James Martinelli caught the Broadway bug at 16. The performer has attended theater school with Ben Stiller, danced with Tony winner Liza Minnelli and toured with a production of “A Chorus Line.” As a fitness instructor, Martinelli channels his passion into his class Broadway Dance, a cardio-based workout set to show tunes held in Brooklyn Bridge Park during the spring and summer.
“Outside there’s a sense of openness and no boundaries,” he says. “It’s an invigorating feeling.”
Fitness studios around the city have also tapped into the Great White Way for feel-good workouts that will have you shaking your jazz hands — in time for the Tony Awards on June 10.
For SoulCycle instructor Nicholas Wagner, who grew up in the competitive dance world, hit musicals and cycling workouts share a similar DNA.
“Broadway shows hook you in the beginning, take you on a journey, help you realize some important things in the middle, brighten your mood and then take you back home at the end,” he says.
Musical theater was an outlet that helped Wagner get through the awkwardness of adolescence. Now in his SoulCycle classes, he fosters a place where people can connect to the music and sing along without feeling judged — even if they sing “fabulously off-key.”
“We know the space is safe so we can feel all the emotions,” he says.
When not leading rowing classes at Current in SoHo, Meghan Faddis, who recently made her Off-Broadway debut, is performing and pursuing a career on the stage. Each month, she brings the high-paced energy of musicals like “Hamilton” to a themed, 45-minute row.
“Adding Broadway songs into the workout makes the theater nerd in me smile,” she says. “There is something so uplifting and empowering about having a singalong while sweating your butt off.”
After taking a break to direct and choreograph two musicals, instructor Justina Ercole returns to her popular musical classes at Broadway Bodies in June. Inside the dance center’s Flatiron space, she teaches two classes: Broadway Cardio, with high-intensity routines to build endurance, and Showtunes, which focuses more on choreography.
“Teaching show tunes . . . gives people a chance to play and make believe,” she says. “Too often people lose that in adulthood.”
And like the hit musicals that inspire her, both classes tend to sell out.
WHERE TO FIND THE CLASSES
Broadway Cardio
Mondays, 6:30 p.m., $25
Broadway Bodies, 50 Lexington Ave.
Showtunes
Mondays, 7:30 p.m., $25
Broadway Bodies, 50 Lexington Ave.
TRL: Musicals
Mondays, 5:30 p.m. (through June), $34
SoulCycle, 240 E. 54th St.
Broadway Dance
Mondays, 10 a.m. (through Sept. 3), FREE
Pier 2, Brooklyn Bridge Park
Broadway Row
June 7, 7:30 p.m., $32
Current, 342 Canal St.
PRO PLAYLISTS
James Martinelli shares his ultimate Broadway playlist.
- “Magic to Do” from “Pippin”
- “I Love to Dance” from “Ballroom”
- “MacArthur Park” from “Summer: The Donna Summer Musical”
- “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” from “Gypsy”
- “Day by Day” from “Godspell”
- “At the Ballet” from “A Chorus Line”
- “One” from “A Chorus Line”
- “Wait ‘til My Bobby Gets Home” from “Leader of the Pack”
SoulCycle instructor Nicholas Wagner shares his fave songs to ride to:
- “Take Me or Leave Me” from “Rent”
- “Satisfied” from “Hamilton”
- “Defying Gravity” from “Wicked”
- “Waving Through a Window” from “Dear Evan Hansen”
- “Seasons of Love” from “Rent”