Andy Blankenbuehler
A Critical Companion
Will be published approx. on 6. August 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
232 pages
978-1-350-52434-7 (ISBN)
Description
"There are very few times when I really want the audience to look at dance...Dance is just meant to be a framing device that matches emotionally what I want the audience to feel." - Andy Blankenbuehler
Three-time Tony Award-winner Andy Blankenbuehler is one of the most recognizable choreographers working on Broadway today. Known particularly for his work on the hit musical Hamilton, collaborating once again with Lin-Manuel Miranda following their work on In The Heights, his distinct style and method of working is unique and distinguishable. This first critical study of both his style and extraordinary body of work explores everything from his background and training through to his rehearsal process and collaborative style. Told chronologically through his major shows, alongside interludes and reflections, this critical companion includes analysis alongside interviews with collaborators and Blankenbuehler himself.
As well as guiding readers through specific shows, this book unpacks and explores Blankenbuehler's philosophies with regards to storytelling through the body. It argues how his prioritization of the ensemble as crucial to understanding the action within a show consequently positions the ensemble body as an indispensable element through which the audience gains vital (sub)text. As a result of this decision his choreography has become distinctly different from his predecessors and peers.
Published in Methuen Drama's Musical Theatre Critical Companions series this offers an accessible yet thorough study of a contemporary practitioner that is perfect for students, dancers and musical theatre fans alike.
Three-time Tony Award-winner Andy Blankenbuehler is one of the most recognizable choreographers working on Broadway today. Known particularly for his work on the hit musical Hamilton, collaborating once again with Lin-Manuel Miranda following their work on In The Heights, his distinct style and method of working is unique and distinguishable. This first critical study of both his style and extraordinary body of work explores everything from his background and training through to his rehearsal process and collaborative style. Told chronologically through his major shows, alongside interludes and reflections, this critical companion includes analysis alongside interviews with collaborators and Blankenbuehler himself.
As well as guiding readers through specific shows, this book unpacks and explores Blankenbuehler's philosophies with regards to storytelling through the body. It argues how his prioritization of the ensemble as crucial to understanding the action within a show consequently positions the ensemble body as an indispensable element through which the audience gains vital (sub)text. As a result of this decision his choreography has become distinctly different from his predecessors and peers.
Published in Methuen Drama's Musical Theatre Critical Companions series this offers an accessible yet thorough study of a contemporary practitioner that is perfect for students, dancers and musical theatre fans alike.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 214 mm
Width: 138 mm
Thickness: 24 mm
Weight
240 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-350-52434-7 (9781350524347)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
approx. 07/2026
Methuen Drama
€23.99
Available for download
E-Book
approx. 07/2026
Methuen Drama
€23.99
Available for download
Person
Amanda Jane Olmstead (she/her) is a faculty member in the Theatre Arts Department at the University of Pittsburgh and in the School of Drama at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, USA. She received her PhD in Theatre and Performance Studies from the University of Pittsburgh, her MA in Performance Studies from New York University, and her BA in Theatre with a minor in Dance from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Olmstead is also a choreographer for local Pittsburgh schools and the Pitt Stages Theatre Arts Department. Her publications include an article titled "Developpe: Katherine Dunham's Diasporic Dance" in the Studies in Musical Theatre Journal and a chapter titled "Dance as Narrative: Storytelling Through the Ensemble Body" for the collection titled Dance in Musical Theatre: A History of the Body in Movement.
