Kolton Krouse Is Dancin’ Up a Broadway Storm All Their Own
When the dancer Kolton Krouse performs their solo numbers in Bob Fosse’s Dancin’ on Broadway (Music Box Theatre, booking to Sept 17)—and at their curtain call too—the applause is loud and whoops even louder. Fans wait to lavish praise and pose for selfies at the stage door after the show. The 26-year-old breakout star, originally from Gilbert, Arizona, is a fierce whirl of movement in their revue solos, “Spring Chicken” and the Trumpet Solo in “Sing, Sing, Sing,” and even steals the company dances they take part in with their commanding physicality, slicked peroxide blond hair, raunchy costuming, vivid makeup, and mischievous expression.
When we meet by Zoom, the non-binary performer is in a white top, and fully made-up. They say they are aware of audiences’ adoring response, but “a lot of the movement in the pieces is internal, so when I am doing the Trumpet Solo I am tuning everything out apart from our drummer, Gary (Seligson). Bob (Fosse) originally designed that number to be that you’re in the backroom of your favorite club improvising, looking at yourself in the mirror. It’s supposed to be about you and the music.”
Krouse can hear people cheering, but not the gasps friends have told them about. They laughed. “One distinctive voice I did hear on opening night was (performer) Justice Moore’s. She was just saying, ‘Work!’ and ‘Yes!’”