Dance The Night Away

Dance The Night Away is a Year 31 animated musical produced by Gemini Animation Studios. It is the sixty-fifth animated feature produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and the twenty-second animated feature produced by Gemini. The film was directed by Kevin Lima. It tells the story of its protagonist, a young woman named Chastity Lawrence attempting to become a cabaret star in 1926 Chicago. Along the way, she meets another young woman, Betty, who needs to earn funding to build a new theater so that she can put on performances of her own. The two friends eventually come into conflict with a rival performer named Celeste and a group of dangerous mobsters.

The film, developed over seven years by Gemini writers and producers, built up a great deal of pre-release hype upon its announcement in late Year 27 under the working title Swingdown, both for its animation (featuring the same "Candide" computer processes as those used for the renderings of hand-drawn frames in Year 27's Metempsychosis) and for its curious casting choice of comedienne Nicole Sullivan as the protagonist Chastity. It received further hype after several highly positive script reviews in early Year 31, and upon its release, it achieved universal critical acclaim, culminating in it becoming the first animated film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. It was released on November 20, Year 31, earning $15.7 million on its opening day, en route to a $49.6 million opening weekend, ranking behind the second weekend of Silverlock: Down And Out To An Ending Pt. 1. It eventually earned $671 million worldwide.

Plot
It's 1926, and the city of Chicago is one of the most hopping cities in the world, with shows playing all day and all night long, and hundreds of young performers flocking to the city to make their dreams come true. One of them is Chastity Lawrence, a talented singer and dancer who, at the start of the film, we see dancing on stage as part of an audition for an owner of a small theater. She performs a short but very impressive little song and dance number for him, but at the end, the theater owner barely reacts. Realizing that the theater owner only wants her for a sleazy cabaret act, Chastity storms out of the building in a huff. We see a quick montage of her visiting several other theaters, getting the same response from each and every single one of them... they like Chastity's dancing, but they like her body even more. She rants to herself for a while before launching into another full song and dance routine in the streets of Chicago, "I Wanna Be A Star". After the elaborate number, a young woman nearby walks up to Chastity, clapping, her eyes wide with genuine excitement over Chastity's performance. Her name is Betty, and she tells Chastity that she's been looking for someone that good to perform in her theater. Excitedly, Chastity asks Betty where her theater is and where she can sign up, and Betty tells her... it's not built yet. Betty's looking for money to start up her own theater in Chicago, both so that she can get the best performing talent in the city, but also so that she can live her own lifelong dream of singing and dancing. Betty tells Chastity that she has a meeting lined up with someone the next day who wants to invest in her theater, and she asks Chastity to go with her, thinking that her great performance will convince her investors to cough up the dough. Betty then offers to let Chastity spend the night in her apartment, Chastity responds that she has her own to go back too, and then we see a scene of Chastity returning to her apartment... which is a small, messy room barely big enough for a bed. It also has a small window, and Chastity looks out to the stars as she thinks about the next morning, as she's got a very big day coming up.

The next scene is Chastity and Betty together in a small office belonging to a man named Georgio, who, while he seems very nice, also looks kind of menacing and suspicious, especially to Chastity. She shows him a bit of her routine, which he likes, but when Betty asks him if he'll invest in her theater, he tells her no. When Betty and Chastity ask him why not, Georgio replies that it's because he wants Chastity to be the star of his OWN theater, which is starting that night. Betty almost goes ballastic until Georgio tells her that he'll pay both Chastity and Betty for Chastity's performances, and that with all the money she makes, it'll be easy for Betty to get enough money to buy her own theater. Chastity, feeling sad for Betty, almost decides to turn down the offer, but Betty convinces her that it'll be the best offer they're both going to get, and Betty will have her own dream soon enough. Chastity asks if Betty can perform with her, but Georgio tells her no. Betty promises to be there to support Chastity all the way. That night, Chastity is getting ready in her dressing room. She's reading over the program for the performances that night, and notices that she's not going to be the star as promised... instead, she'll be dancing alongside a girl named Celeste. As Chastity wonders who that is, Celeste enters the room. Celeste acts like a complete diva, hurrying Chastity along as she tries to apply her makeup. As it turns out, Celeste is Georgio's daughter. She's a talented dancer and singer, but not quite as much as Chastity, and it's clear that she's only starring in the performance because she's the theater owner's daughter. As Chastity and Celeste give their first performance together ("Tonight Under The Lights"), Georgio watches with a group of his associates. One of them is a man known as Mr. Peaches, a mysterious, shady man who it's very clear is a mobster. As Mr. Peaches talks with Georgio, it becomes clear that Georgio is a mobster as well, working under Mr. Peaches and using the theater as a front to establish meetings with other mob bosses so that Mr. Peaches can get intelligence on them. Mr. Peaches whispers something to Georgio as the performance ends. Backstage, Chastity is happy after giving her first real cabaret performance, though she's slightly disappointed that she wasn't the star. As she goes to talk to Betty, she's approached by a very handsome, well-dressed man named Dave. Dave compliments Chastity on her performance, telling her that he saw some of it from backstage and that he liked what he saw, though he can't talk with Chastity long because he has a meeting with Georgio. Meanwhile, Celeste is storming out of the theater, leaving through the backstage door quickly. As a meek looking young man named Alan walks up to ask for Celeste's autograph, she rudely dismisses him in favor of two handsome men who escort her to a limo. Alan lets out a sigh as Betty and Chastity approach. He tells them that he's been coming to Celeste's performances for a while, trying to work up the courage to ask for her autograph, and tonight was the first night that he asked her. He's clearly discouraged after having been treated so rudely, but Chastity gives him an encouraging word, and kindly signs the program he was going to have Celeste sign. Betty also encourages him, telling him not to give up, then she begins to sing a song about her own romantic desires, "There Was A Boy I Liked". The song, which Chastity and Alan participate in too, cheers Alan up a bit.

