Joey Dances

Abstract In musical theater criticism, dance is too often considered secondary to the total effect of a show. In Pal Joey, dance did much more than tell a story—it viscerally engaged the audience; dynamized the space of the stage, the theater, and the diegetic world of the musical; and, quite literally, stopped the show. Without choreographer Robert Alton and the original Joey, Gene Kelly, Pal Joey might well have been unpalatable to audiences. Dance saved the show from the danger of being too “straight” in regard to book, and too unpleasant in regard to character and situation. But because of the lack of dance criticism during the period, many critics, and subsequently historians, have focused almost solely on the music and the book to explain its success and influence. This chapter will attempt to give dance its due in regard to the legacy of Pal Joey.