Cinnaminson Native Dann Dunn Has His Own Memory to Sing

After more than a decade of on-the-road touring in musical productions throughout Europe and the United States, Dann Dunn is one of those guys who’s been lucky enough to have pursued his dreams as a child and has been staying on path ever since.

Currently, Dunn finds himself directing and acting in the melodic musical and audience pleaser Cats at the Ritz Theatre Co. in Oaklyn, a few towns over from his boyhood home in Cinnaminson.

During one holiday season in his youth, Dunn’s grandmother took him and his two siblings to see The Nutcracker at the Academy of Music, and the experience whetted his appetite for show business.

“I was maybe 7 or 8 years old. I remember all of the colors, the flashy costumes and the great dancing having such an impact on me. I knew that this is what I wanted to do,” Dunn, 29, says, recalling how the festive ballet influenced his career choice.

Soon after, Dunn took voice lessons and moved on to dance classes. He started performing in musicals at the , with his first performance being Kurt in The Sound of Music. Dunn was off and running, and starred in each musical during his four years at the high school.

Already developing a hankering for producing, Dunn says one of his proudest moments was when he was a senior at the and approached music director Stephanie Berger about turning out a student-run variation of the musical Pippin for the fall season.

“It was very rewarding. I was able to manage a full spectrum of the play,” Dunn says. “And on top of running the show, I had the lead.”

After graduation, his career led him to perform in ensembles for Sesame Street Live, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber, where he learned most of the catchy pop songs from the megamusical Cats. 

He then spent a year in Toronto acting in a production of Cats, and then he traveled with the Broadway National Tour of the feline show.

Having known Bruce Curless, producing artistic director, of The Ritz since the days when Dunn had appeared there in Carousel in 1998 and in The Pajama Game in 2001, the two had stayed in touch and remained friends. 

Last year, Curless came to see Dunn in historic Ardentown, DE, where Dunn was working in yet another Cats at the quaint New Candlelight Theatre—but this time, as the director. Curless implored Dunn to stage the musical for the 2012 season at the Ritz, which he agreed to, and the show kicked off on Jan. 12. 

While Dunn had the giant tasks of directing and choreographing the elaborate and lavish musical, right before the opening, one of the actors had to vacate a role. Dunn, without missing a beat, slipped into the character of Skimbleshanks, the tabby railway cat. 

“Lucky for me, I know most of the characters and most of the songs,” he says.

In its heyday, Cats became a delightful musical almost immediately after its opening on Broadway in 1982, where it ran for 18 years. Based on T.S. Eliot’s whimsical volume, Old Possum’s Book of Cats, it was ranked as one of the most successful hits of all time, seen by nearly 10 million people in New York alone during its run.

The junkyard setting was a series of illusions for the audience to get a cat’s-eye point of view, as actors prowled on stage wearing sinuous body suits, foot-long whiskers and kitty face paint.

“Growing up, Cats was one of my favorite musicals, so I was delighted to be able to work it from beginning to finish,” he admits.

Next up, Dunn will be choreographing a production of Spring Awakening for the Media Theater, nearby his current residence. After that, he’ll be busy directing Bye Bye Birdie back at the New Candlelight Theatre.

Dunn admits life at the moment is pretty purrrrrrfect.

“It’s been gratifying to travel and be a part of some spectacular shows,” Dunn says. “I think I’m rather fortunate.”

If you go: Cats runs through Sunday at the Ritz Theatre, 915 White Horse Pike, Oaklyn, 856-858-5230. Tickets are $25 to $36.