A Broadway Video Game?

It was officially announced mid week that Nintendo Wii was coming out with a new video game called Dance on Broadway. The game features a hit parade of songs from musicals where up to four people can dance and sing along. Meant as a follow up to their game "Just Dance," this game says a lot about how the public views the Broadway Musical.

First of all, the game uses Broadway solely as a brand. If you look down the list, many of the songs are actually from musical films or songs from the stage that were made popular on film. It's interesting that the creators use the word "Broadway" to give this product a bit of cache. From my view, this shows that even though many think Broadway is not with the times, there is still something vibrant and hopeful about the Broadway brand that makes it a marketable commodity outside of just the actual productions happening in midtown Manhattan.

Looking at the list, it must have been an interesting and challenging job to create this game. Examining the musical theater catalog for songs that feature dance are numerous and selecting the right songs would make a game like this great. The songs they chose to use are actually pretty surprising to me for the most part. Songs like "Time Warp," "We're In the Money," "All That Jazz," and "You Can't Stop the Beat" make perfect sense for a game like this, with signature choreographed movement that can be done with great precision. I found it funny that two songs from Hair were included in the game, being that the show's choreography is more free form and precision isn't really relevant or welcome. I don't know about you, but when I hear "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Mucus (yes, mucus), I'm not really looking for the choreography.
I also found it interesting that they feature a few trio songs, including "One Night Only," and "Little Shop of Horrors," which obviously feature movement, but the songs were written to focus more on the lyrics and vocal energy.

As much as I'm always happy when Broadway transcends into popular culture, it seems like this game could have used a few more theatrical minds in the room. I think they missed the opportunity to feature the work of the many famous choreographers that helped shaped the Broadway dance style. The most notable omission is any song from a Jerome Robbins musical! How could there not be one dance from West Side Story, Gypsy, Fiddler On the Roof, etc.? Or how about a Bob Fosse song that is not from Chicago? They have "Cabaret", which is another example of a song that relies on the lyrics more than the movement. Were they scared to put material from The Pajama Game, Sweet Charity, or Pippin? They luckily put a couple of songs choreographed by Gower Champion, but where's Agnes deMille, Michael Kidd, Michael Bennett, George Balanchine, Tommy Tune? And where are the contemporary choreographers like Susan Stroman or Kathleen Marshall (Jerry Mitchell's Hairspray work is included)? For me, this seems like a missed opportunity to package the Broadway dance brand in a way that shows the full breadth of the history of Broadway movement.

Maybe some of these suggestions will come alive in a subsequent game if this one is a hit! In the meantime, watch the trailer for the game below and let me know what you think! Also, leave a comment letting me know if there are any songs that you think should be in this game!