Monday, December 13, 2010
THE PROCESS: Discovery & Integration
National Choreography Initiative: This summer I participated in Molly Lynch's choreography workshop, which is an opportunity to work on anything you want in a 3-week period. I chose to create a "piece about a piece" called The Process: Discovery & Integration. What is in this Blog is some of the Text I spoke on stage as I gave an insight into my choreography process - that of discovering what dancers can do in terms of different dance styles and abilities and then integrating their special talents into the final work. This workshop was about creating a piece about "creating a piece", as well as developing materials that could be used for the new Marvin Hamlisch song I'm Really Dancing, that I ended up creating for the Career Transition for Dancers gala on Nov. 8th in New York.
PART ONE: The Opening
Part One (me in rehearsal sweats)
Before I show you the dance material I came to work on for the new Marvin Hamlisch song, I wanted to give you a little insight into my creative process of “Discovery & Integration”. Although I come from a ballet background, my aesthetic is to mix styles (since the 1980’s actually) and one of the first things I do when I see a group of dancers for the first time, is them who can do 'more than one thing, more than just ballet".
(AMD hits her mark on stage, in the Upstage Left down-spot on quarter, I continue to speak)
Ben, showed me some Hip Hop and Break dance moves (will file that I thought); Chris showed me some Tap (not my most favorite dance form). And there you go, two of the most authentically American dance forms to use!
(AMD then walks thru dancers and moves back to DSR where her table and chair is)
Next I spent some time getting to know the dancers - asking them questions; teaching 3 aspects of Focus that is essential to dance. With Thomas I worked on Inner Focus - the power in standing still and doing nothing. With Pedro, Projected Focus in a simple walk - one of the hardest moves to do on stage. With Susan the “ography” part of “choreography”, which is the relationship of steps to space. I also learned things myself. When I gave Greg the gymnastic step called a Kip to do, he said to me....
Greg: A Kip is 1,000 tons of engineering!
AMD: Something about engineering.....anyway....
(AMD crosses DSR to DSL for the “chorus line”)
Then we all had some meaningful conversations that included why they danced; magic moments in theater; the importance of Art that allows the commercialization of it; transition. And I thought of maybe giving them all a chance to say something profound on stage, since dancers don’t talk, don’t get a change to have a voice...
Dancer one-liners (see video)
PART TWO: The Dancer Band
(AMD is DSR and Sits at Desk)
Then I wanted to show the dancer’s in their solos, but I didn’t have any music so I thought why not make our own music. I think it was Thomas who started it....the dancer band....
Part Two (Dancer Band)
PART THREE: The Duet
(AMD crosses to Center - then exits DSL)
In the middle of the whole process I felt guilty - that I should be constructing an actual piece that had a beginning, middle and end. And I had a piece of music from a show I was choreographing in China of 2 Homaii singers in it that I taped. So I decided to expand the solo’s that both Adrienne and Thomas started out with into more.
Duet: Adrienne - Thomas
Part Three (Duet)
End in a Downspot and AMD from DSL
Ok, so I had that ending for the piece (am glad you see it as clearly as I did!) which is a statement about connection - we’re human and need physical connection.....not sure the internet really provides that.
PART FOUR: The SONG! I'm Really Dancing (music only)
(Lights come up at same time as Hamlisch Cd)
INTEGRATION:(Verse)
OK - now it is time to show you the material I came here to work on. The Integration of what I discovered in the process before. Ted can you come measure? About 18 feet - 3 feet past center is what it would be at City Center.
Last year after one of the gala’s I produce and direct for Career Transition for Dancers, Marvin Hamlisch called me praising the show. I thought it was a prank call because he didn’t say “who” gave him my number - so I wasn’t very responsive. Finally he said he liked that I used a clip of his music (which was from A Chorus Line) in the film montage (about American dance) - he said...”you know I wrote A Chours Line”. It was at that moment that I realized tha it was not a prank call - and I said “Yes of course, I am a fan!”