After the song, Dave gets an order to go and rough up a group of people that haven't been paying protection money to Mr. Peaches' gang. Dave looks rather reluctant to go on the mission, clearly preferring the less violent aspects of mob life, having only really joined for the sense of being part of a family. Chastity is still disappointed about having been overshadowed by Celeste during the performance, and Betty reminds her that at least she got to perform. They got a big paycheck from that night, more money than Chastity's ever seen in her life, though Chastity says she doesn't want to dance and sing for the money, she wants to perform under the bright lights and hear the crowd's roaring applause. Betty takes one look inside Chastity's apartment and tells her to come back with her to stay at her apartment. Chastity looks at the money she just got and suggests the two stay in a fancy hotel room instead. At the hotel room, we see Chastity jumping on the bed, having obviously never been in such a fancy place before. Betty quickly falls asleep on the other bed, and Chastity calms down, sighing to herself and thinking that maybe tomorrow night's performance will be different. The next night, Celeste, being her typical Mafia-princess/diva self, takes over the show, nearly pushing Chastity off the stage. Backstage while changing, the two get into a fairly big argument before Betty is finally able to seperate them. Celeste storms out of the room, while Chastity says that she just can't work with someone like that. Letting out a sigh, Chastity goes out to do the rest of the performance. Betty looks determined to get Chastity a bigger role, so she enters Georgio's office just as he's lamenting something related to mob matters. All of Georgio's men are out for the evening, there's no one left to carry out a mission that Mr. Peaches just told him he has to have one of his men go out and do. Seeing Betty, Georgio asks her if she wants to make a bit of extra money. She replies that she does, and he sends her out to a nearby bar, just to check out the people there. We see scenes of Chastity and Celeste's performance as Betty sits at the bar. The bartender, noticing how sad she looks, walks over to her. He goes by the name Big Jazz, though he says Betty can just call him Jazz, and he asks Betty what she's up to. Betty, obviously not wanting to give away what she's doing, makes up a quick excuse and tells Jazz that she's just coming to get really drunk. Jazz tells her that a girl as pretty as her shouldn't be drinking so much. Quickly wanting to change the subject, Betty asks why they call him Big Jazz, and he quickly responds by playing a nice song for her on the saxophone.

Meanwhile, Chastity has finished her performance, and she goes back stage to find that Betty isn't there. Before she can start looking for her, Dave walks up. He's just come back from a mission, and has a bit of blood on his coat that Chastity immediately points out. Dave replies that he cut himself shaving that morning as he was hurrying out the door. Chastity, being her naive self, buys the explanation, and Dave offers to take her out to dinner. Back at the bar, Betty has begun telling Jazz about her lifelong dream to perform, and Jazz tells her that he's always been looking for an act to perform at his bar. He asks Betty to go up on a little makeshift stage in the corner, and she sings as he plays the saxophone... completely ignoring the covert meeting going on in the corner of the bar. Back at the fancy restaurant where Chastity and Dave are eating, the two are talking, starting to fall for one another. They don't notice two rival gang members who recognize Dave. They start to pull out tommy guns, Dave notices just in the nick of time and dives under the table with Chastity. As the two flee the restaurant from the hail of bullets, we see across town that two other men, the same ones from the bar, are setting themselves up on the roof of a building. The chase between Chastity, Dave, and the assassins continues, with the two of them barely escaping. Meanwhile, the men perched on the roof are overlooking a meeting between Mr. Peaches and a bunch of gangsters. Peaches brings in a big truckload of moonshine, while the gangsters are about to hand him a suitcase full of money... but the exchange never happens. The men on the roof begin opening fire, forcing Peaches to flee, and enabling the people he was meeting with to get away with the money and the moonshine. Breathing heavily, Dave and Chastity return to the theater. Chastity is in hysterics, while Dave frantically tries to explain himself. Betty then comes in, and seeing Dave and Chastity standing together looking dissheveled, ask what exactly happened. Chastity just says that she wants to go home, and Betty takes her back to her apartment. Dave has a sad look on his face, thinking his mob association has cost him the girl of his dreams. Back at her apartment, Chastity sings "Will I Ever Live My Dream?" mournfully.

