. Through in-depth analysis of musical theatre choreography and choreographers, the book challenges long-held perceptions of Broadway dance as a kitsch and disposable dance form created without artistic process, and demonstrates that the art form is not a monolith but is rather multifaceted in terms of dance styles, aesthetics and methodologies. Making Broadway Dance is available for purchase on Amazon or through Oxford University Press.

Aimed at students, academics, and anyone who loves musical theatre and dance, Making Broadway Dance by Manhattan School of Music Associate Dean and Director of Musical Theatre Liza Gennaro gives valuable insights into how Broadway dance is made. Gennaro examines choreography for musical theatre through the lens of dance studies, script analysis, movement research, and dramaturgical inquiry, and in doing so gives a close-up look at a dance form that has been analyzed only superficially until now.

Very well acquainted with Broadway dance, Liza choreographed the critically acclaimed Broadway revival of The Most Happy Fella directed by Gerald Gutierrez and the Broadway revival of Once Upon a Mattress starring Sarah Jessica Parker. She also choreographed Roundabout Theater Company’s Tin Pan Alley Rag and has choreographed extensively in regional theaters across the country.

“When I was in grad school 15 years ago, I realized that a scholarly book examining the systems and methods of making dance for musical theatre did not exist,” Gennaro explains. “That realization began my journey to completing the book, which I hope can shift industry-wide perceptions and increase well-deserved respect for musical theatre choreography. Unlike other dance genres, it responds to pre-determined aspects of librettos – time, place, plot and character – and employs dance to tell the stories.” 

Making Broadway Dance examines the choreographic systems of some of Broadway’s most influential dance-makers, including George Balanchine, Agnes de Mille, Jerome Robbins, Katherine Dunham, Bob Fosse, Savion Glover, Sergio Trujillo, Steven Hoggett, and Camille A. Brown.

By considering influences from ballet, modern, postmodern, jazz, social, and global dance, the book offers a rich understanding of musical theatre dance through the lens of dance innovation, cultural trends, and racial and gender exclusion. 

Liza Gennaro’s Making Broadway Dance is essential reading for theatre and dance scholars, students, practitioners, and Broadway fans.