Part Four (Integration - Marvin Song)
--
(Can you bring on the Piano, please?)
Anyway, I asked him to write a dance piece or a song having to do with transition - the spectrum of years. I said Chorus Line was about dancers trying to get into a show - but what about dancers who have stopped and the trajectory of what happens - staying in the field, moving into other fields or not stopping? Whatever, we never stop being dancers. The dancer is alive in us always. I am a dancer dancing when I’m moving or not, I am a dancer dancing even when I stop. So the song is about dancing no matter what else we do. Lyrics are by Rupert Holmes, the dance arrangements by David Caldwell. And what I have to show are these dance segments....
(Note: I might reference A Chorus Line as an American classic is root of commercial formatted shows like SYTYCD where the insight into people (their stories) and competitive-ness was first exposed in the Bwy show (the art). Can’t loose touch with the soul of where entertainment comes from...etc.)
(Dancers come on stage)
Soft Shoe/pseudo-tap bit....(use some of the material re-arranged later)
AMD counts maybe. Then the WALTZ comments (won't use any of this material)
BIG FINALE Dance Segment to End (this is what need be taught to some extent later in NYC)
(AMD comes back with Mic) OK great, thank you everyone! Ted can you get a lead sheet and sing a couple lines?
Ted sings “I’m Really Dancing”
Slow fade to BLACK OUT
END
PART ONE: The Opening
Part One (me in rehearsal sweats)
AMD Text i.e. "me" speaking on stage!
(AMD moves on stage, crossing DSR to DSL)Before I show you the dance material I came to work on for the new Marvin Hamlisch song, I wanted to give you a little insight into my creative process of “Discovery & Integration”. Although I come from a ballet background, my aesthetic is to mix styles (since the 1980’s actually) and one of the first things I do when I see a group of dancers for the first time, is them who can do 'more than one thing, more than just ballet".
(AMD hits her mark on stage, in the Upstage Left down-spot on quarter, I continue to speak)
Ben, showed me some Hip Hop and Break dance moves (will file that I thought); Chris showed me some Tap (not my most favorite dance form). And there you go, two of the most authentically American dance forms to use!
(AMD then walks thru dancers and moves back to DSR where her table and chair is)
Next I spent some time getting to know the dancers - asking them questions; teaching 3 aspects of Focus that is essential to dance. With Thomas I worked on Inner Focus - the power in standing still and doing nothing. With Pedro, Projected Focus in a simple walk - one of the hardest moves to do on stage. With Susan the “ography” part of “choreography”, which is the relationship of steps to space. I also learned things myself. When I gave Greg the gymnastic step called a Kip to do, he said to me....
Greg: A Kip is 1,000 tons of engineering!
AMD: Something about engineering.....anyway....
(AMD crosses DSR to DSL for the “chorus line”)
Then we all had some meaningful conversations that included why they danced; magic moments in theater; the importance of Art that allows the commercialization of it; transition. And I thought of maybe giving them all a chance to say something profound on stage, since dancers don’t talk, don’t get a change to have a voice...
Dancer one-liners (see video)
PART TWO: The Dancer Band
(AMD is DSR and Sits at Desk)
Then I wanted to show the dancer’s in their solos, but I didn’t have any music so I thought why not make our own music. I think it was Thomas who started it....the dancer band....
Part Two (Dancer Band)
PART THREE: The Duet
(AMD crosses to Center - then exits DSL)
In the middle of the whole process I felt guilty - that I should be constructing an actual piece that had a beginning, middle and end. And I had a piece of music from a show I was choreographing in China of 2 Homaii singers in it that I taped. So I decided to expand the solo’s that both Adrienne and Thomas started out with into more.
Duet: Adrienne - Thomas
Part Three (Duet)
End in a Downspot and AMD from DSL
Ok, so I had that ending for the piece (am glad you see it as clearly as I did!) which is a statement about connection - we’re human and need physical connection.....not sure the internet really provides that.
