Why Your Next Binge-Watch Needs to Be "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend"
October 28, 2016

I’m not sure how this is just coming to my attention, but I’m pretty sure the CW’s “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” is about to become my next binge-watch. After stumbling across an interview with the show’s choreographer, Kathryn Burns, describing how she churns out a couple of dance numbers for every episode, I started YouTubing. And I was not disappointed.

If you’re unfamiliar with the show’s premise, it’s about a girl named Rebecca who follows her childhood sweetheart from New York to Los Angeles and conspires to get him back. Best of all, we get a peek into Rebecca’s psyche via…musical theater extravaganzas. I would say I’m not sure how a show like this managed to get picked up by a network, but watching even just one of the musical numbers is enough to convince me how.

Burns is clearly a choreographic chameleon. Check out the show’s new opening credit sequence (it’s now in its second season) for her take on the Busby Berkeley style:

In an interview with The A.V. Club, Burns revealed that the woman directly behind Rebecca in the opening shot is actually famous hoofer Ruby Keeler’s granddaughter! Love that.

This number, in which a boy who is not Rebecca’s former flame tries to convince her to date him instead, is done in that classic, old-school, Astaire-Rogers sweepy-style. I love how Rebecca acknowledges that she’s suddenly dressed in a gown perfect for ballroom dancing.

But probably my favorite musical number conceit is in “The Sexy Getting Ready Song.” If you’re a female and have ever gone on a date before—or, heck, gotten yourself or your students ready for a dance competition these days—you will empathize with this video. And you will also laugh at it. As I heartily did. (FYI, there’s some adult humor here.)

It should come as no surprise that Burns won an Emmy for her choreography on the show’s first season. I can’t wait to see what she has in store this season!

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