Perhaps the only thing more improbable than the success of Northern Dancer, the temperamental, undersized young colt who beat the odds to become the first Canadian racehorse to win the Kentucky Derby, is the success of the new musical that tells his story.
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that → beat → story
“Dancer (A Musical in Ten Furlongs)” shouldn’t work, at least on paper.
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Dancer → work → paper
It’s a show told primarily through contemporary dance, with a main character who neither speaks nor sings and requiring a cast so large that even Cameron Mackintosh would likely shudder.
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Mackintosh → ’ → cast
But Jim Betts and Marek Norman’s ripped-from-the-headlines musical became the runaway hit at the 2023 Toronto Fringe Festival, galloping away with the prestigious Adams Prize for Musical Theatre.
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musical → rip → Theatre
And now, a new, expanded production, currently running at the Terminal Theatre, proves the musical’s initial success was by no means a fluke — even if “Dancer” has experienced some significant growing pains on its second outing.
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Dancer → run → outing
The production’s masterstroke lies in Stacey Tookey’s inspired choreography, which has only evolved for the better since the musical’s Fringe run.
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which → lie → run
In her staging, Northern Dancer and the other racehorses aren’t portrayed by equine puppets or actors in cumbersome costumes but rather by an ensemble of contemporary dancers.
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Dancer → portray → dancers
Her choreography eschews an overly literal representation of horses in favour of a movement vocabulary that works on a far more metaphorical level — with puffed chests, elongated necks and graceful leaps into the air all evoking the essence of racehorses.
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all → eschew → racehorses
“Dancer” is primarily told through a series of horse races, charting Northern Dancer’s unlikely rise to the pinnacle of his sport.
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Dancer → tell → sport
It’s a structure that could easily become repetitive, but Tookey’s choreography is varied enough to ensure that never is the case.
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that → ’ → ?
Ensemble work gives way to pas de deuxs, followed by trios and partnered dances, all culminating with a finale that sees the musical’s dance ensemble playing both the horses and jockeys.
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ensemble → give → horses
Norman’s invigorating pop-rock score, with lyrics by Betts, adds exhilarating energy to the proceedings.
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score → add → proceedings
And Mark Camilleri’s orchestrations, brought to life by a nine-person orchestra, offer a robust accompaniment that rounds out the storytelling.
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that → bring → storytelling
As Northern Dancer, Keanu Uchida delivers the production’s most compelling performance.
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Uchida → deliver → performance
Without singing a note nor uttering a word, he effectively conveys Northern Dancer’s personality: stubborn and fiery, with muscles twitching and raring to race.
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muscles → sing → personality
In his many solos, Uchida is an explosive force on stage, yet always threading the needle between athleticism and artistry.
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Uchida → thread → athleticism
Betts’ story is strongest when it focuses on Northern Dancer and the horse’s close relationships with Bill Brevard (Sterling Jarvis), his groom, and Winnie Taylor (Barbara Barsky), the wife of business tycoon and horse breeder E.P. Taylor (Tyler Murree).
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it → focus → Taylor
But “Dancer” noticeably falters whenever Uchida isn’t on stage dancing or when its focus strays from that central trio.
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focus → falter → trio
Tonally, the musical swings wildly between moments of sincere earnestness and those of pantomime-adjacent hokeyness.
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musical → swing → hokeyness
(A number involving an equine veterinarian tending to an injured Northern Dancer is reminiscent of the wildly over-the-top song “Dentist!” from “Little Shop of Horrors.”)
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number → involve → Horrors
Plot points are introduced only to be dropped.
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points → introduce → ?
A scene exploring Bill’s experience with racism in the U.S. is more thoughtfully woven into the story than in the musical’s Fringe run, but could still be developed further.
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scene → explore → run
It’s also never clear why there needs to be a narrator or why that narrator is a track announcer mostly disconnected from the rest of the story.
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narrator → ’ → story
Apart from Uchida, the other performances are more of a mixed bag.
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performances → mix → bag
On opening night, some vocalists also sounded strained.
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vocalists → sound → night
(They weren’t helped by audio mixing that had the orchestra drowning out their voices.)
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orchestra → help → voices
Most disappointing, however, is where Betts chooses to end the show.
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Betts → choose → show
Throughout, he teases the idea that Northern Dancer’s success was really a Canadian success story: how his Kentucky Derby win helped galvanize a nation on the cusp of its centennial, yet still searching for its identity and trying to pull away from the gravitational pull of the UK and its southern neighbour.
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win → tease → UK
It’s a compelling idea and certainly relevant in our current sociopolitical climate.
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It → ’ → climate
But Betts squanders the opportunity to fully explore these ideas by ending his story, almost too predictably, with Northern Dancer winning the Kentucky Derby — without exploring what came afterwards.
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what → squander → Derby
I’ll admit: I left “Dancer” scratching my head.
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I → admit → head
Is this the same show that I had loved and raved about just three years ago?
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I → love → that
Perhaps the scrappiness of that Fringe run led me to overlook the faults that are now glaringly apparent in this slicker, more padded production.
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that → lead → production
One thing is clear, though: “Dancer,” much like the horse it depicts, has potential.
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it → depict → potential
But this second outing just doesn’t live up to it.
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outing → live → it
The Aporia
