WISH-LIST WEDNESDAY: How To Dance In Ohio

Official artwork for "How To Dance In Ohio"

We move back to modern day broadway this week, with a new musical that premiered only 3 years ago at the Syraceuse Stage in New York, transferring to broadway the following year. Based on a documentary of the same name from 2015, "How To Dance In Ohio" focuses on a group of young adults with autism, preparing to attend a dance event organised by their counsellor. With a book and lyrics by Rebekah Greer Melocik, and a score by Jacob Yandura, the show was praised for its authentic depiction of autism, being the first broadway musical to cast autistic actors as autistic characters.

The show began previews at the Belasco Theatre on broadway in November 2023, with an official opening four weeks later, although in spite of a positive critical reception, it closed after only three months and 99 total performances, likely due to its fairly niche target demographic. The production did, however, record a full cast album for the show, which is available to download and stream.

The broadway company of "How To Dance In Ohio" (credit: Curtis Brown)

Poor box office performance aside, this is a show with an important message that the writers and producers are clearly keen to spread, which is most likely why they have planned for it to open in London, however details of this transfer have yet to be revealed; let's hope that it doesn't take too long for us to learn what this musical has in store. Did you see How To Dance In Ohio? What was your opinion of it? Let me know either below or on Instagram.