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Review: How to Dance in Ohio is a Bit Off-Balance
December 10, 2023, 10:00.23 pm ET

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Photos: Curtis Brown

By Brian Scott Lipton


Within seconds of their opening number, “Today Is,” we immediately want to know more – much more – about the seven autistic young adults at the center of “How to Dance in Ohio,” the well-intentioned and periodically heartwarming musical adaptation of Alexandra Shiva’s Peabody Award-winning documentary, now at the Belasco Theatre under Sammi Cannold’s mostly solid direction.

Unfortunately, despite the extraordinary efforts of a septet of terrific performers, we only get to know these characters just a little bit better. Instead, they are mostly confined by librettist Rebekah Greer Mellock’s script to being people with one defining trait each – a love of facts, an obsession with electricity, a newfound dependence on boys, a desire to be a famous vlogger – along with battling the issues of social awkwardness that are common not just in autistic people, but in so many people of all ages. Continue reading...



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