"Movin' Out," however, has no tutus or tippy-toes. It's the story of five lives, swirling through love, pain, Vietnam, drugs, and (sometimes) recovery.

And it's all done to the Tony-winning choreography of Twyla Tharp and the songs of Billy Joel. "I grew up on his music," said Laurie Kanyok, who stars as Brenda.

Now she gets what may be the ultimate spotlight moment: With Joel's "Uptown Girl" in the background, Kanyok struts.

"It's sort of Brenda's coming-out (into the dating world)," she said. "It's a big moment."

There are many such moments. Brendan King, as Eddie, has a 17-minute, four-song stretch that's filled with rage and torment.

"It's pretty much a physical and emotional roller-coaster," he said.

That makes it tough on dancers. Unlike most shows, "Movin' Out" double-casts several roles.

Tonight's opener has Kanyok, King, Corbin Popp (as Tony) and Darren Holden (as "Piano Man"). They rest, then work Thursday, plus the late show Saturday and the early one Sunday.

The "Piano Man" is particularly pivotal. He sings 24 Joel songs.

The show includes such classics as "We Didn't Start The Fire," "It's Still Rock and Roll To Me" and "Just The Way You Are."

All of this is molded by one of Broadway's top choreographers.

Tharp, 63, was busy from 1979-85. She did movies ("Hair," "Ragtime," "Amadeus," "White Nights") and three Broadway shows. She then merged her group with the American Ballet Theatre and choreographed ballets.

Meanwhile, word surfaced that she was working on a musical stuffed with Joel songs.

Kanyok's interest was piqued. "When I heard, I thought,... 'How do I become part of this?'"

She was cast in the chorus, sometimes filling in as Brenda. Throughout it all, she said, Tharp was busy. "She's very strong, honing in on what everyone's doing.'"

The show opened in Chicago, went to Broadway and landed a 2003 Tony nomination as best musical. "We opened the Tony show that year," Kanyok said. "Just to have us dancing hard for 10 minutes on national TV was wonderful."

The show won a Tony for Tharp's choreography but lost in other categories. It never did become a full-scale Broadway success.

King joined "Movin' Out" during its Broadway run. After being cast, he settled back to see the show from the audience.

"I was excited and floored," he said. "I thought, 'Wow, how am I going to be able to do that?'"

Mostly, he could do it the same way he used to do sports, with adrenaline and stubbornness.

Growing up in New Jersey, King was busy with soccer, wrestling and track. He landed a track scholarship to Rutgers; his freshman year, he finished fifth in the conference in the 400-meter run.

But his attention was drifting to show business.

He did industrial films. He danced in concerts behind Jessica Simpson and 'N Sync and such. He was in the pretend music videos for the Lisa Kudrow movie "Marci X." For the movie "Polar Express," he and another dancer did the motions of the two waiters weaving through the train without spilling the food.

All of that was demanding - but not as tough as being a "Movin' Out" dancer. "You do have to wind down for an hour or two afterward," King said. "You've got so much energy from the show."

That's a slow unwinding, Kanyok said. "We might go to a bar or a club, just to talk for a while.... Or if I'm lucky, I might find a Jacuzzi."

During the day, she focuses on the few muscles that don't get a workout in the show. "I try to take ballet class twice a week. I take Pilates or yoga when I can."

Being on the move is nothing new for Kanyok. Dancing has taken her around the world.

She toured with "Fosse" and "Saturday Night Fever." She lived and worked in Japan for two years. She was a dancer for a Michael Jackson's concert in New York.

"It was probably the most bizarre experience of my life," Kanyok said. "He's a very quiet, methodical person.... All of a sudden, when he's onstage, he gets up this rage. You think, 'Wow.' He becomes this lion."

Often, Kanyok and King and the others are observing this from the background. They're the dancers, the ones people might forget to notice.

Except, of course, during "Movin' Out." Others have been banished; the dancers rule the stage.

"I was a terrible student. I never practiced at my lesson. I was never that interested in reading music," he said during a dressing room interview at the Richard Rodgers Theatre last week.

The pianist/vocalist, who takes center stage performing the music of Billy Joel in the Broadway show "Movin' Out," is a 1990 Midpark High School graduate. His first piano teacher at Music Adventures in Middleburg Heights understood that the young Cavanaugh just wanted to be a rocker. He started writing his own songs at age 13.

On Tuesday, Cavanaugh will take a sabbatical from his Broadway job to assume the musical helm of the "Movin' Out" Tour for its Cleveland run, a gig he requested.

Cavanaugh, 32, moved away from Cleveland more than a decade ago, but his roots are still there. The pianist used to perform in the Cleveland Flats, at the Pub in Canton and Bucks Garage in Akron.

