For my first commissioned Broadway review, I felt a strong need to follow the traditional structure. I would tell you what performances were outstanding (all of them), what song stood out (“Building Momentum”), my favorite line (when a character named Mel mentioned that disabled folks make subminimum wage), and maybe even the accessibility of the show (though you can find my review on that here). But, at my core, I am a disability scholar, media analyst, and the person who staged the first all-neurodivergent production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. So I think a slightly different look at the new, history-making Broadway musical How to Dance in Ohio makes more sense.

I’ll absolutely hand it to them - the producers of new musical How to Dance in Ohio tried to stage everything for autistic people like my girlfriend, Stasia, and I. The production sent out an email complete with links to a sensory advisory guide and advice on word usage, and they had “cool down zones” if we felt overwhelmed and needed to leave the theater. I genuinely appreciated this concept after enduring Manhattan for seven hours, dodging dozens of day-drunk, dangerously thin Saint Nicks dressed up for Santa Con, and coping with the screeches of a thousand unstable car horns.

Walking into How to Dance in Ohio — a new Broadway musical playing now at the Belasco Theatre — is based on a documentary of the same name. The show’s marketing declares that How to Dance… centers the narratives of seven autistic individuals so, in a sea of ableist work and practices on Broadway, it was a nice change to read that autistic people were involved, not only as performers but in some roles offstage as well. Yes, only baby steps, but can capitalist-driven Broadway ever be a site of true disability justice?