NEW YORK (AP) – The stage lights have been hard to get used to and there was limited rehearsal time, but ballerina Misty Copeland has put aside her nervousness and is finding her feet on Broadway.
Copeland made her Broadway debut this week in “On the Town,” playing a love interest for one of three sailors enjoying a few hours of shore leave in 1940s New York. The role requires both acting and singing, in addition to plenty of dancing, including a 15-minute ballet at the end.
Copeland, who recently became the first African-American woman to be a principal dancer at American Ballet Theatre, had only six rehearsals before going on. But each time she appeared, the crowd went wild, cheering her entrances and giving her a thunderous standing ovation at the end.