His parents, Ed and Dorothy, who now live in Olmsted Falls, will see him in Cleveland's opening night of "Movin' Out."

Last week in New York, a relaxed, black-clad Cavanaugh chatted about his background as a performer just before his Friday evening show. He commutes to Manhattan from Bergen County, NJ, for five shows each week, warming up during the 40-minute car ride.

Cavanaugh has been doing the Tony Award-winning "Movin' Out" on Broadway, which features 29 Joel songs, for more than two years. This piano player seemed to like to keep his hands busy, organizing the clutter on his dressing table as he spoke. Underneath the table, a keyboard rolled out for practice purposes, which Cavanaugh said his understudy, Wade Preston, uses more than he does.

Cavanaugh said he does 100 percent of his musical work by ear.

"Billy's (Joel is) totally the same way," he said. "Billy probably reads as good as I do."

Cavanaugh said he's flattered when folks say his vocal stylings sound just like Joel's. He was a big Billy Joel fan growing up.

The young pianist said people call him "Piano Boy," but there's only one "Piano Man."

Joel discovered Cavanaugh at The Bar Times Square in the New York New York hotel in Las Vegas, where Cavanaugh was covering the tunes of Joel and other artists. Cavanaugh's manager, who also managed Joel's tour, brought Joel in to listen.

"Billy watched me for an hour, and I was very nervous, to say the least. That was the highlight of my musical life, no doubt about it," he said.

Joel ended up jamming with Cavanaugh to the Beatles' "With A Little Help From My Friends" and Elvis' "Don't Be Cruel." Later, Cavanaugh went backstage after Joel's performance with Elton John at the MGM Grand to hang out with Joel. He and Joel ended up entertaining a small group of people by playing duets at the Four Seasons hotel.

A couple months later, Joel tapped Cavanaugh about doing a new Broadway musical.

Esteemed choreographer Twyla Tharp had long been a fan of Billy Joel's music, and she wanted to create a Broadway show based on his songs. Tharp choreographed a handful of Joel's hits with her dancers, videotaped the work and tracked Joel down to show him the results.

Joel was so impressed seeing his imaginary characters come to life, he sent all of his recordings to Tharp and gave her carte blanche to use as many as she wanted to create a new musical.

Joel insisted only that his lyrics not be changed. He also helped hire some of the band members, including Cavanaugh. Many had performed with him in the past and knew just how to create his gritty rock style on stage.

"Twyla was really the boss, so I had to fly out to audition with her," pianist Cavanaugh said.

"The more I sang, the more she liked it."

Tharp is known for her demanding perfectionism, but she knows how to let her hair down, too.

"She's a rocker," Cavanaugh said. "She likes it loud and crunchy."

With this show, Tharp has defied conventional definitions of dance and the Broadway musical. She has also broken down audience boundaries by drawing dance enthusiasts, musical theatre lovers and plain-old Billy Joel fans to the show.

There's no book to this musical and no dialogue. The narration comes straight from Joel's lyrics, sung by Cavanaugh on a bridge above the stage with a 10-piece band.

Tharp's narrative dance follows five friends through the decades, beginning with the idealism of the post World War II era, then into the hell of the Vietnam War experience, and finally the pain of survival and putting their lives back together after the war.

Tharp has said that she created the Tony Award-winning "Movin' Out" as an homage to the generation of Vietnam vets who suffered the tragedy.

Cavanaugh's favorite piece is the emotional love song "Shameless," while his favorite scene is the painful war content of "Goodnight Saigon," which begins character Eddie's healing process.

The young dancers/actors in the show did their research on the Vietnam era, even working with a drill sergeant during rehearsal. As a musician, Cavanaugh didn't go through that type of process.

"I just have to deliver the song - basically through the music, narrate the scene, and just put my heart into it," he said.

The performer, who's married and the father of two, said his Broadway contract's up in July. He's involved with other projects, including writing music for the Disney Channel, for other artists and for himself.

Would he ever consider doing "Movin' Out" in Asia, if the Tour goes there?

"I never say never," he said.

"After experiencing severe gastric pains, Billy Joel has been admitted to a local New York hospital for tests," Joel's rep told The Scoop. "He's expected to be released later this week. There is no diagnosis available."

"After experiencing severe gastric pains, Billy Joel has been admitted to a local New York hospital for tests," the rep said, adding that Joel "is expected to be released later this week."

No other details were available regarding the 55 year-old entertainer's condition.

The ivory tickler has been in and out of hospitals in recent years, several times related to his poor driving skills.

In June 2002, Joel sustained minor injuries after losing control of his Mercedes-Benz in the Sag Harbor area of Long Island and slamming into a wall.

