On Your Toes
at Anaheim

Reviewed on March 7, 2015

Audrey Mitchell
University High School
Submitted for publication to Orange County Register

Anaheim Dancers are En Pointe in "On Your Toes"

Music teacher Junior Dolan's life is turned upside down when he becomes involved with world-famous ballet dancer Vera Baranova and starts the dancing career of his dreams, only to attract the fatal jealousy of Vera's dance partner.

Anaheim High School's revival of Rodger and Hart's "On Your Toes" is beautiful to see and hear. The dance-based plot is carried out by a cast of spectacular dancers and actors who create meaningful relationships between their characters.

Luis Gomez taps across the stage as Junior Dolan. Whether dancing as a princess' slave or a man in a bar, Junior's character is adorably clumsy and awkward. In the show-stopping number ‘La Princess Zenobia,' Junior spontaneously fills in for a missing dancer, and hilarity emerges when he comes onstage without a shirt and knocks over the other dancers as he tries to keep up with the song.

The opposite of Junior in all aspects is Vera Baranova, played by Sheridan Pacheco. Confident and very come-hither, Pacheco sways her hips and pouts to portray the extravagant and entitled dancer. Her Russian accent is heavy but understandable, and stays consistent. Pacheco performs en pointe in "La Princess Zenobia Ballet" for a majority of the 15-minute song, smiling a performer's smile that belies what can be an extreme physical trial for a young dancer.

Alexia Rosa as Frankie Fraynes commands the stage with powerful vocals throughout the show. She begins with "It's Got to be Love," where she rules out tonsillitis and indigestion before realizing that she is falling in love with Junior. The two play off each other -- starting the song, they are uncomfortable, but by the end they are waltzing away.

The dancing for the show was amazing. Though it was not choreographed by a student, the entire show was extremely well-executed. One of relatively few shows with dance-based plots, the show is rife with explosive tap and ballet numbers. The dancing furthers the plot, and vice versa. For example, in the finale ‘Slaughter at Tenth Avenue,' Junior learns during the number that there is an assassin planning to shoot him at the end of the song; desperately, and comedically, he has the orchestra play the last few measures over and over, increasingly frantic, until the assassin is taken away.

Using dance to tell a gripping story, Anaheim High School weaves an aesthetic and entertaining web of romance and danger in "On Your Toes."

Jana Phillips
St. Margaret's Episcopal School
Submitted for publication to Orange County Register

Ballet "On Your Toes" and American tap at Anaheim

Anaheim's "On Your Toes" combines the beauty of ballet and the liveliness of tap to create a production that is sure to amaze. One of the first musicals written to feature classical ballet, "On Your Toes" follows the story of Junior Dolan (Luis Gomez), his students, and the Russian Ballet Company, including both a traditional and a jazz ballet performance.

The entire cast is astounding in their tirelessness throughout the many long dance numbers. Furthermore, their ability to tell both the story of the two ballets, in which they must convey meaning and plot solely through the movement of their bodies, yet still advance the plot of the musical is quite impressive. Luis Gomez as Junior Dolan is an excellent proponent of this; skillfully utilizing the moments he breaks character in each ballet to focus back on the plot of the musical.

Franky Frayne (Alexia Rosa) and Peggy Porterfield (Jaspe Ibarra) both create stand-out moments with their respective solos. Jaspe Ibarra‘s "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered" exhibits her powerful vocals and perfect articulation; while Alexia has a clear quality to her voice that makes her song "Glad to Be Unhappy" a special moment as well.

From prima ballerina to the main dancer in a jazz ballet, Vera Baranova (Sheridan Pacheco) skillfully displays her character's ability to fill both roles. Her performance in the traditional ballet "Zenobia" is stunning, dancing with all the poise and grace befitting a star ballerina.

She and her dance partner Konstantine Morrosine (Oliver Rodriguez) play off each other well, both in their partner dances as well as in character. The two convey their love-hate relationship through turned backs one moment and embraces the next.

Oliver himself is also impressive in his dancing, giving a clean and precise performance every time he is on stage. He, Wendy Diaz and Esbeidy Guitierrez as the Cops make a notable trio, their dance sharp and skillfully done.

Another special moment in the musical, the song "On Your Toes" brings both American tap and traditional ballet together in a well-executed number marked with a kind of respectful tension between the two dance groups.

The musical "On Your Toes" presents a daunting task for performers to be able to dance ballet, tap, sing and act all at once, yet the cast demonstrates a true dedication to mastery that shines through in this exceptional production.

Jackson Maxwell
Mission Viejo High School
Submitted for publication to OC Cappies Facebook

Anaheim High School Keeps You "On Your Toes"

Anaheim High School taps its way to a spectacular performance in this reprise of a forgotten but nonetheless entertaining classic. "On Your Toes" centralizes around Junior; forced to leave his childhood passion of dance to pursue a career in academia, he becomes an unassuming music teacher. Struggling with suppressing his true ambitions, he reluctantly joins a Russian ballet company, only to spur jealousy as competition festers into sabotage and attempted murder.

Integral to the success of the performance is Luis Gomez as Junior Dolan; through consistent characterization and accurate communication of subtext, his initial reservation transforms into unabashed pride of his character's heritage. Similarly successful but conversely characterized is Moses Salazar as Sergei, who faces qualms not with accepting his own heritage but rejecting it in favor of a contemporary ballet written by student Sidney Cohn, played by Eduardo Juarez. In "Quiet Night Reprise," his pride for Russian tradition is coupled with apprehension for its imminent decline.

Walking onstage with an egotistical strut is Konstantine Morrosine (Oliver Rodriguez), whose confident dynamic with Vera Baranova (Sheridan Pacheco) shines through when combined with their psuedo-professional dancing prowess. Underscored by Jackie Rivas and the design team's 1930's hair styling, Rodriguez proves to be especially convincing, from his realistic facial hair to his flawless ballet numbers.

Nevertheless, the standout performance of the show is undoubtedly Jaspe Ibarra as Peggy Porterfield, whose powerful vocals and articulation in "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered" are captivating. Also engaging is Alexia Rosa as Franky Frayne as she provides exceptional character depth in "Glad to be Unhappy," wherein her longing and apparent depression, evident in her tone, are reflective of her psychological struggle in an overwhelming world. A strong stamina and persistence throughout each vocal routine further adds to her exemplary endurance.

While these individual performers are outstanding, the entire cast merits commendation for their success in producing this musical. Requiring knowledge of tap, point, and jazz, each member deserves to be congratulated for learning and mastering such complex forms of dance without prior experience. To compliment this, the cast maintains an energetic zeal throughout, despite challenging choreography that would test any actor's stamina.

Anaheim High School undertakes a remarkable task with "On Your Toes," resulting in an astonishing success that will leave audiences reeling in applause.