[audreydarling]

hello, there's a regional company who is doing The Music Man in the upcoming season and I would really like to play Zaneeta or a dancer. I am familiar with the story, but I was wondering what kind of dance is mainly in the show. I am an experienced singer and actress and I have danced on and off for years, mainly ballet, jazz, and in musicals. What type of dance should I focus on and do you think I have a shot?

[Brigantine]

It depends on the size of theater and the pool of talent. It could easily be done with little dance, and can be done with lots of dance. Our show had a teenage 'dance chorus' that did all the hard stuff- like the dance in '76 trombones' and 'marian the librarian' and the Shipoopi and the ballet before the fotbridge scene. We had a lot of talented young people and a great choreographer, so it worked really well. the rest of the adult chorus did little but 'choreography'.
there is a 'ballet' sequence written in the show and music, so definitely practice the ballet. The rest will probably be similar to the movie in style, so watch that. I'm not sure what to call the style.

[BroadwayBaby0202]

If you're auditioning for Zaneeta, prepare for A LOT of dancing! I played Zaneeta a little over a year ago and I was in every dance scene (I don't even dance well.) The biggest dance number is "Shipoopi," which [usually] involves many lifts and such. Ours was kind of ballroom dancing with a twist, haha. Marian the Librarian is a little more like ballet. Hope that helped!