NYCB star on Broadway

Megan Fairchild, a principal dancer with New York City Ballet, has traded in her pointe shoes for T-strap pumps for a new revival of "On the Town" on Broadway. On the Town, which was made into a 1949 film starring Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra, centres around three sailors on shore leave in the city looking for love. One finds it with Fairchild's character, a model crowned Miss Subways. The part requires the ballet dancer to do things she never does on stage in ballet, such as speak and sing! Despite this, Fairchild is predicted to be an asset to Broadway, as the audiences aren't necessarily the same audiences that goes to the ballet. Seeing a big dance musical starring Fairchild may then prompt them to go to the ballet too. Fairchild will be the first of several New York City Ballet dancers making the leap to musical theatre. The list includes her younger brother, Robert Fairchild, and her sister-in-law Tiler Peck. Her brother will be tackling his own Gene Kelly film adaptation — "An American in Paris" — heading to Broadway next April, while Peck has the title role in "Little Dancer," a musical debuting next month at the Kennedy Center in Washington. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQ0emZlayQM Fairchild has taken a leave from the 90-dancer strong New York City Ballet company but in February will dance in two of their productions. She first heard about the new Broadway show when her brother told her the casting director of On the Town was auditioning ballet dancers. The experience has taken her out of her comfort zone in more ways than one, and Fairchild is now using completely different muscles too! It is important to mix it up and take a risk as a performer, adding more and more to your repertoire.