Singer, dancer, and actor, Danny Gardner, is enjoying an exciting life on the road, traveling the country and living his dream on a journey which began right here in Reading, Pa. “I was born in the Reading Hospital and grew up at 126 North 11th Street across from City Park. I would run across the street to play in City Park with my older brother and younger sister. My mom had a dinner bell that she would ring to call us home. She actually lived in our family home until it was sold two years ago when she moved to Exeter Township.”
“As a young child, I had a lot of energy. My parents wanted to involve me in things that would tire me out, so around the age of 5 they sent me to acrobatics, and then to Marie Shaw for an all-boys tap class. I liked it, and have been dancing ever since. I took jazz, ballet and private tap lessons from John Kalina from Marie Shaw on Penn Avenue in West Reading.”
Danny attended school in the Reading School District, at Amanda Stoudt Elementary, Southern Jr. High and Reading High School. “I took voice lessons at Southern, and got involved with Genesius Theatre, which was right around the corner from us; also Reading Community Players, and Mifflin Summer Theatre. My Dad and my sister were involved in two productions together, Rags, and The Secret Garden.”
Growing up in a musical family influenced Danny and kept him engaged in the music culture. “My mom and dad were both members of Peace Lutheran Church in Reading. Both of my parents, my uncle and my great aunt Nancy and I all joined the choir. My dad was very musical and played the accordion. My grandparents loved musicals and took me to see Bye, Bye, Birdie, Singing In the Rain, and Oklahoma.”
A real passion for performing was sparked when Danny played a small part in his very first show. “I think I got the bug in the first show I ever did. My brother was a freshman, and they were doing Mame. I was a small boy with two lines, and I got to wear a turban, and my line was “Auntie Mame says life is a banquet and most poor sons-of-bitches are starving to death”. The crowd applauded and I thought to myself ‘this is fun’!
“In high school, I got a lot more serious as I had roles in Some Like it Hot, Me and My Girl, A Chorus Line, and Grease. My parents told me I must go to college, and this is when I started to think about performing as a career. I applied and was accepted to Ithaca College, where I received a BFA in Musical Theatre.”
In his college years, Danny worked in summer theatre productions, regional theatre, and three summers with Hangar Theatre, a playhouse in Ithaca, NY and Merry-Go-Round Playhouse in Auburn, NY He also got a taste of manual labor working as a mixer for Sweet Street Desserts one summer, hauling 100-pound bags of cream and sugar.
A college friend convinced him to take a trip to Europe after graduating. “Taking the trip with my friend helped to push me out of my comfort zone. We started in Greece, and then he suggested going to Italy, and backpacking through Europe. I learned so much; skydiving over the alps, or seeing theatre and the William Tell opera at 22 years old. We took trains, and ferries and finished our trip in Barcelona, Paris and Amsterdam. I ended the trip broke, and moved back with my parents at 126 North 11th in Reading.”
His return home marked an unexpected turn of events, but not before a reality check, having to earn some much-needed money. “I came home to replenish funds. I saw an ad for delivering telephone books and supplement books,” he laughs. “I’m dating myself here!” I borrowed my dad’s van to deliver the phone books. At the same time, I had two friends from dance school who were on a non-equity tour. I received a message to send a headshot and resume to the casting director, because the lead dancer just got fired. I called the casting director on a Tuesday, and he told me they were looking for dancers for 42nd Street. He called at 6:05 Friday and said, ‘Do you want to go on the national tour of 42nd Street?’ I was off on a flight with my friends Jenny Peters and Justin Wingenroth, and I was over the top!”
Now Danny’s career on stage began to take off. “I was on tour with 42nd Street until it closed in 2006. I then went to the Fulton Opera House where I was cast in Crazy For You, and then back to Hangar to do Hello Dolly. The Artistic Director of Fulton Opera House really liked my work and gave me my Equity card in Oliver. I played the Artful Dodger at the age of 23. Once you have the equity card, which is a union for actors, you can’t work at non-union jobs, but you receive health care and a pension. The Equity card allows you to sign up to get audition slots that are open.”
Danny moved to New York and 2007, where his career has expanded in every direction, and where he is making a living as a Broadway actor, choreographer, and dance teacher. He is currently playing Lumiere in the 30th Anniversary Broadway tour of Beauty and the Beast, and was featured on Disney Night on Dancing with the Stars.
His Broadway credits include A Christmas Carol, Flying Over the Sunset, and Dames At Sea. His other New York credits include Cheek to Cheek at the York Theatre, Lady Be Good, starring Tommy Tune in the Encore series at City Center, and the New York Spectacular starring the Radio City Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall.
Danny has been in three National Tours – 42nd Street, White Christmas, and the symphonic tour of Here to Stay – The Gershwin Experience. He has performed in shows around the country in Crazy For You at the Signature Theater in Washington, DC, Mary Poppins at Theater Under The Stars in Houston and 5th Avenue Theater in Seattle, Show Boat at the Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut, The Music Man at the Asolo Repertory Theater in Sarasota, Florida, Singing in the Rain at the Marriott Lincolnshire just outside of Chicago, and most recently in Dial M for Murder, at both the Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, New York and the Dallas Theatre Center in Dallas, Texas.
Danny is credited as Assistant Choreographer to Michele Dorrance in Flying Over Sunset at Lincoln Center, Resident Choreographer for 10 years of the concert series Broadway By The Year at Town Hall in NYC, choreographer of The Rope Dance in GIG with Jenna Nichols (Picket Fences), and choreographer for A Tap Dance In a Circle, which was part of the Lincoln Center Dance on Camera Festival, Room 17B, Exit Stage Left, Everybody Gets Cake, with the physical theatre company Parallel Exit, Mercury for Superhero Clubhouse, and multiple pieces for the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, the Connecticut Ballet and the Irish Repertory Theatre. He has also taught tap dance all across the country, including at Steps on Broadway, and Broadway Dance Center in New York City.
In 2022 Danny married his wife Emily who is also a dancer. “We auditioned for Beauty and the Beast in 2024, and we both got into the tour. Seven months ago my wife gave birth to our son Jack, and she is the real rock star getting back to very intense work 5 and a half weeks later. The show opened in May of 2025. Emily’s parents, Tom and Patty, and my mom, Maryann, are retired, and they join us on the tour to help with Jack; it takes a village. We are finishing in June of 2026, and the tour is booked for three more years if they ask us back.”
Danny’s dreams and goals for the future will include being able to live in a house with a yard while continuing performing and doing more choreography on the side. He is looking forward to the tour coming to The Kimmel Center in Philadelphia in February where he looks forward to seeing friends and family from his hometown of Reading, PA!
Learn more about Danny Gardner by visiting www.danny-gardner.com