The following morning, we see Betty and Chastity in Georgio's office. Georgio is giving Betty the third degree, telling her that Peaches is going to have his head, and that she should've stopped those guys from leaving the bar. When she asks what she could've possibly done to stop them, he tells her that she could've killed them, prompting Betty to react with horror and disgust. Georgio then screams that he wants Chastity and Betty to leave and never come back. Chastity starts to speak up, saying that she doesn't want to work for mobsters anyway, but Betty quickly covers Chastity's mouth and begins begging for Georgio to give them both another chance. Betty then takes Chastity aside and whispers that this is the best chance that both of them are going to get, that she's working for Jazz now but she needs money from the mobsters too because they can pay a lot more. Chastity reluctantly agrees to keep working for Georgio, but Georgio still doesn't want them around... it's then that Dave speaks up in Chastity and Betty's defense. He convinces Georgio to give them another chance, but Georgio tells them both that they'll be doing a lot more work for him from now on. After the meeting, Georgio passes by Celeste's dressing room. On her desk is a beautiful bouquet of roses given to her by Alan after last night's performance. Celeste tells her father that she's going to throw the roses away, that Alan's not in her league, but Georgio tells her that they're beautiful roses, and that she doesn't have to date a guy just because she likes his flowers. She looks at them again, her eyes light up for a moment... she whispers that they are the most beautiful thing anyone's ever given her, but she quickly snaps back into diva mode and laments that she'll just have to water them every day and it's not worth the trouble. As she begins to toss the flowers, Mr. Peachers and two of his thugs walk into the room. Peaches is furious that Georgio's men weren't able to keep the two gangsters from sabotaging the deal, and that Georgio now owes him a whole lot of money. Georgio manages to get Peaches to leave, but Peaches leaves implying that something terrible could happen to his loved ones (i.e. Celeste) if he doesn't repay the money soon. Another scene occurs where Chastity thanks Dave for standing up for her, but that she's mad at him for not disclosing that he's a member of the mob. He replies that he hates doing all the terrible things that Georgio makes him do, and after a bit of this, sings a short song: "I'll Always Owe Him", conveying that he only works for Georgio because he's like the only father Dave's ever had. Chastity seems to understand. That night, as Chastity is about to perform, Georgio tells her that she's not performing that night, that she needs to go "whack" the two gangsters that sabotaged Peaches' meeting. Chastity responds that he shouldn't send one of his star performers on such a dangerous mission, and Georgio tells her that Dave will go with her. He also tells her to get that friend of hers, Betty, to go on the mission too. Betty is performing on stage at Jazz's bar, and has just finished up her performance when Chastity and Dave rush in and tell her to come with them.

The three go together to where the two gangsters are, working at a car parts store just outside of downtown. Though nervous, Chastity immediately runs in and hits the two of them in the head. "That's for being mean!" she shouts before running out of the store. Dave quickly tells Chastity that to whack someone means to kill them, which Chastity responds to with shock and horror. "Why would I want to do THAT?" By now, the two gangsters are running toward Dave, Chastity, and Betty with guns blazing. Dave manages to knock one of them to the ground with his fist, while Chastity trips up the other. Dave points his gun at them and looks like he's about to kill them, but Chastity stops him. She doesn't want to see Dave kill anyone, she doesn't want him to kill anyone ever again. She convinces him to tie up the men and drive them to a field fifty miles outside of town, then leave them. Meanwhile, Celeste goes backstage after her performance, she looks at the flowers on her desk again, having decided to keep them around, though grumbling as she waters them. She then leaves to go outside, where again, Alan is waiting for her. He asks Celeste if she liked his flowers, she replies that she did as she walks by him, though she's still ignoring him mostly. He then asks her if she'll go out to dinner with him sometime, she replies "no" and continues walking off. He tells Celeste that if she doesn't like him, he'll leave her alone. She starts to say that she doesn't like him, but then lets out a sigh and says to ask her again after tomorrow night's performance. "Maybe he'll bring me a gift I don't have to keep watering..." Celeste whispers to herself as she leaves, smiling. The next scene is Dave and Chastity, standing together backstage. Chastity thanks Dave for not killing the men, Dave thanks Chastity for stopping him. He promises her he'll never kill anyone again, no matter what he gets ordered to do. The two of them kiss as the scene ends.

