Dance for Musical Theatre: Robert Louis Fosse *No Works Cited Robert Louis Fosse was born on June 23, 1927 in Chicago, Illinois. He was the son of a vaudevillian and appropriately enough was born into the theatre. As a child, the art of dance wasn’t only used as a past time by young Fosse, but rather as a way of gaining attention from friends and family. From an early age he had already started studying ballet, tap and acrobatic dance. As Fosse grew up, his talented dancing and signature showmanship had began molding his future career. While still a teenager, he performed with a partner as the Riff brothers in vaudeville and burlesque theaters. Before moving to New York and studying acting at the American Theatre Wing, Fosse finished High School in 1945 and had spent two years in the U.S Navy. He also made extra money tapping in burlesque halls and strip clubs, where he was exposed to provocative gestures and poses of strippers. After moving to New York, Fosse landed his first Broadway job in the chorus of Call Me Mister (1948). His Broadway debut, however, followed two years later in Dance Me a Song (1950). After debuting on Broadway Fosse set his sights on Hollywood with dreams of becoming the next Fred Astaire. It was film work, which included three small films including Kiss Me Kate (1953), which helped Fosse realize his place was in theatre. His return to theatre brought on Pajama Game (1954). This was Fosse’s big break, which catapulted his Broadway choreographic career. Veteran director/playwright George Abbot took a chance on a young man to choreograph his show. Fosse’s ground-breaking choreography and staging in one of... ... middle of paper ... ...ok home an emmy for Liza Minelli’s television special “Liza with a Z” and a Tony for the stage show Pippin. After being shoved out of Hollywood Fosse rose to the top. Working with such stars as Dustin Hoffman in Lenny (1974), Eric Roberts in Star 80 (1983) and Roy Scheider in his (Fosse’s) autobiographical film All That Jazz (1979). However, the relentless workload and stress conveyed in All That Jazz plagued Fosse in the long run. His chain smoking caught up with him during work on Chicago when he suffered a heart attack and his marriage to Verdon also ended in divorce. Just like his two prior ones with dancers Mary Niles and Joan McCracken. Mirroring his auto-biographical movie, All That Jazz (1979) Fosse himself died just moments before the curtain went up on the triumphant revival of Sweet Charity in 1987.
Eckstein, Arthur. “The Hollywood Ten in History & Memory.” Film History. 2004. Web. 16 Jan.
Robert quit school as a teen and started working in the cotton fields. Robert left that life to travel and play his music. He began to play the guitar around the age of fifteen. Famous blues men; Charlie Patton and Willie Brown influenced Johnson when he was young. At age 17, Robert married Virginia Travis.
A world renowned artist from New York known for his work as a choreographer of
In Los Angeles, Nat joined a Eubie Blake’s revival of "Shuffle Along", in 1936. Here he worked with a dancer Nadine Robinson, who would later become his future wife. Nat continued his role in the musical until it disbanded in Long Beach California, in 1937.
...first to do this. After he produced so many of these shorts is when he had found his place in Hollywood. The more shorts he did the more famous and well known he became.
He stayed with his dad in the projects when he was little. He lost his dad when he was eight and his mom went into the hospital when his dad died. He had no choice but to go foster care for a year until his mom got better. After his mom’s recovery, she got married to Vernon Lynch. Soon after the marriage her, murphy, and his brother moved in with her husband in African- American suburb Roosevelt, Long Island. Murphy did nothing but watch TV when he had moved so he developed a great skill for impressions. His mother always told him “you never talk in your own voice”, she said that because he was always acting as a character such as buzz bunny. He then started doing standup comedy as a teenager at clubs. It effected his high school years he never did his homework he was worried about practicing his standup comedy acts after school every day. He had to repeat tenth grade because of the lack of work. He then got back onto task with school and did summer school and night school and only graduated a couple weeks late.
Merman’s first big Broadway musical was in George and Ira Gershwin’s Girl Crazy (1930). She made a noticeable vocal performance, the musical produced songs like, “I Got Rhythm,” in which she belted a C note for sixteen bars, something that audience members had never seen before (Kenrick). Merman’s performance was described mainly a singing performance where her lines were kept to a minimum and she let her voice do all the talking...
She got to work with Ted Shawn which was where she improved her dance techniques and also where she began dancing as a professional. Ted Shawn p...
