Thumbs Up to the Tremendous Talents of Broadway's Very Busy Director/Choreographer Warren Carlyle

We've got a serious talent crush to gush about. It seems we can't see a show these days without marveling at the major skills of director/choreographer Warren Carlyle. The busiest man on Broadway right now, Carlyle wows us from show to show. Sure, we've noticed him before, for shaking the dust off Finian's Rainbow with his 2009 staging and giving snazzy dance moves to Jan Maxwell in Follies and Hugh Jackman in Back on Broadway. But this season, Carlyle has really blossomed as a major talent to watch. His Chaplin is a dazzlingly stylish musical event that reminds us of the great triumphs of Tommy Tune. His boisterous dance numbers are sunny highlights in two very different musicals, The Mystery of Edwin Drood and A Christmas Story. And just this past weekend, he brought Cotton Club Parade, a musical revue he's been developing for Encores!, back to the stage of City Center. Every moment of this joyful and jubilant tribute to the spirit of Harlem and the sounds of Duke Ellington was staged within an inch of its life, making every accomplished actor, singer and dancer on the stage look amazing and making the entire production an artful triumph. Here's hoping we see the show—and a lot more of Warren Carlyle—on Broadway where they belong.