PART FOUR: The SONG! I'm Really Dancing (music only)
(Lights come up at same time as Hamlisch Cd)
INTEGRATION:(Verse)
OK - now it is time to show you the material I came here to work on. The Integration of what I discovered in the process before. Ted can you come measure? About 18 feet - 3 feet past center is what it would be at City Center.
Last year after one of the gala’s I produce and direct for Career Transition for Dancers, Marvin Hamlisch called me praising the show. I thought it was a prank call because he didn’t say “who” gave him my number - so I wasn’t very responsive. Finally he said he liked that I used a clip of his music (which was from A Chorus Line) in the film montage (about American dance) - he said...”you know I wrote A Chours Line”. It was at that moment that I realized tha it was not a prank call - and I said “Yes of course, I am a fan!”
Part Four (Integration - Marvin Song)
--
(Can you bring on the Piano, please?)
Anyway, I asked him to write a dance piece or a song having to do with transition - the spectrum of years. I said Chorus Line was about dancers trying to get into a show - but what about dancers who have stopped and the trajectory of what happens - staying in the field, moving into other fields or not stopping? Whatever, we never stop being dancers. The dancer is alive in us always. I am a dancer dancing when I’m moving or not, I am a dancer dancing even when I stop. So the song is about dancing no matter what else we do. Lyrics are by Rupert Holmes, the dance arrangements by David Caldwell. And what I have to show are these dance segments....
(Note: I might reference A Chorus Line as an American classic is root of commercial formatted shows like SYTYCD where the insight into people (their stories) and competitive-ness was first exposed in the Bwy show (the art). Can’t loose touch with the soul of where entertainment comes from...etc.)
(Dancers come on stage)
Soft Shoe/pseudo-tap bit....(use some of the material re-arranged later)
AMD counts maybe. Then the WALTZ comments (won't use any of this material)
BIG FINALE Dance Segment to End (this is what need be taught to some extent later in NYC)
(AMD comes back with Mic) OK great, thank you everyone! Ted can you get a lead sheet and sing a couple lines?
Ted sings “I’m Really Dancing”
Slow fade to BLACK OUT
END
I'M REALLY DANCING DANCE BREAK Segment!
Ben Needham-Wood in a "mix of styles"OK, the DANCE! How do create dance without dancers? I wish I could post my notebook of drawings and meticulously calculated counts for each dance style segment. Once I created materials at the National Choreographers Initiative this summer, the new challenge was how to get dancers in NYC who were available to randomly rehearse, and perform- and work for free. Not so easy. I loved the Marvin Hamlisch music for the dance segment, arranged by David Caldwell. David and I worked together earlier in the year on the musical The Promise, he as musical director and arranger, me as choreographer -- which was performed at the Shanghai Expo 2010 in May (see China blog). I asked if he would arrange the new song by Marvin and he was thrilled to do so. We all met one dripping hot summer day in July at Marvin's place, where he sat down at the piano and played the melody and sang the lyrics. "Don't mind me," Marvin said, "I can only sing in the key of C - that is not how the song is written!" He basically gave us permission to do what we wanted with it. Keeping the idea of having mature artists....maybe 3 or however many I "stars" I could get, juxtaposed against the dance which would portray a mix of styles and a spectrum of years.
Ben looking at Natalie Enterline (Marvin at the Piano)
Natalie Enterline ia a unique artist who has a fantastic dance/baton routine down to extraordinary perfection. I asked her if she would be willing to let me rearrange her material and have her open the top of the show, be integrated during it and then kick off the dance break section in the new Marvin song. She was willing....
(with American Tap Dance Foundation Youth Program)
Ben, from the NCI workshop, got released from his company -- The Louisville Ballet -- and I began to edit materials of him on a video........and passed on the idea to him via MobileMe.....steps re-arranged, and edited yet similar to him. Something easy for him to do 3 days before the show, combining ballet, modern moves, hip hop, and acrobatics. Mind you, not easy for everyone....but for him!