A few days later, the five-time Grammy winner checked himself into the Silver Hill rehab clinic in Connecticut to deal with an "undisclosed personal problem." While his reps denied the rehab stint was related to the crash, Joel later admitted that he entered the program after a "prolonged period of indulgence."

In January 2003, Joel was hospitalized again after banging himself up and totaling his Mercedes-Benz after swerving off a road and colliding with a tree not far from the site of the previous mishap.

The hits kept coming last April, when Joel slammed one of his vintage cars into the home of a 93 year-old woman. Lucky for him, no one was hurt in the accident, including himself. The problem-prone pop suffered a cut on his ring finger, but declined medical attention.

Other than that, things have been going great for the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer.

Last October, Joel found himself a new "Uptown Girl," swapping vows with 23 year-old Katie Lee, a recent college grad and restaurant correspondent for the PBS show "George Hirsch: Living It Up!." It's the third stab at marital bliss for the "Movin' Out" master mind, whose last marriage, to supermodel Christie Brinkley, ended in divorce in 1994.

"I think you'll see a Billy Joel album, I bet, within another year and a half."

"It was like putting on an old pair of jeans!" is how "Movin' Out" star Elizabeth Parkinson laughingly described to Playbill.com her February 8th, 2005 return to the role she originated in the Billy Joel/Twyla Tharp musical."I haven't had these on in a while, but they still feel pretty good," said the dancer, who returned to her Tony Award-nominated role as Brenda for the first time since February 2004 - when she went on maternity leave.

Nancy Lemenager ("Never Gonna Dance") and a number of understudies filled the "Uptown Girl" shoes while Parkinson planned for the arrival of her and husband/co-star Scott Wise's now-20-week-old James Montana Wise.

"It was always my plan was to come back to the show. I want to continue to dance and perform. I love the show and I thought it would be a perfect situation; most people who are working mothers have jobs that take a lot more hours than what we have as Broadway performers."

The long-limbed leading lady - whose leap is captured in one of the show's iconic images - was back to work at getting in shape for the strenuous two-hour dance piece a mere eight weeks after giving birth. "Well, even sooner actually. I was starting to do little thing because I'm crazy. But I was back in class after eight weeks and I just really slowly built up to it. I know my body really well and kind of what I need to do and I'm almost there. I feel like I've got a little bit more to go as far as my 'gut strength,' but I feel surprisingly good."

Though Parkinson had been with the show since its inception over two and a half years ago, her time away took its toll. "I had really forgot how hard the show is. I started rehearsing a couple weeks ago [and] it is really physically so demanding. It's a blessing that the show's only two hours long. If it were longer than that, it would be detrimental."

But the new mother ultimately sees her absence in a good light. "I think that the time I spent away from the show was valuable. It was nice to have fresh eyes and see everything all over again."

As for the stage couple's dancer-in-training, "He moved a lot when he was in the womb. He was always kicking those little legs," she explains. "And now he's very active. He's really a very physical baby. He rolled over for the first time last week and it was this huge event."

Parkinson and Wise had began dating while working on the Broadway show "Fosse." What is the 7 year-old couple's secret to marital bliss? "When we work together, we completely ignore each other. I think that's really the reason why it works so well. In "Movin' Out," it was sort of easy to keep ourselves separate because we don't dance together. I think that's kind of a decision we made to preserve our relationship."

The dancer revels in her current home and stage spotlight. "I don't think I've ever been happier in my life. I feel so blessed to have the baby and actually have a great show to do. It's more than ever imagined."

"It was phenomenal and the dancing is absolutely wonderful," Brian Bailey, musical theatre major at NKU, said.

Joel has ties to the university from his 1973 performance in Regents Hall, when NKU was still a state college.

Although Joel won't be performing on the show's tour, 24 of his classics are featured and played by a house band. Some well known favorites include, "Uptown Girl," "We Didn't Start The Fire", and of course, "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)."

"The movement and the action tell the story-the experience, the emotional resonance, comes from action rather than language." Tharp said in a statement.

Joel and Tharp have received numerous awards for creating this dance musical.

"Movin' Out" will be playing at the Aronoff Center in downtown Cincinnati February 22nd, 2005 through March 6th, 2005.

"It was phenomenal and the dancing is absolutely wonderful," Brian Bailey, musical theatre major at NKU, said.

Joel has ties to the university from his 1973 performance in Regents Hall, when NKU was still a state college.

Although Joel won't be performing on the show's tour, 24 of his classics are featured and played by a house band. Some well known favorites include, "Uptown Girl," "We Didn't Start The Fire", and of course, "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)."

"The movement and the action tell the story-the experience, the emotional resonance, comes from action rather than language." Tharp said in a statement.

Joel and Tharp have received numerous awards for creating this dance musical.

"Movin' Out" will be playing at the Aronoff Center in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio February 22nd, 2005 through March 6th, 2005.