Jerome Robbins’ Fancy Free scored an immediate hit upon its premiere at American Ballet Theatre in 1944. So huge was the response to the innovative ballet, which used a jazz-tinged, distinctly American vocabulary to tell the story of three sailors on leave in New York, that later that year Robbins and composer Leonard Bernstein decided […]
Josh Prince looks back to the ’60s for inspiration. Carole King is most famous for the gentle, contemplative songs on her 1971 smash album Tapestry. It transformed her from a composer to a performer, dreamily accompanying herself onstage at the piano. So when Josh Prince learned that the producers of Beautiful: The Carole […]
Everything is beautiful at the ballet, just like Kelly Bishop, the original A Chorus Line Sheila, sang at the Career Transition for Dancers gala last night. But what’s often not beautiful—actually, rather frightening—is a dancer’s realization that her career is ending and the “Now what?” feeling that she’s left with. That’s where CTFD comes in, […]
Choreographing NBC’s new Smash Megan Hilty in Smash’s Broadway-hit-in-the-making, Marilyn, The Musical. Photo by Will Hart/NBC. Television viewers regularly visit the drama-filled precincts of police stations, high schools, emergency rooms, even living rooms. Broadway rehearsal studios? Not so much. But spurred by the success of Glee and a list of big-time […]
It’s a steamy Friday afternoon in New York and two dozen aspiring triple threats are wandering around a dance studio looking lost, frustrated, and exhausted. No, they didn’t miss the latest audition for Billy Elliot or Wicked—they’re in acting class. “Think of your favorite musical theater character,” calls out the director […]
The glories of nature blended with the glories of dance in DRA’s Fire Island Dance Festival, now celebrating its 20th year. It’s hard to resist letting your eyes rest on the waves of the bay behind the stage. And when the dancing embraced the setting—whether by intention or chance—you felt like you didn’t want to […]
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