Content
Acknowledgements
Preface
Section One: Becoming Blankenbuehler
Introduction
1.0 Words with Andy: The Creative Process
1.1 On Imagery
1.2 On Style
1.3 On Music
1.4 On Documentation
Section Two: Extended Choreographic Analysis
2.0 En Washington Heights: Staging Authenticity through the Individual Ensemble Body
2.1 Luis Salgado: on Collaboration and Connection
2.2 "Blankenbuehlerizing" Choreography and Staging Authenticity
2.3 "In the Heights": Staging Community, Establishing Vocabulary
2.4 "Carnaval Del Barrio:" Staging Latinx Nationality through Social Dance
2.5 Conclusion: Adapting Environments
3.0 "We Ain't No Cheerleaders:" Cheerleading Bodies, Hip-hopping Bodies, and the World of Bring it On: the Musical
3.1 "What I Was Born To Do"-Truman High School: Producing whiteness through Cheerleading
3.2 "Yo, hip-hop is our national pastime:" Hip-Hop and the Crew
3.3 "We Ain't No Cheerleaders" on a "Friday Night"-Jackson High School: Producing or Subverting Other through Hip-Hop
3.4 "It's All Happening"-Jackson High School: Turning a "Crew" into a "Squad"
3.5 Welcome to Varsity Nationals: Cheerleading versus Hip-Hop
3.6 Conclusion: Reparative Cheerleading
4.0 Who Tells the Story?: Dialectic Activations of the Ensemble Body
4.1 "Together We Can Turn the Tide:" Moving From and Between Individual and Collective Ensemble Body
4.2 "We Move as One:" Synchronism and Hip-Hop
4.3 "Alexander Hamilton:" Establishing the Omnipresent and Omniscient Ensemble
4.4 "Helpless" / "Satisfied:" Subverting Patriarchal Practices
4.5 "Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down):" Communicating Revolution
4.6 Conclusion: The World Is Wide Enough
Section Three: Continued Practice
5.0 Blankenbuehler Beyond Miranda
5.1 Bandstand
5.2 Only Gold
5.3 Nine
6.0 Beyond Blankenbuehler: Collaboration and Stephanie Klemons
Conclusion: Blankenbuehler and the Ensemble (Body)
Bibliography
Preface
Section One: Becoming Blankenbuehler
Introduction
1.0 Words with Andy: The Creative Process
1.1 On Imagery
1.2 On Style
1.3 On Music
1.4 On Documentation
Section Two: Extended Choreographic Analysis
2.0 En Washington Heights: Staging Authenticity through the Individual Ensemble Body
2.1 Luis Salgado: on Collaboration and Connection
2.2 "Blankenbuehlerizing" Choreography and Staging Authenticity
2.3 "In the Heights": Staging Community, Establishing Vocabulary
2.4 "Carnaval Del Barrio:" Staging Latinx Nationality through Social Dance
2.5 Conclusion: Adapting Environments
3.0 "We Ain't No Cheerleaders:" Cheerleading Bodies, Hip-hopping Bodies, and the World of Bring it On: the Musical
3.1 "What I Was Born To Do"-Truman High School: Producing whiteness through Cheerleading
3.2 "Yo, hip-hop is our national pastime:" Hip-Hop and the Crew
3.3 "We Ain't No Cheerleaders" on a "Friday Night"-Jackson High School: Producing or Subverting Other through Hip-Hop
3.4 "It's All Happening"-Jackson High School: Turning a "Crew" into a "Squad"
3.5 Welcome to Varsity Nationals: Cheerleading versus Hip-Hop
3.6 Conclusion: Reparative Cheerleading
4.0 Who Tells the Story?: Dialectic Activations of the Ensemble Body
4.1 "Together We Can Turn the Tide:" Moving From and Between Individual and Collective Ensemble Body
4.2 "We Move as One:" Synchronism and Hip-Hop
4.3 "Alexander Hamilton:" Establishing the Omnipresent and Omniscient Ensemble
4.4 "Helpless" / "Satisfied:" Subverting Patriarchal Practices
4.5 "Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down):" Communicating Revolution
4.6 Conclusion: The World Is Wide Enough
Section Three: Continued Practice
5.0 Blankenbuehler Beyond Miranda
5.1 Bandstand
5.2 Only Gold
5.3 Nine
6.0 Beyond Blankenbuehler: Collaboration and Stephanie Klemons
Conclusion: Blankenbuehler and the Ensemble (Body)
Bibliography