michael bennett choreographer

Mr. Bennett is survived by his mother, Helen, of Buffalo and a brother, Frank, a theatrical stage manager who lives in Manhattan. ''No one is. .css-14iz86j-BoldText{font-weight:bold;}It's 30 years since director and choreographer Michael Bennett, the man behind Broadway classic A Chorus Line, died aged 44. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. The marriage, if not the friendship, dissolved within months. He was married to Donna McKechnie for – technically – a little over two years, but they actually lived together for only a few months. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. "For anyone like me who'd been in analysis it felt quite familiar. Michael Bennett was born on April 8, 1943 in Buffalo, New York, USA as Michael Bennett DiFiglia. The accomplishment is brilliant.'' He staged several musical shows at his Buffalo high school before dropping out at age sixteen to join a road company of West Side Story, playing Baby John. The number underscored the clarity with which the audience had come to know the chorus line's individual members - an achievement that tellingly distinguished Mr. Bennett from colleagues such as Bob Fosse and Mr. Michael Bennett (1943–1987) was an American musical theatre director, writer, choreographer, and dancer. to the Choreographer: Michael Bennett; MusicalOriginal. '', ''He understood the stage like no one else,'' Mr. Papp said. The show opened Dec. 1, 1968, and ran through June 26, 1971; it was Mr. Bennett's first hit and third Tony nomination. McKechnie and Bennett married in 1976, the year after A Chorus Line opened to huge acclaim and box office success. Reflecting on that experience recently, and on the demise of the workshop system he had created, he said his own celebrity had partly sabotaged the privileged workshop setting. "When I hear it performed now I still recognise things I said more than 40 years ago. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Michael-Bennett, Masterworks Broadway - Biography of Michael Bennett, Michael Bennett - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). Mr. Bennett hired Marvin Hamlisch to compose the music, Ed Kleban to write the lyrics and James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante to write the book. "I'd undertaken group therapy and in a way the whole thing was therapeutic. Mr. Bennett rarely stepped back to reflect. Omissions? After the marriage break-up, McKechnie was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, which threatened to end her career. After playing the role of Baby John in “West Side Story” on U.S. and European tours, he began his Broadway career as a dancer in early ’60s musicals such as “Subways Are for Sleeping,” “Here’s Love,” and “Bajour.” He made his debut as a choreographer in the 12-performance flop, “A Joyful Noise” (1966), which was followed a year later by another failure, “Henry, Sweet Henry.” His first hit came in 1968 with “Promises, Promises,” when he created several original and lively dance sequences from Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s highly contemporary score. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... No silent movie has ever won an Academy Award. The dances in ''Company,'' ''Follies,'' ''A Chorus Line,'' ''Ballroom'' and ''Dreamgirls'' flowed seamlessly from the action of the plays and the motivations of their characters, and that seamlessness identified them as Mr. Bennett's unique creations. Times Square had become the preserve of pimps and prostitutes and drug-pushers. "The show was hard to play both physically and emotionally: it was like running a marathon. It has…, Pulitzer Prize, any of a series of annual prizes awarded by Columbia University, New York City, for outstanding public service and achievement in American journalism, letters, and music. Eventually, he added a theater and a restaurant. He is known for his work on A Chorus Line (1985), A Chorus Line (2016) and A Chorus Line. At an emotional reunion outside the Shubert Theater before last night's performance, members of the team that brought ''A Chorus Line'' to the stage gathered in a clutch of tearful embraces. Source: Biographical information provided by MUZE. In the early ’80s he toyed with various projects including another musical, “Scandal,” but nothing materialized. . He was born Michael Bennett DiFiglia in Buffalo, New York. Those sessions changed all our lives.". New York’s second largest city, it is the metropolis of a large urban complex that includes the cities of Lackawanna, Lockport, Niagara Falls,…. It was heightened reality. In 1985 he signed as the director of “Chess,” but had to withdraw in January 1986 through illness. That was followed by Mr. Bennett's second nonmusical, ''God's Favorite,'' Neil Simon's play based on the biblical Book of Job, which opened in December 1974 and ran three months. So now we'll find another.'' He is known for his work on A Chorus Line (1985), A Chorus Line (2016) and A Chorus Line. Although the marriage didn't last, she still talks of him with affection and huge admiration for his talent. In his first solo flight in 1971, he directed Sada Thompson in the four mini-shows of Twigs (with incidental music by Sondheim), and achieved a run of 289 performances. "I've done good shows before and since but to have been intimately involved in creating a classic and to have performed in it night after night - that's what the little girl in Detroit, Michigan dreamed of.". I don't think any show has ever been so vital to the New York economy.". He and Bob Fosse were contemporaries, but Fosse was the more famous of the two choreographers, though Bennett had the broader range of styles. McKechnie says in rehearsal the atmosphere remained intense. Just before he was to have been graduated from Buffalo's Hutchison Central High School for Boys, he joined a company of ''West Side Story'' directed by Jerome Robbins (who had staged the Broadway production) and spent a year in Europe with the show. "We sat around in a circle and we talked about our lives, starting with Michael. West Side Story, theatre music by American composer Leonard Bernstein that premiered August 19, 1957, in Washington, D.C., before moving to Broadway for a second opening on September 26, 1957. ''Henry, Sweet Henry,'' a musical based on the film ''The World of Henry Orient,'' opened Oct. 23, 1967, and also was a failure, but it earned Mr. Bennett his second Tony nomination. Visit www.OnGuardOnline.gov for social networking safety tips for parents and youth. .css-1hlxxic-PromoLink:link{color:inherit;}.css-1hlxxic-PromoLink:visited{color:#696969;}.css-1hlxxic-PromoLink:link,.css-1hlxxic-PromoLink:visited{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}.css-1hlxxic-PromoLink:link:hover,.css-1hlxxic-PromoLink:visited:hover,.css-1hlxxic-PromoLink:link:focus,.css-1hlxxic-PromoLink:visited:focus{color:#B80000;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;}.css-1hlxxic-PromoLink:link::after,.css-1hlxxic-PromoLink:visited::after{content:'';position:absolute;top:0;right:0;bottom:0;left:0;z-index:2;}Microphones to be muted in final US debate.

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