Choreography for the show was created by Hope Clarke, a former principal dancer with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

Yet there's no exhilaration to these sequences, enacted against Kenneth Foy's handsome, multipurpose set and choreographed by Hope Clarke.

Choreographed by Hope Clarke ("Jelly's Last Jam"), who also directs.

And Mr. Beatty's assistants in the revival were Hope Clarke, Joan Peters, Michael Joy and Kenneth Pervine.

When his grandmother Cat (Hope Clarke) mistakenly uses the tainted soap, she's transformed into a 17-year-old (Tamera Mowry).

Out of the shadows, the choreographer Hope Clarke coaxes a mocking backup line - nine dancers, each dressed in the denigrating porter's outfit and sporting a messenger-boy hat.

The cast included Grant, Alex Bradford, Hope Clarke, and Arnold Wilkerson.

The staging by Hope Clarke helped mediate between the two.

As choreographer, Hope Clarke weaves a showcase anthology of social dances, rituals and a range of modern-dance and jazz idioms with astonishing effectiveness through what is quite simply a great dance show.

(He also shared a Tony nomination for choreography for that show with Hope Clarke and Mr. Levy.)