Forever Tango – Walter Kerr Theatre, New York

Karina Smirnoff and Maksim Chmerkovskiy in Forever Tango at the Walter Kerr Theatre. Picture: Walter McBride

Forever Tango opened at the Walter Kerr Theatre, New York and continues until 15 September.

The steamy index on Broadway these summer nights is being hiked a notch or two by the return of Forever Tango. The show, created and directed by the Argentine-born Luis Bravo, first unleashed all its sensuous contortions on the Great White Way back in 1997 and delivered another helping in 2004.

This latest edition has a complement of 18 dancers and an 11-piece orchestra, including Bravo on cello, and boasts added celebrity wattage with the headlining of Karina Smirnoff and Maksim Chmerkovskiy. This duo, both of Ukraine origin, achieved notoriety as professional partners teaming up with terpsichorean stumblebums on the television show Dancing With the Stars. They are billed as guest stars, scheduled to appear with the show until 11 August. They prove to be the sleekest of the dancers gliding their way across the stage in this dance revue, They’re also big crowd-pleasers as well.

Another big name for the tango fanatics is Gilberto Santa Rosa as guest vocalist, taking stage sometimes solo and sometimes surrounded by dancers. A habitual winner of awards in the Latin music arena, Santa Rosa exhibits a self-possessed aura and has a warm sound which builds to climaxes of fairly contained passion. It makes for a nice respite from the lung-busting style now dominating Broadway. His time with the show will last until 28 July.

As for the dancing, the title says it all, with one passionate variation after another on the gliding, hip-swiveling and leg-twisting embraces of the tango. Sometimes, there are several couples on stage, sometimes just one. There are about a score of dance numbers in all, with an occasional orchestral piece spelling the dancers. Throughout much of it, the seductive throaty sound of the bandoneons dominate. The orchestra has four bandoneon players.

The choreography is for the most part pure dance. However, there is a sequence which depicts a dance floor brawl. And some hints of slapstick are interjected into two pas de deux performed by Natalia Turelli and Ariel Manzanares. There’s also some notation for courage due Soledad Buss, who does one number bare-footed. Also noteworthy are the daredevil lifts executed by Juan Paulo Horvath, who is the show’s dance captain, with partner Victoria Galoto.

Tango, certainly, does not have to be an obsession to enjoy Forever Tango, but if it isn’t, you may find yourself wishing for the Lambeth Walk or just a gold old Charleston at some point in the proceedings. The discomfort, however, may not last for long, as another intense couple takes stage and you get caught up in the heat of their concentrated sexuality.

Ron Cohen