Video: Go Inside Opening Night of HOW TO DANCE IN OHIO

Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World

The new musical How to Dance in Ohio, which is based on the award-winning documentary

has come to Broadway, and we're here on opening night to celebrate with the company

A weird thing about this process is it comes in waves. Everybody's always asking me how I feel

and the answer is basically just yes. Yes, I am, feeling. If there's one thing I'm doing, it's feeling

All of you kids are all making your debut, I mean, what that means to you tonight

It's amazing. I'm so proud of every single one of us, the team

but especially the seven of us since we've been together on this journey together for so long

And I feel like we're like siblings at this point, and I'm just so happy that we get to be the first

hopefully of the many in the future, to tell stories as autistic people playing autistic characters

Yeah, it's great. I think the mix of both doing our job as actors

but also as collaborators on this piece has been so unlike what I expected my Broadway debut to be

which is so exciting. I feel like a part of me is in this show

I feel like a part of all of us is in this show, not just as our bodies and voices on stage

but as our hearts and the creation of it. So, yeah, I'm really, I'm just so excited to be able to celebrate that tonight

and all the hard work that we've been doing for two and a half years on this. What's made this so special for you

with working on this musical? You know just being with this cast and this team who they like they very very supportive where we always have each other backs And knowing that this show is opening up a lot of eyes it a show that we really need right now

What's made this show so special for you with working on this show

Oh my gosh. Not only this is my Broadway debut, but Had it Instant Ohio is actually my professional, like my first professional production

I was cast for the show when I was 17 years old, still in high school. and I've been with them ever since then

and I had a job right out of high school so that was really nice, you know

What's made this so special of working on this musical and bringing it to Broadway

I think just after having the chance to talk to people at the stage door

what makes it so special is how much people are connecting to the story. And that goes for people who are autistic

and who are not autistic. Autistic people are seeing themselves in these characters and non-autistic people

are learning, But not just that. They're like really connecting with this story about community

and connecting with each other. And just meeting the fans and the audience afterwards

that they're seeing themselves up there what that means to you. Oh my gosh. It is, it makes me like so happy

Like it just fills me with so much joy to know that people feel seen and represented

by the stories being told. Like it just, it always makes me smile

to see someone at the stage door and they say, I'm autistic too. And I really related to your character

It truly shows that this show is... It matters to people We always say like this show has been so much about community and building community and the community that we building with the audiences is truly the greatest gift So we so excited

I got your beautiful cast, and most of them are making their Broadway debut

They're so talented, so funny, so smart, and the kindest people you will ever meet

And so we're so happy we get to do with them every day. Our cast has been so generous sharing their lived experience and their life stories with us as well

And it just feels so good to get to work with them. people that have like honestly become our friends

Yeah. You've done so many shows, but working with this cast, they're all making their Broadway debuts, what that means to you

We have 40 plus Broadway debuts happening. And to stand back and watch that

to watch every single person go through all the emotions that I remember going through

it's unbelievable. It really fills my heart. I'm like anything else. What's made this so special for you with working on this

Oh gosh, there's a lot of things, but I think in particular I play a parent of a child on the spectrum

I myself am a parent with a child on the spectrum, and so it's a beautiful opportunity in my life

where my personal and professional lives are intersecting, and I feel just so honored to be able to represent families like my own

What's made this so special for you with working on this musical? The growth. There's a learning curve that comes with this show

and you have to stay steadfast in your actions and intention in order to make sure that you get it all

because it seems sometimes like it's a fast-moving train. And other times it's like, oh my God, I'm in the weeds

How do I get this right? But we gotten here which means that we on the right trajectory And I very very thankful and grateful to be here And in this moment it is a grace

Every single person who's involved is the best human being. That's it

Best human being from everywhere you've worked in the world is involved in this show. It's a joy. My favorite thing is the way we were treated

I hope that it sets a new standard for how creative spaces are run

that you meet people at their new. needs and you take them as one by one by human

It really was a beautiful experience. Yeah. Same. It really, it meant that everybody could do the art that they do without worry

about what anybody else was thinking, what anybody else wanted of them. We could all just be in a

room together making art. As this cast takes their bow tonight for their Broadway debut, I mean

you're watching them on the carpet, all beautifully done up in tuxedos and outfits. How you feel

It's just incredible. And I think that what makes it even, you know, particularly speaking about the boughs tonight

what we're really excited about is that the people who play them in real life are here

or the people who they play. So that's so meaningful to be like we get to do this show for and with the people that inspired it

That's huge. I love this cast so much. And I'm just excited for more people to know these people

They are just magical. And speaking of their outfits, what they're wearing on stage is so them, like each one individually, they just have so much personality

They're so grounded in who they are, and they're constantly teaching me

So I just want everybody else to learn from them the way that I have