The next day, Chastity and Celeste are rehearsing for that day's performance. Chastity asks Celeste to let her have top billing, just this one night. Celeste refuses, the two of them end up singing a song of competitive insults to one another called "I'm Better Than You", the song ends with Chastity madder than ever, storming backstage. Betty tells Chastity that because of the whole incident with Mr. Peaches, Georgio is paying them less for Chastity's performances. Chastity says she's starting to hate performing with someone like Celeste, and offers to give all her money to Betty, just so she can buy the theater faster. Betty refuses, saying that then she'd feel like she was just using Chastity, someone who really had become her best friend. She tells Chastity how much she loved performing in Jazz's bar the previous night, and that the two of them will be performing together in Betty's own theater soon enough. She asks Chastity to think of someone who would make her own performances better, Chastity thinks of Dave and how much she loves him, and Betty says to let that inspire Chastity on stage. Chastity says that she'll try, but that she still doesn't like being second billing to Celeste all the time. Outside, Celeste is walking around for some fresh air, when she is suddenly accosted by two thugs who put guns in her face. Mr. Peaches then approaches her, saying "your dad owes me a lot of money, and he's GOING to pay...". We see a horrified look on Celeste's face. We next see Betty out on a date with Jazz, the date is ending and the two kiss quickly outside of Jazz's bar. As Betty walks back to the theater with a happy look on her face, she hears the sounds of screaming and struggling in an alley nearby. Betty follows the sounds, seeing someone who looks like Celeste being dragged into a building. Betty quickly runs off, unseen. The scene then switches to that night's performance. Chastity is about to go on, while Georgio is frantically looking around for Celeste. He fears the worst, but he also knows that the show has to go on that night. It would be Chastity's big break, performing the starring role without Celeste around. Dave tells Chastity what probably happened to Celeste, then goes back to Georgio's office. Betty comments that she saw something suspicious earlier that day, but is then quick to say that it "serves her right". Chastity is conflicted between going on stage and being the star, and going to save Celeste. She decides to help Celeste, and makes Betty tell her where she saw Celeste being pulled into. She then runs off to try and get Dave, but he's already driving off with a bunch of gangsters to go after Mr. Peaches himself. In exasperation, Chastity resolves to save Celeste herself, though Betty is EXTREMELY wary about going. The two are quickly met backstage by a panicked Alan, who says that Celeste should've been on stage by now, and that he's worried something happened to her. He asks to tag along with Chastity and Betty, and the three quickly go off to rescue Celeste from the mobsters who took her.

The three discover that the building Betty saw Celeste being pulled into that day was a cabaret theater, and Chastity quickly comes up with a plan. While Betty and Alan sneak in the back, Chastity goes in the front and distracts the mobsters by giving the best song and dance performance of her life. In the back of the theater, Betty and Alan find Celeste gagged and tied to a chair. After knocking out the mobsters guarding her, Betty removes Celeste's gag, prompting her to protest at being rescued by one of Chastity's friends, who also happens to be the person who got her father into this whole mess in the first place. Betty responds by jamming the cloth back into Celeste's mouth and saying that she won't untie the diva until she promises to behave, prompting a reluctant agreement from her. Meanwhile, Chastity is unable to keep distracting the mobsters, who realize that something is up and raise their guns to fire at her. She dances to avoid a few of the bullets, but trips and is about to be shot when another gunshot is heard from the distance. It's Celeste, holding a pistol and extremely startled by the recoil of the gun. She shouts "OHHHHH! I just fired a gun...!!!" and starts to freak out. Betty responds "you're a Mafia princess and you've NEVER fired a gun before?", Celeste replies "I've never even HELD a gun before!" and continues shaking. The mobsters quickly regain their composure and begin firing their guns again, chasing Chastity, Betty, Alan, and Celeste out the door. They manage to get into a car, and a wild chase through the city streets ensues, with the group barely loosing their pursuers and making it to an alley. The group gets out of the car, and Celeste asks them all why they saved her. Chastity replies that while Celeste HAS been really mean, they couldn't just let her die. Betty replies with "Chastity made me come", though she too looks happy that Celeste is saved. Celeste doesn't say anything, but it's clear that she's somewhat touched by their brave gesture. She then turns to Alan and asks why HE came along to save her, he stumbles for a reply but when he looks at Betty and remembers what she told him, he turns back to Celeste and says "Because I love you!", instantly blushing and turning slightly away. Celeste is stunned, she takes a step toward Alan and tries to get him to look back at her. He does, then grabs Celeste and kisses her on the lips. She looks startled, then shocked, then mildly stunned, saying "...you're a much better kisser than the men I usually date...", prompting Alan to blush. Celeste blushes too, then grabs Alan and kisses him back. Betty looks happy, while Chastity looks worried, wondering what's happened to Dave, who's out with the other mobsters, heading to Mr. Peaches' hideout. We next see a tense shootout, with Dave crouching behind a box, holding his gun. One of the other mobsters asks him why he hasn't even fired a shot, Dave replies that he promised Chastity he wouldn't kill anyone. He instead decides to go after Mr. Peaches, thinking that maybe once he finds out where Celeste is being held, he and the others can leave and head there, avoiding killing anyone. He heads behind another big stack of barrels, while Peaches' gangsters continue advancing on Dave's fellow gangsters, who are pinned down and about to be filled with lead. Dave has a good shot, he can go down the line of gangsters and kill them one by one, and one of his fellow men yells out to him "YOU GOT A PERFECT SHOT!". Finally seeing a big box above Peaches' advancing men, Dave says quietly, "yes I do..." and shoots the chain connected to the box, sending it crashing down on the men and knocking them out. Back at the theater, Celeste returns safely to her father, but when he asks her if she's going to perform that night, she tells him that she's going out to dinner with Alan, and quickly runs off. Chastity and Betty come into the room next, Georgio hastily thanks them for saving his daughter's life and offers Chastity the lead in that night's performance, which is already an hour late, and the audience is getting restless. Chastity just wants to know where Dave went, Georgio reluctantly tells her and she speeds off to go help him. This leaves just Betty, and Georgio exasperatedly asks her if SHE wants to go on that night. Betty knows she should go and help Chastity, but when she runs outside, she sees that Chastity's taken the last car. The next scene is Betty preparing to go on stage, saying to herself, "don't you dare spoil the best night of my life by dying on me, girl..."

