BY MICHAEL SOMMERS

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

A snazzy, jazzy Richard Rodgers score that features the celebrated “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue” ballet and “There’s a Small Hotel” as its evergreen tune is agreeably dished up with plenty of dancing in the Encores! staged concert revival of “On Your Toes” at New York City Center.

The 1936 musical comedy (which enjoyed a successful Broadway revival in 1983) regards Junior Dolan, an ex-vaudeville hoofer turned music teacher who gets involved with a fancy Russian ballet troupe and its tempestuous leading lady. It’s no great shakes as a story, but serves well enough in David Ives’ trim adaptation as a vessel for the thoroughly charming songs that Rodgers wrote with typically clever lyrics by Lorenz Hart.

Usually Encores! concerts are all about the music and while music director Rob Fisher and his onstage 30-member orchestra do nicely by the glistening Rodgers & Hart score, director-choreographer Warren Carlyle’s production is more about the dancing.

Karen Ziemba, Randy Skinner and Dalton Harrod kick off the show with a lively tap number. Old-school Russian ballet is kidded in the florid “Princesse Zenobia” sequence. Expressive jazz choreography a-la George Balanchine vividly animates “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue.” Perhaps best of all, the bouncy title number becomes a rousing dance-off between hoofers and ballet dancers. 

For the most part, an amiable Shonn Wiley is a pleasant singer and dancer as Junior, although he strains somewhat to comply with the demanding “Slaughter” choreography. Kelli Barrett lends her sunny presence and shiny voice to several Rodgers & Hart songs.

The featured players offer a bit more personal pizzazz.  American Ballet Theater star Irina Dvorovenko amusingly storms around as the flamboyant ballerina. Walter Bobbie appears grand indeed as a Russian impresario and delivers a soulful reprise of “Quiet Night.” As the troupe’s millionaire patroness, a silky Christine Baranski elegantly swans through the proceedings with a gleaming smile.

Designer John Lee Beatty’s effective bits of art deco scenery easily clear away for the dancing, which is unobtrusively lit in pretty tints by Ken Billington. Some of costume consultant Amy Clark’s bright clothes for Junior’s music students don’t look right (short pants and argyle knee-highs?) but she dresses both Dvorovenko and Baranski quite beautifully. Scott Lehrer’s sound reinforcement sometimes possesses a faintly echoing quality.

The large ensemble brings fresh voices to the music and great energy to the dancing. Their vivacity is a pleasure to see as they gambol through the airy doings of “On Your Toes,” a show that certainly lives up to its title.

“On Your Toes” continues through Sunday at New York City Center, 131 W. 55th St., New York. Call (212) 581-1212 or visit www.nycitycenter.org.