Casting is shared,the program listings indicate versatility in this Gershwin tribute with its underwriting proceeded via sponsorship by song whose choices of vocal interpreters clearly demonstrated Smuin’s care in sequencing and selection.

By far one of Michael Smuin’s most successful pop ballets, Dancin’ with Gershwin was the title for this medley of Gershwin hits. Costumed by Willa Kim, lit by Sara Linnie Slocum, with minimal stage sets by Rick Goodwin, Gershwin's melodies were rendered by solid star interpreters, almost shaking the stage with waves of nostalgia. The program opened with a battery of George Gershwin images, many with brother Ira, standing, at the piano, pipe in mouth, cigarette in hand, garbed nattily in three-piece suits, in shirt sleeves, in fur-trimmed coat, chest shots looking soulfully serious three quarters into camera, the long line of his nose creating a patrician air.

Moscow Silver medalist Koichi Kubo and Jessica Touchet played around with a piano as the first number before it was hoisted into the flys to make room for Swanee featuring Shannon Hurlburt; that rousing Minstrel Show evocation should have been the program’s starter, followed by Olivia Ramsay and Ethan White’s gentle pas de deux to Love is Here to Stay.

Marilyn Monroe’s breathy Do It Again evoked Zizi Jeanmaire when Robin Cornwell in slinky red appeared with the men in the company wafting a battery of white ostrich-like plumes, drawing appreciative chuckles.

By Strauss, Fascinating Rhythm, I’ve Got a Crush on You, Someone to Watch Over Me, Summertime, Nice Work if You Can Get It, It Aint Necessarily So, Of This I Sing and Shall We Dance followed before the intermission. Cher’s rendition of It Aint Necessarily So displayed Shannon Hurlburt's virtuosic abilities while Amy Seiwart and James Mills brought the wistful element to Someone to Watch Over Me.

Of This I Sing was a disappointment, not because of Olivia Ramsay, Jessica Touchet and Erin Yarborough-Stewart; The Andrews Sisters’ rendition of this Depression Era musical title song lacked the energy of an Ethel Merman, reduced to broken up phrases which, of course, allowed for flashes of cutesy technique, minus the drive of the original score.

After Intermission the audience was treated to Gershwin Song Covers and Posters, an impressive demonstration of how musically productive Gershwin’s short life was, how keenly he conveyed a certain American energy, positive, the casual often masking depth of feeling.

What followed was the Adagio from the Piano Concert in F, Vanessa Thiessen, Matthew Linzer, Amy Seiwart and Aaron Thayer dancing a Lilac Garden pairing times two, one pair in white, one in black.

Shannon Hurlburt tapped up an authoritative storm to the Canadian Brass Rhythm Medley, followed by They Can’t Take That Away From Me, S’Wonderful, The Man I Love, Preludes I and III and the finale to Slap That Brass. Hurlburt possesses perhaps the troupe’s most commanding stage presence, whether garbed in skimpy costume a la It Aint Necessarily So or in stage version casual shirt and trousers for the brilliant tap numbers.

The Man I Love gave Aaron Thayer the expected task of cuddling Erin Yarborough-Stewart in the pas de deux.

Koichi Kubo’s grand jetes a la seconde lent dazzle to Preludes I and III, a small figure shot out of a dazzling correct cannon.

Following the final curtain Artistic Director Celia Fushille came on stage to announce Amy Seiwart's role switch; Smuin had consistently encouraged her efforts. The company and production crew lined up to add a single red rose to Seiwart s floppy valedictory bouquet.

Kubo, Touchet, Hurlburt, Ramsey, White, Cornwell, Yee-Chan, Seiwart, Mills, Yarborough-Stewart, Linzer, Thayer