Back at Peaches' hideout, as Dave's friends come out to finish off the unconscious gangsters, Dave orders them not to kill anyone, and instead tells them to do what Chastity suggested earlier, take them all out to a field outside of town. "And then kill them?" one of the other mobsters replies, to which Dave yells back "NO!" as he charges up toward the room where Peaches is. Peaches has two big thugs with him, but Dave is able to surprise them and knock them out. Peaches runs off, and Dave gives chase. He manages to chase Peaches into an alley and corners him, pointing a gun at his head. Peaches asks Dave why he doesn't fire, Dave doesn't say. Peaches says that Dave would've killed him by now, and from the look in Dave's eyes, knows that he won't kill him. He quickly takes out a gun of his own, but it is shot out of his hand... by Chastity, who is standing in the front of the alley, breathing heavily. She makes a comment that she's pretty good at firing a gun, then strikes a quick pose with it before pointing it back at Peaches. He replies that he's pretty sure Chastity won't shoot him either, and she replies, in her most intimidating voice, that if he ever threatens her friends again, she will. She then walks over to Dave, asking him if he's all right, and again thanking him for not breaking his promise. He replies that it's already pretty hard to keep it, considering that he's in the mob, and Chastity suggests that he quit the mob. Dave replies that it'll be pretty hard, and that Georgio might come after him, but Chastity just says "I'll go anywhere with you...". The two begin to kiss, and Peaches pulls out another gun that was on him, pointing it at Chastity's head. Dave sees this out of the corner of his eye, and shouting "NO!", goes to push Chastity out of the way, putting himself in the path of the bullet. As Chastity is knocked away, she slips, and her shoe flies off, heading right at Peaches as he fires the gun. Just before he fires, the shoe hits him in the forehead, stunning him and causing him to drop his gun. The gun hits the ground in such a way that it's pointed right at Peaches' chest, it discharges as it hits, and... we hear the shot, we see the stunned looks on Dave and Chastity's faces, then we see Chastity wince. Dave says, "...does that count as me breaking my promise?" Chastity replies, "Well, it was my shoe, so..." The two are speechless for a few seconds, then Chastity says "let's just go back to the theater..."

