"Collaboration" was the operative word used to describe the lives of musical directors and choreographers, the topic for discussion at the American Theatre Wing's latest "Working in the Theatre" seminar, held Thurs., March 10, at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.
Moderated by Pia Lindstrom, the panel consisted of choreographer Rob Ashford, director Christopher Ashley, director-choreographer John Carrafa, and director-choreographer Gillian Lynne. The subjects ranged from the skills required to direct a musical, to the actual art of choreographing a show, to the role a director or choreographer has to play in relationship to his cast.
On the latter issue, Lynne, who is currently working on the upcoming Broadway production of "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang," talked about having the instinct to know whether a cast member needed a mommy or a whip.
Others concurred, noting the obligation to be a therapist on occasion, to communicate well all the time, and to have keen intuition.
"How do you learn intuition?" Lindstrom asked.
Lynne maintained that it couldn't be taught.
Ashford, who choreographed "Thoroughly Modern Millie" and returns to Broadway next season with "Princesses," said the key is "learning to trust your intuition."
But Lindstrom wondered whether a director or choreographer's intuition is necessarily right all the time.
"I feel you have to trust your first intuition," responded Ashley, whose most recent directing credits include Broadway's "All Shook Up" and "The Rocky Horror Show."
The conversation then turned to the way in which a choreographer works with a director before the actors and dancers come on board.
All your ideas have to be pitched to the director, said Ashford. Beyond establishing a shared vision, he continued, the director and choreographer have to collaborate on where the dances will be placed, how they will work with the music, and, most central, how they will further the story.
"The steps are the last thing you do," he added.
Everyone agreed that the first order of business is reading the book, though Lynne pointed out that "Cats," a production she choreographed, was a notable exception. "There was no book originally, just poems by T.S. Eliot," she recalled. "Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote the music and I was brought in to create a dance show. The story came later. We went into rehearsal without a book."
Ashley maintained that the other central player in the initial collaboration is the set designer, whose designs determine the size and shape of the space in which all the action—including the dancing—will unfold: "I have up to 45 meetings with the designer, drafting and redrafting a model of the set."
After viewing a brief clip of "Thoroughly Modern Millie," Lindstrom asked Ashford whether he'd had a say in the casting.
"Absolutely, especially with the ensemble," he said. "We had 20 in the ensemble. At the Broadway level, everyone is involved in casting. But the director has the final say." He added, "The first steps the choreographers create are for the audition. It's the first time that anyone—the producers—see them, although they're not necessarily the steps that will be used for the show."
"And they're out of context," stressed Carrafa, director and choreographer of "Good Vibrations," currently on Broadway.
Lynne brought up the role played by economics in forging a musical today and the need to have performers who can do virtually everything.
Lindstrom asked how directors who can neither read music nor dance helm a musical.
Ashford said it's far more important to understand the show's "spirit."
They all concurred that "good directing is good casting," and that if an actor ultimately cannot do the work, it's the fault of the director who cast him in the role to begin with.
Ashley acknowledged that not every performer auditions well and that some auditions are misleading: "I feel you have to consider an actor's body of work."
Lindstrom suggested there was a lot of talent out there nowadays, and Carrafa agreed: "The level of talent in America is astounding," with performers who have the ability to combine all three skills—acting, singing, and dancing—at the same time.
Lynne observed that "A Chorus Line" and "Cats" were the first shows to demand performers with multiple talents on that scale. She also felt that performers in the United States had "edge" over their British counterparts: "There is a competitiveness here, a hunger, a passion for showbiz that we don't have in London."
"Is that because the training is different?" Lindstrom asked.
"No, it's the American psyche," said Lynne.
"Also, in London, you're not supposed to appear ambitious," added Ashford. "Here it's just the opposite. You're supposed to be ambitious."
Lindstrom asked the panelists to name the best part of directing a show.
"Watching the audience," said Ashford. "That's why you do it. It's like being in church. Like sex."
For Lynne, "it's the process in the rehearsal room. I'm an old gypsy. It's the camaraderie, watching someone get over a hurdle, do what he couldn't do before."
Carrafa noted the pleasure in seeing his "vision accomplished."
The seminar concluded with a discussion of how a family of sorts is formed during the rehearsal process and how a director often feels lonely, maybe even a bit lost, after the project is completed. They talked about the need to have friends outside the theatre world.
Lindstrom's final question focused on what an aspiring director or choreographer should do to launch his career.
Everyone seemed to think that university theatre training programs were just fine, but that there was nothing better than real on-the-job experience—or what Ashford dubbed "the college of Broadway."
He suggested that an ambitious young director should "pick a project that excites you and then direct it anywhere. You ultimately get hired because someone has seen your work."
Lynne added, "And you never know where you'll be seen."