From the New York Times:<P><B>Director and Choreographer Susan Stroman Names the Best Musicals with Dance</B><P>Interview by LIZ WELCH <BR> <BR> <BR> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Not all musicals contain dance numbers, but for those that do, greatness depends on the believability of characters breaking into song and dance, according to the director, choreographer and three-time Tony winner Susan Stroman. That might mean putting them in a swing club, where of course they'd dance anyway, as in Stroman's "Contact." Or it could mean a story about staging a Broadway show, as in Mel Brooks's new musical, "The Producers," Stroman's latest project, which opens this week.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> <P><A HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/15/magazine/15FIVEFROM.html?searchpv=nytToday" TARGET=_blank><B>MORE...</B></A><P>(if someone feels this belongs elsewhere, please feel free to move it.)<BR><p>[This message has been edited by Basheva (edited April 16, 2001).]

I have to say those five choices would take a lot of beating.<P>I've not seen Chicago but all the people I know that have seen it say it is amazing, so slick.<P>Another musical I saw where a dance scene took my breath away and is surely my most endearing memory of the production was Shall We Dance from the King and I. Not the current Broadway/West End production but a version I saw as part of the Covent garden festival in london. The stage was a big thrust stage, the thrust protuding like a long catwalk through the Masonic Hall just off of Covent Garden. When the children entered for the March of the Siamese Children they entered through the main doors and along the catwalk. For Shall we Dance Anna and the King danced along the Catwalk with such verve and energy, her dress swirling above the heads of the audience. it was truly breathtaking. The steps were nothing difficult just a simple swirling polka, but the atmosphere, surroundings and sheer exuberance of the dance will stick in my mind for ever.