Betty finishes her performance and gets a standing ovation from the crowd, louder than any Celeste ever recieved. After the performance, Georgio complements Betty and tells her that, because she helped save his daughter's life, and because she was so good, he's decided to give her the rest of the money she needs to buy her theater. When Chastity and Dave return, Betty tells them the news. Dave then tells Georgio about what happened to Mr. Peaches, Georgio is happy that Mr. Peaches is no longer a threat, but at the same time, his association with Mr. Peaches was bringing in a lot of money, and he doesn't know where he's going to find a new source of income now, especially that he promised Betty he'd buy her a theater. The scene switches to Betty and Chastity performing together at Betty's new theater, with both of them sharing the starring role and having a great time. The theater is packed with people, Georgio looks out over the crowd and says "I think I know where I'm going to get my money now...". Sitting next to him, Dave says "well, now you can get out of the mob business entirely, right?" Georgio says to Dave, "You never really liked being in the mob, did you?", and Dave replies, "No... but I always liked you." Georgio laughs and gives Dave a playful slap on the back. After the performance, Dave meets Chastity backstage and kisses her, while Jazz presents Betty with a big bouquet of flowers, congratulating her. Betty tells him that she'll be still be able to perform in the bar on some nights, Jazz replies that he's not going to be at the bar on those nights because he's going to come to see her at the theater. She giggles and gives him a kiss. They all go together back to Georgio's theater, where Celeste is preparing to go on stage. She meets with Alan, who gives her another big bouquet of flowers, this time, she graciously accepts them and gives him a kiss. Chastity comes up to Celeste, who goes into her diva mode again and says that just because Chastity saved her life, it doesn't change a thing. She loves being on stage and performing just as much as Chastity does, and by the way, she's better than her. Then she goes back out and starts to perform while Chastity, Betty, Dave, and Jazz sit together at a table and watch. In the middle of the performance, Celeste stops and tells the audience that she wouldn't be here tonight if it wasn't for two very special people... her FRIENDS, Chastity and Betty. She then invites them up on stage to do a big number with her, "Dance The Night Away". The three of them perform, each of them getting equal time to shine, and at the end of the song they all pose happily together as the patrons applaud wildly.

Cast
Nicole Sullivan as the speaking and singing voice of Chastity Lawrence, a young woman who comes to Chicago with the goal of becoming a cabaret star. Chastity is a prodigiously talented dancer and singer, though every cabaret owner she visits seems to be more attracted to her body, particularly her legs. Though she is by nature very sweet, kind, and a little bit naive due to her small-town origins, she is well-aware when someone tries to take advantage of her physically, and becomes indignant at any sort of sexual advance. She also has trouble putting up with Celeste, the girl she is forced to share the stage with, though she proves her kind and brave heart by saving Celeste from danger. She eventually falls in love with Dave, one of the mobsters in the gang run by the owner of the theater where she begins working.

Michael D'Antonio, the lead writer and producer of the film, created the role of Chastity with Nicole Sullivan in mind, and was prepared to adjust the project as Sullivan's singing skills allowed. She was the first of the film's primary voices to be cast. She worked heavily with musical composer Alan Menken, as well as with a voice coach to prepare herself for the rigors of being the lead in a Disney musical film. Her performance was lauded by critics, who initially commented in the months leading up for the film that Sullivan's typical sarcastic comedic delivery might've been better suited for the character of Celeste. She would win an Annie Award for Best Female Vocal Performance in an Animated Feature and, according to some Oscar analysts, came closer than any voice-over performance ever has to earning an Oscar nomination for Best Actress.

Raven-Symone as the speaking and singing voice of Betty Duquesne (last name not mentioned in the film, but listed as official in the sourcebook released alongside the film), who becomes Chastity's best friend after hearing her perform "I Wanna Be A Star" at the beginning of the film. Impressed by Chastity's singing and dancing talents, she wants Chastity to become the star of the theater that she plans to build, though she herself lacks funding to build such a theater and has to seek a sponsor, eventually settling on the mobster Georgio. She is as kind as Chastity, though a bit more street-wise and less willing to put up with people than Chastity is. She also shares Chastity's desire to become a cabaret star. She eventually finds love in the character of Big Jazz, who she meets while on a mission for the mobsters sponsoring her.

Kristin Chenoweth as the speaking and singing voice of Celeste Mocinella (last name not mentioned in the film, but listed as official in the sourcebook released alongside the film), Chastity's rival. Celeste starts out as a selfish, scene-stealing diva who uses her father's position as owner of the cabaret theater to make herself the star of the show (though she is legitimately talented in her own right). Though she is rude and mean-spirited most of the time, she does show some kindness at a few points during the movie, and is genuinely touched when Chastity, Betty, and Alan come to rescue her from mobsters.

Terrance Mann as the speaking and singing voice of Dave Larina (last name not mentioned in the film, but listed as official in the sourcebook released alongside the film). He is one of the mobsters working for Georgio and Chastity's eventual love interest. Though he is a proficient criminal, he has regrets about what he does, especially once Chastity shows disapproval with his lifestyle.

Joey Fatone as the speaking and singing voice of Alan, a young man who visits the theater where Chastity ends up working in order to see Celeste, who he has developed a crush on. He is initially too shy to approach her at first, but gains the courage to do so after being given a boost of confidence by Betty and Chastity. He eventually teams up with them to rescue Celeste after she is kidnapped by mobsters.

Fatone had been a good friend of one of the producers for quite some time, and had previously appeared as the voice of a skeleton in the Gemini film Princess of Nightmares. He once brought three of his former 'NSync bandmates (Chris Kirkpatrick, Lance Bass, JC Chasez) to a recording session, the three of them have cameos in the film as minor mobsters.

Christopher Walken as Mr. Peaches, the mob leader who is the boss of Georgio, owner of the theater where Chastity works. Mr. Peaches is usually a calm, peaceful man as long as Georgio follows his orders, though he becomes enraged when some of his assignments are bungled, causing him to lose a lot of money in a major criminal deal. Because of this, he and his men kidnap Celeste.

The role of Mr. Peaches was the second major part to be cast, after Nicole Sullivan was cast as Chastity earlier on. Like Sullivan, Christopher Walken was producer Michael D'Antonio's first choice for the role, and Walken was eager to take the part, even willing to sing a song if need be, though Mr. Peaches does not actually receive a song in the film.

Andre "3000" Benjamin as the speaking and singing voice of "Big Jazz", owner of a jazz-themed bar near the theater where Chastity works, and Betty's love interest, whom she meets while on a mission for Georgio.

Tom Kenny as the speaking and singing voice of Georgio Mocinella, father to Celeste and the owner of the theater where Chastity and Betty end up working. He is a mid-level mobster and he makes Chastity and Betty work several missions for him as part of their attempts to raise enough money to build Betty's theater. Though he is kinder than the city's other mobsters, he is still a no-nonsense person prone to displays of anger when his jobs go awry or don't get done. He is a loving father who is deeply protective of Celeste and willing to do anything to keep her safe.

Production
The original idea for Dance The Night Away was conceived in Year 24 by long-time Gemini writer Michael D'Antonio. It was conceived as Gemini's first genuine comedic musical, drawing inspiration from films such as Chicago and Rhapsody in Blues. Disney immediately greenlighted the concept and it was tentatively scheduled for a Year 29 release, though this would be pushed back after plans were made to animate the film using the same processes as the highly-advanced Metempsychosis. D'Antonio quickly consulted with several other Gemini writers to flesh out the plot and characters, with Luke Karssen's contributions generating the characters of Betty and Celeste. Once a rudimentary plot was hatched out, D'Antonio immediately contacted Nicole Sullivan to ask if she would provide the voice of the lead character Chastity, Sullivan agreed and would undergo more than a year of vocal coaching before the first songs for the film were recorded in Year 26.

Alan Menken was brought onto the project early, testing out a number of song styles before a score was settled upon, the score would be big band-oriented, with numerous selections of jazz and swing music. The decision was made to include a few softer songs such as "Will I Ever Live My Dream?" to bring the film closer to the Disney tradition, though several songs, including the movie's flagship selection "Dance The Night Away", are done in the big band style.

Much of the primary voice acting and line recording was done in Year 27. The film contains a large number of ad-libbed lines and dialogue sequences, producers, writers, and voice directors were very willing to let the film's comedically-experienced cast take the script in their own chosen direction for several scenes in the film. Most of the ad-libbed lines came from Nicole Sullivan and Kristin Chenoweth, with about half of their inter-character dialogue being improvised. The two of them both claim to have spent many hours together coming up with dialogue ideas for their characters and acting out improvised scenes, some of which did make it into the film during voice recording sessions. Tom Kenny also ad-libbed about a third of his dialogue, using a voice for his character noticeably different than many of his previous, more recognizable animated characters. Michael D'Antonio claims that the vocal recording sessions for the film were "the most fun I've ever had doing anything, ever", as a laid-back, casual attitude was upheld for the recording sessions. This led to the primary actors all developing a friendship and chemistry that some critics say benefited the film's quality.

The animation for the film was conducted with the "Candide" program used to render the animation for Year 27's Metempsychosis. Because of the animators' experience with the program, the film was animated at much less of a cost than Metempsychosis was, the total animation budget coming in around $100 million, about 60% that of Metempsychosis. The film was one of Gemini's cheapest in recent years, leading to it also becoming one of the most profitable.

Swingdown name change
The original title for the film was Swingdown, and this title was even applied to the three-minute animatic sent out to critics and industry analysts in Year 28. However, after numerous complaints began to come in about the film's title being one letter away from Swingtown, a controversial CBS program, the film's official title was changed to Dance The Night Away in May of Year 29.

Pre-release
From the film's announcement in late Year 27 up to its release four years later, it was one of Gemini's most anticipated film releases, due in large part to the announcement of the film's cast, including the comedienne Nicole Sullivan. Before the film's release, most of Gemini's films had been in the fantasy/adventure genre, the studio had not done a film that revolved mostly around the element of comedy.