Ben in side split jump
ABT II (American Ballet Theater's apprentice group)
Now, where was I going to find a group of dancers that existed as a unit? I knew I would never be able to get 10 freelance dancers in a room at the same time to re-create anything. So, I first thought of Dance Theater of Harlem. Virginia Johnson was the new artistic director -- and she willingly explored the possibility of using them, but scheduling did not permit. Next I asked Wes Chapman who was the Artistic Director of ABT II, via Kevin McKenzie. If they were free, just like the were in 2005 for another gala event, that would be fantastic. I waited, sweating for no other solution. When I found out they were free I convinced Wes that the segment would not take much of their time. Having calculated that I need them specifically for 8 - 8's of dance music. 8 more 8's of movement in place. And then a final 8 - 8's for the end finale. 
World Cup All Stars
Finally, I needed my cheerleaders! How could there be a Finale number without them! The World Cup All Stars New Jersey Cheerleading are the #1 top competing group in the world. I originally found them in 2005 when Toni Basil was performing "Mickey" on the program. She loved them, and since I've used them again. I called up their coach, Elaine Pascale - said that I probably needed just one stunt group this year. Yes, they were "IN." And bring-it-on they did.
A VIDEO
The link below is a video of brief rehearsal of some of Natalie's materials at the top of the Dance Break, with notes about where Ben enters, where the Tap kids are; then some of ABT II and where they Cheerleaders are. It was what I sent to Lori our stage manager, and Brad our lighting designer because I had nothing to show them in the studio, since I could never get everyone in the same room together! And, it is incomplete.
Watch video
Last but not least is Ted Keener below and standing behind Trisha Brown who received the Capezio Award from President Anthony Giacoio (left). Ted was in the summer workshop and consequently assisted me in staging the choreography for the I'M REALLY DANCING.
I'M REALLY DANCING!
Marvin Hamlisch at the piano with Natalie EnterlineAbout a year ago, Marvin Hamlisch called to congratulate me on an evening I produced and directed for the Career Transition for Dancers' gala called "America Dances." At first I thought it was a prank call because he didn't say, "So-and-so gave me your number." He was interested in using a young Mambo
couple on one of his youth programs. It wasn't until he commented on liking the fact that his music was used in a film montage saying, "You know I wrote A Chorus Line," that I knew it was him. I called Marvin back a couple days later and asked if he'd be interested in exploring something.....and writing something.....for the next benefit that had to do with a dancer's "Act 2." I said, "A Chorus Line is a brilliant classic, and about many many things, but what about something about the trajectory of what happens after....when dancers stay in the field, they move out of the field? No matter what, we never stop being dancers. The dancer stays alive in us, always. I am a dancer dancing when I'm moving or not, I am a dancer dancing even when I stop."
It took about 9 months to make this piece happen. But on November 8 at City Center, the 25th Annual CTFD Gala, "I'm Really Dancing" was heard on stage for the first time. Of course, it is insane to try to create a new piece for a benefit, when artists volunteer their time and it is impossible to pin people down to rehearse. In fact, the piece never was done with everyone in the cast until the actual show itself. Ninety percent of it was organized to a meticulous second in my head. I had to make the staging very simple for all the artists singing. Entrances and exits had to be directions I could send in an e-mail. Angela would start on Center Center with Marvin in a down spot light; Karen would move from Upstage Left to Downstage Right; Charlotte the opposite diagonal; David and Annie would come on from DSL (Downstage Left) to DSR (Downstge Right) - first wing; Chita from USL to Center with Marvin and sing; and Randy would enter from DSR - then pull Marge on and both dance across the front for the last chorus, before joining the line-up with everyone....
It took about 9 months to make this piece happen. But on November 8 at City Center, the 25th Annual CTFD Gala, "I'm Really Dancing" was heard on stage for the first time. Of course, it is insane to try to create a new piece for a benefit, when artists volunteer their time and it is impossible to pin people down to rehearse. In fact, the piece never was done with everyone in the cast until the actual show itself. Ninety percent of it was organized to a meticulous second in my head. I had to make the staging very simple for all the artists singing. Entrances and exits had to be directions I could send in an e-mail. Angela would start on Center Center with Marvin in a down spot light; Karen would move from Upstage Left to Downstage Right; Charlotte the opposite diagonal; David and Annie would come on from DSL (Downstage Left) to DSR (Downstge Right) - first wing; Chita from USL to Center with Marvin and sing; and Randy would enter from DSR - then pull Marge on and both dance across the front for the last chorus, before joining the line-up with everyone....
Angela Lansbury was great to work with. She requested her lead sheet and a CD of the melody months in advance. We asked if she'd be OK with singing it in the key of D which she agreed, but later I got a call from her music director in LA saying she really needed it to be in a lower key. She even came to a rehearsal on Sunday, the day before the event - a rehearsal that I tried to gather everyone in the piece - just to put it together - just to actually see it other than 
on paper - once before the show (but to no avail).Angela started the song off by singing the verse of Rupert Holmes's lyric:
YOU CAN ALWAYS SPOT A DANCER ON THE SIDEWALK BY THEIR STRIDE
THEY SPRING AS IF CEMENT'S A TRAMPOLINE
AND THROUGH EACH HUMDRUM DAY ALL DANCERS FLOAT AND WEAVE AND GLIDE
LIKE ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE OR SILVER SCREEN
THEY SPRING AS IF CEMENT'S A TRAMPOLINE
AND THROUGH EACH HUMDRUM DAY ALL DANCERS FLOAT AND WEAVE AND GLIDE
LIKE ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE OR SILVER SCREEN
Karen Ziemba, what a trouper! She was working in San Diego at the Old Globe Theatre. She had already memorized the whole song 
by the time I talked to her, a month before the event. She was not coming into NYC until the day of the show - in fact her plane was to land at 3:00 p.m. Our tech rehearsal was at 3:50, so she would clearly miss that. I asked Mary MacCleod if she wouldn't mind singing Karen's lines for that tech for continuity of the piece. Karen did get in - no delays - and rehearsed between 
by 5 p.m. I never even saw her until the show. She sang the first chorus moving from USR:
by the time I talked to her, a month before the event. She was not coming into NYC until the day of the show - in fact her plane was to land at 3:00 p.m. Our tech rehearsal was at 3:50, so she would clearly miss that. I asked Mary MacCleod if she wouldn't mind singing Karen's lines for that tech for continuity of the piece. Karen did get in - no delays - and rehearsed between 
by 5 p.m. I never even saw her until the show. She sang the first chorus moving from USR:WHEN I'M STROLLING DOWN THE AISLE
OF THE CORNER CVS
WELL I MIGHT AS WELL CONFESS
I'M REALLY DANCING
Then came Charlotte d'Amboise from USL (see her behind Karen to the left above!). Charlotte
had extended her
performance in Chicago so ended up not being free to rehearse on Sunday. She sang the lyrics below with Greg Butler escorting her across the stage:
OF THE CORNER CVS
WELL I MIGHT AS WELL CONFESS
I'M REALLY DANCING
Then came Charlotte d'Amboise from USL (see her behind Karen to the left above!). Charlotte
had extended her
performance in Chicago so ended up not being free to rehearse on Sunday. She sang the lyrics below with Greg Butler escorting her across the stage:WHEN I STOP TO POSE AND SMILE
AS THE CAMERAS START TO FLASHAT SOME AFTER THEATRE BASH
I'M REALLY DANCING
Next we had Desmond Richardson. He moved from
the second wing straight across the stage - so smooth,
and with such cool grace. People questioned me as to whether
he could sing or not. Well no question, he can sing!
(his lyrics)
THE CARPET MIGHT BE RED BUT WHERE I TREAD, I CUT THE RUGGING
THOUGH ELEGANT MY STRIDE, DEEP DOWN INSIDE I'M JITTERBUGGING
And now, for the last lines before the dance break, came Ann Reinking and David Warren Gibson. I had hoped Bebe Neuwirth would originally sing this with Annie, but she was performing "All That Jazz" just before, and she would have not wanted to be thrown into it without rehearsal. An
nie did come to the Sunday rehearsal and we figured out that she and David would trade lines. Now, she insisted she could only sing certain lines because of her current vocal range.
Her lyrics were:
MY INNER GIRL WILL TWIRL SUBLIME
WHETHER DANCING OR ROMANCING
WHEN I CHAT WITH SHERRY LANSING
DON'T YOU KNOW I'M DANCING
She said she could not sing the first line, "My inner girl will twirl....". Hummmm,
well how can David sing that, I asked. He can sing "Her inner girl will twirl....etc.". Great! I inwardly was thinking.....I hope Rupert Holmes won't notice because there is no time to ask his permission! The other little obstacle was that Annie knew me as a virtuoso dancer and had seen some of my acrobatic choreography. She was afraid I was going to ask her to do something complicated. "No, no, no," I said. "You're a director and choreographer....do what you want! I prefer you ju
st walk - a simple walk to justapose the elegance and artistry of the mature artist with the bombastic youthful energy of the kids in the dance break section that comes in the middle of the song." She loved the idea. However, each time I saw her rehearse with David the steps increased and by the time she got on stage she was dancing and jumping and leaping into David's arms - the audience loved her.
The DANCE BREAK segment comes here - in a separate blog you will see photos of baton-twirling Natalie Enterline and the multi-dance talent Ben Needham-Wood, along with ABT II and World Cup All Stars (the top cheerleading group in the world).
In the photo directly below, you can see Chita Rivera entering on the right - Ben and Kevin were doing back flips across the stage and as she hits center in front of the piano the music stops and the boys were off stage. Applause!
As Chita entered the entire history of musical theater entered with her. Another real trouper. She had also returned from out of town the morning of the gala. It was miserable weather and she didn't want to drive into the city. So Dax, my assistant, made sure there was a car to pick her up. She had called my musical director, Jim Morgan, the night before to say that she had not memorized the lyrics yet and to make sure we had a back-up. I had Dax e-mail her assistant, Rosie, to say not to worry, she could read the lyrics, that it was just a fun number and no need to feel pressured. Which she ended up doing - right at the piano with Marvin.
Her lyrics:
AS THE YEARS GO MARCHING ON
I MAY LOSE A STEP OR TWO
BUT THE SOFTNESS IN MY SHOE
SAYS I'M STILL DANCING....
THOUGH MY GRAND JETES ARE GONE
I'M A WINNING DANCE MACHINE
ONCE BEGINNING MY BEGUINE!
JUST WATCH ME DANCING
And finally....
Last but not least came Randy Skinner, who was the associate choreographer on 42nd Street when Gower Champion first put the show on Broadway. He had danced on the program already in the Audition number from the musical, so I asked him if he wouldn't mind both singing in the finale and bringing on Marge Champion to boot! I called Marge, and she loved the idea. They both came on Sunday, and by the end of the rehearsal Margehad ch
oreographed practically a whole number with some famous moves from her past. He sang:
MY KNEES NEED ICE AND ONCE OR TWICE
I MUST RECHARGE MY POWER
BUT DANCE WITH ME AND YOU WILL SEE
WE'RE JUST LIKE MARGE AND GOWER (Marge chimed in here)
At 91 years old, look at Marge in the blue
skirt - she definatly kicked the highest in the end group finale line-up!!!
An impossible task succeeds.....
AS THE CAMERAS START TO FLASHAT SOME AFTER THEATRE BASH
I'M REALLY DANCING
Next we had Desmond Richardson. He moved from
the second wing straight across the stage - so smooth,
and with such cool grace. People questioned me as to whether
he could sing or not. Well no question, he can sing!