Belafonte also appeared in another well-received musical revue, 3 for Tonight, in 1955. Around this time Belafonte launched his film career. He played a school principal opposite Dorothy Dandridge in his first movie, Bright Road 1953. The pair reunited the following year for Otto Preminger Carmen Jones, a film adaptation of the Broadway musical itself an adaptation of the Georges Bizet opera Carmen, with Belafonte starring as Joe alongside the Oscar-nominated Dandridge. Belafonte enjoyed some success through his collaborations with longtime friend Sidney Poitier, including 1972's Buck and the Preacher and 1974's Uptown Saturday Night. He also made numerous television appearances in the 1970s and 1980s, including a guest spot on The Muppet Show, on which he sang some of his most popular songs. Belafonte also worked with Marlo Thomas on the 1974 children's special Free To Be, You and Me. Belafonte returned to the big screen in the 1990s, first playing himself in the Hollywood-insider flick The Player 1992. White Man's Burden 1995, which co-starred John Travolta, was a commercial and critical disappointment, but Belafonte fared better in Robert Altman's Kansas City 1996, playing against type as a heartless gangster. He later starred in the 1999 political drama Swing Vote, and appeared in 2006's Bobby, about the assassination of Robert F.
I would get so nervous before my performance and as well hyper afterwards.To fix these problems, in a nutshell, my mom gave me drugs to calm me down and boost me up; I still used these while I was an adult. I called these my bolts and jolts. Anyways in 1926 the family decided to move to California. For nine more years us Gumm Sisters performed in hundreds of live performances across the country. Including being in a movie called "The Big Revenue" and three shorts. In 1934 my name got changed to Judy Garland. This was suggested by a famous comedian who loved our performances and wanted us not only as a performance group to grow, but also ourselves. That same year I was admitted into the world's fair how exciting! The following year I signed with MGM, a production company. They are the ones who mainly showed up on Tom and Jerry. Two years later 20th century fox borrowed me for a movie called Pigskin Parade. The following year I was in "Thoroughbreds Don't Cry". I also sang "Dear Mr.Gable" and "You made me Love you" with these two songs, I got Decca recording to sign me. The next year I was in "Broadway Melody","Everybody Sing", "Listen Darling","Love finds Andy Hardy" along with "Judge Hardy's Family" and "Babes in
..., Scott. Strike Up The Band: A New History of Musical Theatre. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2007. Print.
In 1977 Michael made his first film debut when he starred in the musical 'The Wiz' playing Scarecrow with Diana Ross in the lead role of Dorothy. It was at this time Michael met Quincy Jones who was doing the score for the film.
Richard Pryor, born December 1, 1940, had his first introduction into the life of the performing arts when he was twelve as a cast member of the play Rumpelstiltskin. His comedic ability was noted and he was showcased at many talent shows and small venues. Later on in his career, Pryor attempted to entertain his audience by playing the piano and singing—however, to much avail as his audience preferred him telling jokes instead. Pryor moved to New York in 1963 and thrived in clubs and venues as a stand-up comedian. From there, he performed alongside many popular comedians at the time and eventually, in 1966, Richard Pryor found himself in the film industry where he prospered tremendously.
"My Fair Lady" is a Broadway musical Written by Alan Jay Lerner who was also the Lyricist and was Composed by Fredrick Loewe. It opened on Broadway in 1956, it ran on Broadway for 6 years and has had many Revivals. The Musical is based on a play written by Bernard Shaw known as "Pygmalion" and opened in 1913 and had many Adaptations, one being "My Fair Lady" which Shaw did not want to be created. The original play itself was based off a Greek mythology figure Pygmalion who was in love with his statues which portrayed the ideal for women's standards at the time. Both works have won many awards such as Oscars and golden Globes, as well as Academy Awards. The plot for both works is "Pompous phonetics professor Henry Higgins is so sure of his
The name most associated with excellence in theatre is William Shakespeare. His plays, more than any other playwright, resonate through the ages. It may be safe to say that he has influenced more actors, directors, and playwrights than any thespian in the history of the stage. But what were his influences? During the Middle Ages theatre was dominated by morality, miracle, and mystery plays that were often staged by the church as a means to teach the illiterate masses about Christianity. It wasn’t until the early sixteenth century that Greek tragedy experienced a revival, in turn, inspiring a generation of renaissance playwrights.