Contact (Broadway Musical) Part Two: "Did You Move?"

Contact is a musical "dance play" (some deemed it a ballet) that was developed by Susan Stroman and John Weidman, with its "book" by Weidman and both choreography and direction by Stroman. It ran both off-Broadway and on Broadway in 1999--2000. It consists of three separate one-act dance plays: Swinging, Did You Move? and Contact.

This clip is Part Two. Set in 1950s New York, it takes place in an Italian restaurant, focusing on the empty marriage of a small-time gangster and his wife. The wife has extensive dance sequences as she fantasizes about escaping her verbally abusive spouse, but each time is returned rudely to reality. Set to recorded orchestral music of Tchaikovsky and Grieg.

Contact premiered at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, Lincoln Center, in September 1999 (after 1999 workshop productions of parts of the show), then moved to Broadway at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, Lincoln Center, on March 30, 2000 and played for 1,010 performances.

The show was received with much critical acclaim and won the 2000 Tony Award for Best Musical (among others - see below). However, it caused much controversy in the American theater world about what constitutes a musical, as instead of original music, it uses pre-recorded music and songs, the actors do not sing, and there is minimal dialogue. As a result of the controversy, a new category was created for the Tony Awards: Best Special Theatrical Event.

The original cast album was released on March 6, 2001. The idea of a cast album for a show with no original score was in itself controversial. PBS included the show's final performance in its program "Live From Lincoln Center" on September 1, 2002. The show went on to tour nationally.

A West End production opened at the Queen's Theatre in October 2002, and closed on May 10, 2003.[3]