(his lyrics)THE CARPET MIGHT BE RED BUT WHERE I TREAD, I CUT THE RUGGING
THOUGH ELEGANT MY STRIDE, DEEP DOWN INSIDE I'M JITTERBUGGING
And now, for the last lines before the dance break, came Ann Reinking and David Warren Gibson. I had hoped Bebe Neuwirth would originally sing this with Annie, but she was performing "All That Jazz" just before, and she would have not wanted to be thrown into it without rehearsal. An
nie did come to the Sunday rehearsal and we figured out that she and David would trade lines. Now, she insisted she could only sing certain lines because of her current vocal range.Her lyrics were:
MY INNER GIRL WILL TWIRL SUBLIME
WHETHER DANCING OR ROMANCING
WHEN I CHAT WITH SHERRY LANSING
DON'T YOU KNOW I'M DANCING
She said she could not sing the first line, "My inner girl will twirl....". Hummmm,
well how can David sing that, I asked. He can sing "Her inner girl will twirl....etc.". Great! I inwardly was thinking.....I hope Rupert Holmes won't notice because there is no time to ask his permission! The other little obstacle was that Annie knew me as a virtuoso dancer and had seen some of my acrobatic choreography. She was afraid I was going to ask her to do something complicated. "No, no, no," I said. "You're a director and choreographer....do what you want! I prefer you ju
st walk - a simple walk to justapose the elegance and artistry of the mature artist with the bombastic youthful energy of the kids in the dance break section that comes in the middle of the song." She loved the idea. However, each time I saw her rehearse with David the steps increased and by the time she got on stage she was dancing and jumping and leaping into David's arms - the audience loved her.The DANCE BREAK segment comes here - in a separate blog you will see photos of baton-twirling Natalie Enterline and the multi-dance talent Ben Needham-Wood, along with ABT II and World Cup All Stars (the top cheerleading group in the world).
In the photo directly below, you can see Chita Rivera entering on the right - Ben and Kevin were doing back flips across the stage and as she hits center in front of the piano the music stops and the boys were off stage. Applause!
As Chita entered the entire history of musical theater entered with her. Another real trouper. She had also returned from out of town the morning of the gala. It was miserable weather and she didn't want to drive into the city. So Dax, my assistant, made sure there was a car to pick her up. She had called my musical director, Jim Morgan, the night before to say that she had not memorized the lyrics yet and to make sure we had a back-up. I had Dax e-mail her assistant, Rosie, to say not to worry, she could read the lyrics, that it was just a fun number and no need to feel pressured. Which she ended up doing - right at the piano with Marvin.Her lyrics:
AS THE YEARS GO MARCHING ON
I MAY LOSE A STEP OR TWO
BUT THE SOFTNESS IN MY SHOE
SAYS I'M STILL DANCING....
THOUGH MY GRAND JETES ARE GONE
I'M A WINNING DANCE MACHINE
ONCE BEGINNING MY BEGUINE!
JUST WATCH ME DANCING
And finally....
Last but not least came Randy Skinner, who was the associate choreographer on 42nd Street when Gower Champion first put the show on Broadway. He had danced on the program already in the Audition number from the musical, so I asked him if he wouldn't mind both singing in the finale and bringing on Marge Champion to boot! I called Marge, and she loved the idea. They both came on Sunday, and by the end of the rehearsal Margehad ch
oreographed practically a whole number with some famous moves from her past. He sang:MY KNEES NEED ICE AND ONCE OR TWICE
I MUST RECHARGE MY POWER
BUT DANCE WITH ME AND YOU WILL SEE
WE'RE JUST LIKE MARGE AND GOWER (Marge chimed in here)
At 91 years old, look at Marge in the blue
skirt - she definatly kicked the highest in the end group finale line-up!!!
An impossible task succeeds.....
THE BOWS!!!
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