Broadway's 'On the Town' gearing up for parade

NEW YORK (AP) — Megan Fairchild is usually chopping, stirring and basting during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. This year she'll be twirling, leaping and swaying.

Fairchild and more than two dozen cast members from the Broadway revival of "On the Town" will be adding a little razzle-dazzle amid the Snoopy and Buzz Lightyear balloons along the parade route.

"It's so exciting and such an honor for us to be asked," said Fairchild, a principal dancer at the New York City Ballet who is making her Broadway debut in the show.

Other shows to be spotlighted Thursday on NBC include "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder," Sting's "The Last Ship," ''Side Show" and "Finding Neverland."

"On the Town," the romance-chasing romp by Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, is set in Manhattan and has a soaring score that includes "New York, New York."

The show is about three bell-bottomed Navy sailors who try to cram a year's worth of fun into 24 hours of shore leave.

While many Broadway shows hope to be included every year, Bill Schermerhorn, the parade's creative director, said it was a no-brainer to pick "New York, New York." Schermerhorn called the song and show a "valentine" to the city.

Joshua Bergasse, the show's choreographer, said his 30 dancers will have only 3 minutes to strut their stuff in front of an estimated 56 million people — incredible exposure for a show that usually plays to 1,900 a night.

Eight cameras will capture the cast performing in front of Macy's on 34th Street. Forecasts call for a chilly morning, with a high of only 39.

The "On the Town" sequence will have a special place during the parade telecast, but organizers won't reveal it.

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Online:

http://www.onthetownbroadway.com

http://www.nbc.com/macys-thanksgiving-day-parade

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Mark Kennedy can be reached at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits