Musical Theater (THTR 135) Class #9: The Sixties, part 1 Directors Choreographers

The Big Four (1) Mr. Abbott (2) Harold Prince (3) Bob Fossee (4) Jerome Robbins

Mr. Abbott ( )

“Mr. Broadway” Actor ▫(“Forgettable!”) Playwright ▫The Fall Guy Director & Producer…

1926: Chicago (director) 1926: Broadway (playwright, director) 1928: Gentlemen of the Press (director) 1932: Lilly Turner (playwright, director, producer) 1932: Twentieth Century (director, producer) 1935: Jumbo (director) 1936: On Your Toes (book) 1937: Room Service (director, producer) 1938: The Boys from Syracuse (book, director, producer) 1939: Too Many Girls (director, producer) 1940: Pal Joey (director, producer) 1944: On the Town (director) 1947: High Button Shoes (director) 1948: Where's Charley? (book, director) 1949: Mrs. Gibbons' Boys (producer, director) 1950: Call Me Madam (director) 1951: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (book, director, producer) 1953: Wonderful Town (director) 1954: The Pajama Game (book, director) 1955: Damn Yankees (book, director) 1957: New Girl in Town (book, director) 1959: Once Upon a Mattress (director)* 1959: Fiorello! (book, director)* 1960: Tenderloin (book, director) 1962: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (director)* 1964: Fade Out - Fade In (director) 1965: Flora, The Red Menace (book, director)* 1965: Anya (book, director) 1967: How Now, Dow Jones (director) 1968: The Education of Hyman Kaplan (director) 1976: Music Is (book, director)

“Mr. Show Doctor” Out of town try-out trouble ▫Possible fixes?

Harold (“Hal”) Prince

21 Tony Awards Best Director (8) Best Producer (8) Best Producer of a Musical (2) Special Tonys

Tickets, Please!(1950) - assistant stage manager Call Me Madam (1950) - assistant stage manager Wonderful Town (1953) - stage manager The Pajama Game (1954) - co-producer Damn Yankees (1955) - co-producer New Girl in Town (1957) - co-producer West Side Story (1957) - co-producer* Fiorello!(1959) - co-producer* West Side Story (1960) - co-producer* Tenderloin (1960) - co-producer A Call on Kuprin(1961) - producer Take Her, She's Mine (1961) - producer A Family Affair (1962) - director A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum(1962)* She Loves Me(1963) - producer, director Fiddler on the Roof(1964) - producer Baker Street (1964) - director Flora, The Red Menace (1965) – producer* It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman(1966) - producer, director Cabaret (1966) - producer, director* Zorba(1968) - producer, director* Company (1970) - producer, director* Follies (1971) - producer, director* The Great God Brown (1972) - artistic director Don Juan (1972) - artistic director A Little Night Music(1973) - director, producer* Sondheim: A Musical Tribute (1973) - performer The Visit(1973) - director Chemin de Fer (1973) - artistic director Holiday (1973- artistic director Candide (1974) - producer, director* Love for Love (1974) - director The Member of the Wedding (1975) - artistic director The Rules of the Game(1974) - artistic director Pacific Overtures(1976) - producer, director* Side by Side by Sondheim(1977) - producer Some of My Best Friends (1977) - director On the Twentieth Century (1978) - director Sweeney Todd (1979) – director* Evita (1979) – director* Merrily We Roll Along (1981) – director* Willie Stark (1981) - director A Doll's Life (1982) - producer, director Play Memory(1984) - director Grind (1985) - producer Roza (musical)(1987) - director Cabaret(1987) – director* The Phantom of the Opera (1988) – director* Grandchild Of Kings(1991) - adaptation (from the stories of Sean O'Casey) director Kiss of the Spider Woman (1993) – director* Show Boat (1994) – director* The Petrified Prince (1994) - director Candide (1997) - director Parade (1998) - director, co-conceiver Hollywood Arms ) - producer, director Bounce (2003) - director Lovemusik (2007) – director

Bob Fosse ( )

“The time to sing is when your emotional level is too high to just speak anymore, and the time to dance is when your emotions are just too strong to only sing about how you feel."

“The Triple Crown” 1972 ▫Tony Award: PippinTony Award: Pippin  Ben Vereen ▫Academy Award: CabaretAcademy Award: Cabaret ▫Emmy Award: Liza With a ZEmmy Award: Liza With a Z

Style Vaudeville/Burlesque ▫Fred Astaire Rounded shoulders Turned-in knees Hats and Gloves? Subtext!

Fosse on line “My Sister Eileen” ▫1955 with Tommy Rall “All That Jazz” ▫1979  Final 10 minutes Final 10 minutes

Gwen Verdon “Damn Yankess” ▫1955

Jerome Robbins

Career George Balanchine ▫Influence and inspiration Classical ballet into Broadway style

1950 Call Me Madam - musical - choreographer 1951 The King and I - musical - choreographer 1954 The Pajama Game - musical - co-director 1954 Peter Pan - musical - director and choreographerPeter Pan 1956 Bells Are Ringing - musical - director and co- choreographer with Bob Fosse – Tony co-Nominee for Best Choreography 1957 West Side Story - musical - choreographer, director - Tony Award for Best Choreography 1959 Gypsy - musical - choreographer and director - Tony Award Nomination for Best Direction of a Musical 1962 A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum - musical - uncredited directing and choreography assistant

HUAC Testimony Sterling Hayden Burl Ives Elia Kazan Lela Rogers (mother of Ginger Rogers)

John Kander (1927-) & Fred Ebb ( )

Flora the Red Menace (1965) Cabaret (1966) The Happy Time (1968) Zorba (1968) 70, Girls, 70 (1971)70, Girls, 70 Chicago (1975) The Act (1978) Woman of the Year (1981) The Rink (1984)The Rink And The World Goes 'Round (1991) Kiss of the Spider Woman (1992)Kiss of the Spider Woman Steel Pier (1997) Curtains(2006)

Plus two films… Funny Lady (1975) New York, New York (1977)

Leading Ladies Gwen Verdon & Chita Rivera ▫Chicago The Mike Douglass ShowChicago The Mike Douglass Show Liza Minnelli ▫New York, New YorkNew York, New York

Cabaret 1966 Christopher Isherwood ▫I Am A Camera ▫Goodbye To Berlin  1939

Original cast Lotte Lenya ▫Kurt Weill  “What Would You Do?”  “So What?”

“What Would You Do?” With the time rushing by, What would you do? With the clock running down, What would you do? The young always have the cure: Being brave, being sure and free. But imagine if you were me. Alone like me And this is the only world I know Some rooms to let, To some other lifetime, even so. I'll take your advice, What would you do? Would you pay the price, What would you do? Suppose simply keeping still, Means you managed until the end. What would you do, My brave, young friend? Grown old like me, With neither there'll be no wish to run. Grown tired like me, For her is forbid when day is done Grown wise like me, Who isn't in war with anyone? Not anyone! With the storm in the wind, What would you do? Suppose you are unafraid and wise, Being told what the choice must be. Go on, tell me... I will listen... What would you do?... If you were me!