Three-minute preview animatic
In Year 28, a three-minute preview animatic was released to show the film's animation style and to give a demonstration of the kind of music that would be used for the film. It also gave audiences their first chance to hear Nicole Sullivan as Chastity, as she spoke a short series of lines at the beginning of the short. The short showed Chastity dancing to an upbeat jazz song, with a few and eventually hundreds of people and animals joining in, with the action of the preview focusing on Chastity and her dancing. The preview was praised by critics upon its release and contributed to the growing groundswell of anticipation for the film.

Year 29 and beyond
Anticipation for Dance The Night Away built after the release of Year 28's Hawk Warrior. After the critical and commercial success of Machu Picchu in Year 30, expectations were set very high for the film, and many industry analysts began to express doubt that Dance The Night Away would live up to the hype after the epic scale of Machu Picchu. Said one Gemini animator, "It was like the feeling a lot of the people working on Pocahontas got after The Lion King caught fire, people originally thought that Pocahontas was going to be in the running for Best Picture, but after The Lion King did so well, the people working on Pocahontas felt like they were on the B-team all of a sudden. We really hoped that wouldn't be the case with Dance The Night Away." A series of highly-positive script reviews in early Year 31, just after the Year 30 Oscars, rejuvenated hype and expectations for the film, which were sky-high by the time of its release in November of that year.

Box office
The film opened in wide release in the United States and Canada on November 20 of Year 31. It earned $15.7 million on its opening day and ended up with just under $50 million for its opening weekend in 3,998 theaters. It benefitted heavily from Thanksgiving weekend, and would gross $62 million over the 5-day period from November 25 to November 29, finishing first over that frame. The film would continue to perform well over the holiday season and would end up with a domestic total of $306,071,225, making it the fourth most lucrative film of the year in the domestic market. Worldwide, the film performed well, finishing with $671,275,824.

Reception
Dance The Night Away received universal acclaim from critics. Rotten Tomatoes reported that all 137 reviews it received were positive, giving the film a perfect 100% rating, with an average rating of 8.7/10. It would be the first film in five years to achieve this honor. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average score of 91, based on 46 reviews. The film ranked #1 on the annual criticalconsensus.com chart which provides a ranking of film based on critics that have submitted a top 25 list.

The lead reviewer of the New York Journal gave a glowing review of the film, saying "I don't know how many agree with me, but I consider this film to be better than Vive la Liberte. In fact, I consider it to be the best animated film of the past 31 years. From what I've seen, this is one of the greatest films ever."

Cindy Martinez of the San Diego Union-Tribune praised the film for its dialogue, claiming: "No film I've ever seen has made me laugh so hard so much, with Chastity's facial expressions perfectly animated to show exactly what she's feeling, usually happiness but sometimes indignation and disgust, an emotion which Nicole Sullivan is well-equipped to express with her talented voice." Other reviewers also praised Sullivan's performance, including the lead reviewer at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The only part of the film really criticized with any degree of severity was the ending, which some critics believed to be anti-climactic, though Jason Ferdman of completefilm.com, while expressing his disappointment with the ending, claimed "that is the only strike against this otherwise flawless film, a film so good that it doesn't really matter how the villain goes down, as the film has already established that it revolves around its heroine, the heart and soul of this amazing animated achievement".

Top ten lists
Dance The Night Away appeared on a number of critics' top ten lists as one of the best films of Year 31. The film appeared at the #1 spot on the lists of 18 prominent critics, including the lead critic of the New York Journal and the popular movie-critique website thespaghettikitchen.com. Roger Ebert listed the film as his #2 of the year (behind Last Cold Winter), Richard Roeper listed it as #5 and called it "a crowning achievement in animation unlikely to be matched in the rest of the decade". Stephen King listed it as his #6 film of the year in his Entertainment Weekly column. 49 prominent critics had the film in their top 10 of the year.

Awards and nominations
Even before its critical success, Dance The Night Away was pushed as a possible Best Picture contender, owing largely to the hype coming from the nomination of Machu Picchu in Year 30. The producers of the film always intended it to possibly contend for a Best Picture nomination, but it was said that the film was unlikely to achieve success to the degree that Vive la Liberte had in Year 21. Several factors contributed to Dance The Night Away's Oscar push and eventual win. A couple years earlier, many of Hollywood's veteran writers and producers retired, leading to the scaleback, delay, or outright cancellation of several heavily-hyped films. In addition, Year 31 was the peak of an animation boom triggered by several new writers at major animation studios including Gemini and Pixar, and the ascension of Golden Animation Studios. The quality of animated films at the time led critics to begin acknowledging that animated films were some of the best available. All of these factors peaked in the form of a race for Best Animated Feature that saw Gemini's Dance The Night Away as leader of the pack over several other worthy films (two of them, Last Cold Winter and Hayao Miyazaki's Shades of the Dandelions, would also be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars). Dance The Night Away would go on to take home six Oscars, including the coveted award for Best Picture, unprecedented for an animated film.