Video: Stars Walk the Red Carpet for Opening Night of HOW TO DANCE IN OHIO

Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World

The new musical How to Dance in Ohio has come to Broadway, and the first niders are here to celebrate

What is it like seeing your life come to life on stage in this beautiful musical

I would say for the first three, four times, it was abnormal. And I could say that as a clinical psychologist

but that abnormal has become normal in the sense that it's now part of our DNA

not just mine, but our clients, the clients represented here, my clients, because I'm still doing the work

You know, so every week I have 100 folks that depend on me, and I give them updates

you know, H-T-D-I-O updates and stuff. So it just expanded my DNA, our family experience

Yeah, it just made my life richer. I mean, how proud are you of this beautiful documentary that you made

I feel incredibly proud that to see all of the subjects and the way that they trusted us

and the fearlessness of letting us tell their story. And it really didn't know what, I mean

we explained what the story was, we explained what we wanted to do, but to see all these families come from Ohio

and think that was eight years ago. And we were explaining, we wanna make this documentary

and they trusted us. And then here we are is mind blowing to me

So I feel so proud of the work and seeing it, and I'm not creative involved with the musical

but so to see what they've done and to see that they have taken, a work of art that I'm really proud of

but then created an entirely new, extraordinary work of art that is just beautiful and everyone needs to see it How excited are you to be here tonight for this musical Well I just really really excited We got a Broadway show with autistic lead actors

I think that's fantastic. Can't wait to see it tonight. There were 10-year-old kids there the other day who looked up at that stage and said

oh my gosh, I see myself there. I can do that. I can do it

I've had parents come up to me and they've seen the work I've done. And I had a lady tell me last night that her daughter got really

motivated and help me. I have people come to me to the airport and will say that I help motivate them

Yes, autistic people cannot do it. I'm beyond excited, beyond thrilled, so humbled, and so excited that, you know, I've been

a teacher and a mentor most of my life. Some of my most special times in my life have been working with special needs kids

Working with young people that are on the spectrum, to me, are angelic

Teaching them to dance brings out a joy that is unparalleled to any other art form

because what it does, it taps into their heartstrings and they find that, oh my God

I've aligned my heart with passion. Seeing them sing, dance, and do it so beautifully as if they've been doing it their whole lives

watching rehearsals, I would leave with tears in my eyes. And I'm just so proud. I fell in love with

the documentary. And when I heard they were making it into musical, I talked to my manager

who has kids on spectrum I said I have to be involved And I thrilled that I was invited And just the importance of representation I was here the other day and there were these 10 there who said oh my gosh I see myself up there I can be like Liam

The most important thing for any young person to do is to be able to identify and see themselves

in someone who is doing something fantastic and great because it gives them the incentive

the hope and the faith that they can do it too. Finally, how about getting you to Broadway

Well, this is the first step, and I'm excited to be in this first step, but Broadway is a love of mine

Let's see. There are talks of other things going on, so we'll see

I mean, this is legendary. Look how many people have showed up. I mean, this is going to be a huge show, and I love that

We're here first, right? We were here first, and we can always say that. The representation, the importance of having something like this on stage where people can see themselves, what that means to you

Who, you're giving me goosebumps. I mean, it is about representing, and it is about just like a powerful story

that I think is going to touch everyone and relate to everyone, you know, and that's the thing that is about acting

and putting shows on is you're talking about one person or a few people's life, but we all go

that's me, or that's my brother, or that, you know, we see ourselves in there, and yeah, it's truly powerful

Oh, it's incredible, and this type of representation on Broadway is important, and I'm so thrilled to be able to support it

And what do we need now more than anything is a little bit of joy

So I'm excited, excited to be here. And my son is neurodivergent

And so I really thrilled that this is now going to be a Broadway show representing people like my child How excited are you two to be here tonight for the opening of this Very excited We both very good friends with Alexandra Shiva who is the director and producer of the film

which we loved and very excited to see it adapted into a musical

Well, I saw the documentary, How to Dance in Ohio, and it was so groundbreaking, so heartbreaking

And then I'm a big fan of Fiona Rudin, Sammy Lopez and Ben Holtsman

I mean, they're great, great producers. They brought a strange loop. So I can't wait to see this

Very excited. This is one of the shows of the season I've really been looking forward to

The director, Sammy Cd, is a very good friend of mine, as well as being extremely talented, and I'm really happy to be here and cheer her on

Plus, I love what the show is about. It's so much art, you know, so I think looking forward to a really good evening

Oh, I'm so excited. I know that this was a documentary first, and I have not seen anything because I wanted to be surprised

I'm a huge, huge fan and collaborator with Sammy Kanold who's directing this show tonight

I just think everybody involved in the cast is so groundbreaking, inspirational

way much more than just our Broadway circle and atmosphere. So I've just been kind of heartbeat

in the best anxiety kind of way waiting to see this show. I am beyond excited to be here

This is a show I've been waiting to happen without even realizing it was this show

that something like this could make it to Broadway and spark. Hopefully, this theatrical revolution of what's interesting on Broadway

doesn't have to be something that's big and glitzy and glamy already

to be considered to be worthy of Broadway. Something that is just good, something that is just interesting

and something you really truly only can do in a theater. So, yeah, I'm excited