‘How to Dance in Ohio’ Review: Musical About Autistic Young Adults Is a Touching Broadway First

variety.com:

Frank Rizzo Going (or not going) to the big dance has been an irresistible storyline for musicals from “Oklahoma!” to “The Prom.” The set-up inherently inspires social stress, romantic anxiety, comic potential and, of course, dancing.

The new musical “How to Dance in Ohio” tells that story too, but from a different, heightened perspective. The show, which premiered at Syracuse Stage last year, is based on Alexandra Shiva’s 2015 HBO documentary about a group counseling center in Columbus, Ohio, where autistic young adults prepare for a spring formal.

In a Broadway first, seven actors on the autistic spectrum play the autistic characters. But first they begin the show by stepping out on stage as themselves to gently brief the audience: “There’s this saying, ‘If you’ve met one autistic person… you have met one autistic person,’” says Conor Tague with a sly smile. “You are now meeting seven autistic people.” It’s a great line and an apt one, because the show then sets out to present a group of self-aware and highly individual characters as they try to cope with a world that they sometimes don’t quite understand and that sometimes doesn’t understand them.

It’s a big-hearted, earnest musical performed by an eager, confident and appealing cast, playing characters—some more richly drawn than others—who find safety in routines, rules and control but also recognize the need to break free.